Instructor
Professor Catherine Bagwell and Professor Rick Mayes
Academic Year(s) Offered
2010 - 2011
Overview
This SSIR program examines childhood development and the evolution of public policies intended to safeguard and improve children’s physical health, educational opportunities, and general welfare in the U.S. The program also examines issues related to the mental health of children, adolescents and young adults. Because of changes in juvenile justice to compulsory K-12 education, mandatory immunization and vaccination policies, Head Start, SCHIP (the States’ Children Health Insurance Program), No Child Left Behind (NCLB), preschool, Nickelodeon, PBS, the Internet, child-focused corporate advertising and an array of other public and private programs and policies that have proliferated in the U.S. since the arrival of the post-war “Baby-Boom” generation, over the past several decades children have become a top political priority and for many, arguably, a national obsession. Consequently, “childhood” has become one of the most fought over and researched areas of medicine, public policy and the social sciences.
The “Children and Mental Health” SSIR program is co-led by Dr. Catherine Bagwell, associate professor of psychology, and Dr. Rick Mayes, associate professor of political science and director of the SSIR program. Drs. Bagwell and Mayes co-teach the “Mental Health & Policy” course at UR. They also co-authored—with fellow political science professor, Dr. Jennifer Erkulwater—the recently published book on children and mental health entitled Medicating Children: ADHD and Pediatric Mental Health (Harvard University Press, 2009). The program may include a trip over fall break to Geel, Belgium to study one of the world’s leading community mental health organizations and to New York City to visit a leading charter school and children’s non-profit organization that specializes in child development and education.
The program is particularly well-suited for students with an interest in child psychology, public policy, and mental health policy, diagnosis and treatment. The course will include clinical, developmental, and public policy readings and assignments.
Possible Readings
- Huck’s Raft: A History of American Childhood
- Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture
- Work Hard, Be Nice: How Two Inspired Teachers Created the Most Promising Schools in America
- Unequal Childhoods
- Medicating Children: ADHD and Pediatric Mental Health
- Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time
- Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada’s Quest to Change Harlem and America
