“For Americans the contradiction between national ideal and social fact required explanation and correction. Ultimately this contradiction did not lead to the abandonment of the ideal of equal opportunity but rather to its postponement: to the notion of achieving for the next generation what could not be achieved for the current one. And the chief means to this end was a brilliant American invention: universal, free, compulsory public education. This "solution" was especially important for children and families because it gave children a central role in achieving the national ideal.” MeanChildrenImportantEndsFactsNextOpportunitySocialEducationRolesGenerationsAchieveEqualSolutionsIdealsUniversalNotionCurrentsBrilliantInventionChiefsExplanationContradictionNext GenerationAbandonmentCorrectionsPublic EducationEqual OpportunityCompulsoryPostponement Book:All Our Children: The American Family Under Pressure Source: All Our Children: The American Family Under Pressure
“The most important difference between these early American families and our own is that early families constituted economic unitsin which all members, from young children on up, played important productive roles within the household. The prosperity of the whole family depended on how well husband, wife, and children could manage and cultivate the land. Children were essential to this family enterprise from age six or so until their twenties, when they left home.” WellsChildrenImportantWholeHomeAgeYoungLeftDifferencesRolesWifeEconomicLandHusbandMembersEssentialsSixTwentiesProsperityManageEnterpriseProductiveHouseholdYoung ChildrenWhole FamilyAmerican FamilyHusband Wife Book:All Our Children: The American Family Under Pressure Source: All Our Children: The American Family Under Pressure
“In the end, the fate of children depends on our ability to use technology constructively and carefully. The connection of childrenand technology is not simply a matter of seat belts, safe toys, safe air, water and food, additive-free baby foods, or improved television programming. These are all important issues, but to stop here is to forget that today's children will soon be adults. Technological decisions made today will determine, perhaps irrevocably, the kind of physical and social world we bequeath them and the kind of people they become.” PeopleWorldKindChildrenMadeImportantEndsMatterUseTodaySocialWaterAbilityDecisionForgetTechnologyIssuesFateAirTelevisionBabyDependsSafeAdultsConnectionsDetermineSeatsProgrammingToysTechnologicalBeltsImportant IssuesDecisions MadeSeat BeltsAdditives Book:All Our Children: The American Family Under Pressure Source: All Our Children: The American Family Under Pressure
