WHAT’S HAPPENING TO CHILDREN TODAY



WHAT’S HAPPENING TO CHILDREN TODAY?

Theories about the development of children in modern society.

THEORY 1 : CHILDHOOD IS ‘DISAPPEARING’

This view has been argued by Neil Postman in his book - ‘The Disappearance of Childhood’ 194 argues that as a separate phase of life childhood is fading away and children are becoming more and more like adults. Examples of this - -

• They are being given the same rights as adults eg talk even about reducing the voting age to 16

• Traditional childhood games are disappearing – that used to be paid in the streets

• Children’s clothing is becoming identical to adults (eg girls makeup and clothing)

• Children are committing adult crimes – murder.

Postman explains this is the rise and fall of print culture and its replacement by television culture. His explanation goes like this - - - -

• In the Middle Ages no one could read or write (apart from a few educated monks) so children entered adult society at an early age and were not regarded as any different.

• Then in the 19th century (Victorian times) mass literacy arrived – millions could now read and write. This created a division between adults who could read and children who could not. This gave adults the power to keep knowledge from children and use it to have power over them – things like sex, money, death etc became ‘adult’ matters that only they could discuss. Childhood became a time of innocence and ignorance

• TV then arrived and destroyed this division – because anyone of any age could watch it. All information is now freely available. The authority of adults over children declined and with it went the innocence of childhood. Children now knew everything.

THEORY 2 : THERE IS STILL A SEPARATE CHILDHOOD CULTURE

Peter and Iona Opie (‘The People in the Playground’) 1993 argue the opposite to Postman - that there is still a very distinct children’s culture which is still separate from the adult world – they still pay separate games and live in their own world which only they understand

THEORY 3 : WESTERN CHILDHOOD IS SPREADING

Some Feminists argue that the western ideas of what childhood should be – a separate phase of life which is protected and seen as vulnerable – is being spread around the world to other cultures who have a very different view of childhood eg trying to stop child labour in developing countries. The western ideal of childhood is not dying out but spreading around the world - the ‘globalisation of western ideas about childhood’.

THEORY 4 ;THE ‘TOXIC CHILDHOOD’.

This is a more pessimistic view of modern childhood. It is argued by Sue Palmer ‘Toxic Childhood’ 2006 who says that - -

• The technological changes of the last 25 years have changed the nature of childhood for ever.

• These changes have been bad – things like junk food, computer games, absentee working parents, TV culture and electronic gadgets have damaged children.

• This has led to social problems for young people - like obesity, self harm drug abuse, binge drinking, street violence and teenage pregnancies. Eg in a UNICEF survey 2007 the UK came 21st out of 25 countries surveyed in terms of these problems.

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SO IS CHILDHOOD DISAPPEARING?

The situation might be more complex than the 4 theories suggest because –

Not ALL children are affected equally by these developments

• Some aspects of childhood may be disappearing – eg they tend to have the same leisure activities as adults and sometimes dress in the same way, they also have full access to modern communication and information like TV, the internet

• Some aspects of childhood are NOT disappearing – the age of compulsory education has actually increased to 18 ad children have less freedom of movement than ever

• The actual proportion of children in the population is also declining as old people live longer ad adults have fewer children. This may make childhood even more protected and valued in the future.

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