Mr. D. Scott Kosch

Managing Director
Highland Advisors

For Scott Kosch, work-family issues are close to home. As a student at Claremont McKenna College he remembers taking a course in Early Childhood Education at the Claremont Graduate School and was so absorbed by the content that he followed this up with an independent study course looking at early childhood education practices at 30 area daycare centers. He furthered his passion on the topic by writing a business plan for an employer-supported childcare centre as his senior thesis. Mr. Kosch is confident that work and family issues have become a universal concern in the contemporary world to almost everyone. In today’s culture, individuals are driven to work simply to “better their families.” Children are bound to grow up at an earlier age while both parents are busy working. It is an imperative for social and academic institutions to support modern working families in order to keep pace with changes in trends. If more is done to support the needs of working families, Mr. Kosch is confident that everyone will benefit in the long run.

What made Mr. Kosch get involved with the Berger Institute? He is impressed at the leadership role that Claremont McKenna College has taken to address the “critical” question of how to balance work and family through promoting research and policy. At the same time, the Berger Institute provides a clear path of opportunities for current students to get involved in these issues, an opportunity Mr. Kosch was not able to benefit from during his years at CMC. Furthermore, there is also not enough awareness about legislation that works toward the benefit of working families such as the California Paid Family Leave Act, one of the main projects currently undertaken by the Berger Institute. Mr. Kosch does not hesitate to admit that he would like to see drastic changes in corporations and their work practices. He would like to see the eradication of a double standard that currently exists, allowing a man to take a leave of absence for a trip but looks at leave for a woman to give birth in a negative light. At the same time, if “maternal leave” is replaced by “paternal leave” then employers will not continue to question the commitment of young mothers in the workforce because of the equal involvement of their male counterparts within the household.

From the Berger Institute newsletter (Spring 2007, Vol 8., p. 13). Interview by Marya Husain '09.