Last year, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made headlines in becoming the most prominent person in public life to raise the question haunting so many people today, "is it okay to still have children?" Whether because of climate change or overpopulation concerns, many are now quietly entertaining the idea that there might be something wrong or bad about having children. Some have even offered arguments along those lines in print. Those arguments deserve the respect of full consideration. And this seminar aims to give them that. 

Join us for four weeks as we read through some of the most prominent versions of the arguments and consider their strengths and weaknesses from both a third-person (data, economic theory, political theory) standpoint as well as the first-person standpoint of a married couple with a young child.

Kevin E. Stuart is the executive director of the Austin Institute for the Study of Family & Culture. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin where he studied public law and political philosophy, and was a visiting scholar at the University of Cambridge. He earned a Master of Sciences from the London School of Economics and Political Science after receiving undergraduate degrees in history and English literature from Louisiana State University.

DeAnn Barta Stuart earned her B.A. and M.Hum. from the University of Dallas and her Ph.D. in English Literature from Baylor University. Over the years, she has received various teaching awards at the middle school, high school, and college levels. She and her husband Kevin are the proud parents of one rambunctious toddler.