Genius is generally associated with novelty. The discoverer of a new subatomic particle, or a distant star, for example, a new deadly microbe or a means by which millions may be fed in some unseeable future. Yes, those all are fine examples of humanity’s best. But genius is not confined to the creation of the new. As often as not, the genius makes clear the obvious, calls attention to the impending, or, in the case of Adam Benforado, shines a spotlight on the good deeds we’ve long intended to get done, but have been lost in the general haste.
Benforado’s A Minor Revolution: How Prioritizing Kids Benefits Us All begins with a reminder that here in the USA, more than 100 years ago, in 1912, President William Taft formed a federal agency, the Children’s Bureau, to focus on children’s welfare. The world followed suit in 1924, 1959, 1979 and 1989 with the League of Nations and the UN declarations of the Rights of the Child. The US was the sole holdout on the latest treaty. Of course, these declarations were offered with good intentions but without real plans. Here in 2023, Adam Benforado suggests A Minor Revolution and offers a lot more than good intentions. He uses a brilliant combination of clear, concise writing, hard science (neuroscience, etc) and hard social science (statistics, mostly), to organize a thoroughly researched and enjoyably readable Children’s Bill of Rights. It’s a roadmap for a low-key revolution, with enormous societal impacts and rewards.
Benforado’s plan falls into six sensible stages or rights; Attachment, Investment, Community, The Right to be a Kid, The Right to Be Heard and The Right to Start Fresh. The genius of this book is that it’s not a mere polemic, suggesting we do this or that. Instead, Benforado uses a very engaging-to-read strategy that examines statistics (always presented cleanly and clearly), then bounces them off science (ie reality, not opinion), then leads and follows the reader to programs that, with the perspective he provides, seem both obvious and necessary. There’s a bit of the mystery genre at work here, very subtle, which transforms Benforado’s obviously extensive research into page-turning ideas that make readers feel smart. We get it – and it’s about time.
He follows up his presentation of what we need with a look at what holds us back and an idea of what that change might look like. A Minor Revolution is not just a collection of intelligent truths engagingly presented. It’s a plan, a roadmap, not just a list of desirable destinations. It might have taken us more than a hundred years to get to this point, but it need not take one hundred more.
Adam Benforado has spent valuable time in family law, and he knows how to make his point in print and in person. Our conversation (at this link, and below) offers a flyover view, which leads to what I know to be a wonderful destination, to wit, reading his book. You need not be a genius to read it, but you will surely feel smarter for having done so.
Narrative Species 