Yvonne Rowse wrote:
>I think children are currently in the position women were in at the
>turn of the century; only allowed self-determination, property etc at
>the whim of the grown-ups. Great. No wonder so many of us take such
>a long time to grow into sympathy/empathy.
This has struck me too. Over the past few years in the US there has been
quite a controversy over "obscene" content on the Internet and its
possible effects on children. The recently suspended Communications
Decency Act was one attempt to deal with the issue, but... it trod upon
the free speech rights of adults. What's scary to me about the debate
over free speech and Internet content is that it takes for granted that
children need to be "protected" (with parental screening controls, etc.)
It does seem to be the same condescending attitude used to excuse the
denial of formal education to women in times gone by. "Their fragile
psyches cannot handle the shock of reality!"
>How about someone writing a novel about the empowerment of children?
>Completely, unbelievably utopian?
Hm... I have a feeling that there are such works, but none come to mind.
Ironically, an oft-assigned book in high school is William Golding's
_Lord of the Flies_, which takes the dystopic view that children,
without the civilizing presence of adults, will become monsters. (It has
been a while since I read it -- there may also have been some commentary
on adult barbarity and warfare.)
Actually, Marge Piercy's _Woman on the Edge of Time_ portrays
relatively empowered children who engage in most of the same activities
as the adults. This aspect of Mattapoisett society goes hand in hand
with their belief that learning and play should continue throughout life
and not stop at adolescence.
Any others?
-- Janice
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu May 25 2000 - 19:06:52 PDT