“There can be no doubt that the young of today have to be protected against certain poisonous effects inherent in present-day civilization. Five social diseases surround them, even in early childhood. There is the decline in fitness due to modern methods of locomotion; the decline in initiative due to the widespread disease of spectatoritis; the decline in care and skill due to the weakened tradition of craftsmanship; the decline in self-discipline due to the ever-present availability of tranquilizers and stimulants, and the decline in compassion, which William Temple called "spiritual death.” SelfCareTodaySpiritualYoungCertainSocialCompassionDoubtFiveModernChildhoodEffectsDisciplineCivilizationSkillsDiseaseTraditionMethodDuesNo DoubtTemplesSurroundDeclineProtectedInitiativeInherentSelf DisciplinePresent DayPoisonousAvailabilityEarly ChildhoodCraftsmanshipStimulantsSpiritual Death Author:Kurt Hahn
“The American civil space program is growing to maturity. It has passed through the joys and crises of precocious childhood and now is being called upon to do grown-up things, like earn a living and establish permanent roots in space.” JoySpaceGrowingModernChildhoodProgramRootsCrisisPermanentMaturityModern LifeSpace ProgramPrecocious Author:John Noble Wilford
“Modern children were considerably less innocent than parents and the larger society supposed, and postmodern children are less competent than their parents and the society as a whole would like to believe. . . . The perception of childhood competence has shifted much of the responsibility for child protection and security from parents and society to children themselves.” BelieveChildrenWholeParentResponsibilityModernChildhoodSecurityPerceptionProtectionInnocentCompetenceCompetentPostmodernResponsibility For Children Book:Ties That Stress: The New Family Imbalance Source: Ties That Stress: The New Family Imbalance
“The idea of childhood as a social invention, in retrospect, is hardly credible. In the Bible, in writings of the Greeks and Romans, and in the works of the first great educator of the modern era, Comenius, children were recognized as being both different from adults and different from one another with respect to their stages of development. To be sure, the scientific study of children and the increased length of life in modern times have enhanced our understanding of age differences, but they have always been acknowledged.” WritingFirstsChildrenIdeasDifferentAgeSocialUnderstandingDifferencesStudyModernChildhoodStageDevelopmentAdultsInventionErasGreekLengthEducatorCredibleRetrospectModern TimesAge DifferenceModern EraStages Of DevelopmentLength Of Life Author:David Elkind
“One current of continuity runs underneath all the abortive phases of my life. From childhood on I have been obliged to drop anything I was doing to run after any man who seemed to know a little more than I did about God . . . I most want to write about: how a modern woman has sought the face of God-not the name nor the fame but the face [ital] of God-and what adventures came to meet her on this ancient human path.” KnowsMenWantWritingHumansLittlesHas BeensRunningFacesReligionNamesWomenPathModernChildhoodAdventureFameAncientCurrentsPhasesObligedContinuityModern Woman Author:Mary Antin
“Childhood in large parts of modern Britain, at any rate, has been replaced by premature adulthood, or rather adolescence” Has BeensModernChildhoodRateBritainAdulthoodReplacedAdolescencePrematureModern Britain Author:Anthony Daniels
“Adulthood is the ever-shrinking period between childhood and old age. It is the apparent aim of modern industrial societies to reduce this period to a minimum.” AgeModernChildhoodPeriodsAimOld AgeAdulthoodMinimumFatherhoodShrinking Author:Thomas Szasz
“In this modern world where activity is stressed almost to the point of mania, quietness as a childhood need is too often overlooked. Yet a child's need for quietness is the same today as it has always been--it may even be greater--for quietness is an essential part of all awareness. In quiet times and sleepy times a child can dwell in thoughts of his own, and in songs and stories of his own.” WorldNeedsMayChildrenStoriesTodaySongGreaterModernChildhoodAwarenessActivityQuietEssentialsModern WorldStressedOverlookedQuietnessSleepyManiaQuiet TimeChildren's LiteratureChildren Literature Author:Margaret Wise Brown