the much more important lack of a spiritual and practical guidance that matters. Few dispute that success in the U.S. without a wealthy childhood is possible, even easy. Few would also dispute that success without childhood guidance, in any society, is almost impossible.
The Compact for Learning proposes that "It takes the whole village to raise a child." There still are many who strongly disagree with this statement and don't want everyone in the "village" raising their child. The statement therefore needs to be examined to see how far it does go. Certainly in the first half of the twentieth century an orphan was almost always raised by relatives, not the government. His "village" was his extended family of aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc. They picked up where the parent fell short, because they felt a deep responsibility to the child who had lost the adult normally responsible for the child. I
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