Disappearance of childhood

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Disappearance of childhood

The world has witnessed a comprehensive social transformation since time memorial. According to Harold Iniss, the rapid advances in communication technology for instance have affected human thinking in a variety of perspectives. To begin with, it has affected the areas where thought develops, what human uses to think as well as things that we think about. Different people as well as groups have taken divergent perspective in the value of childhood since early fifteenth century. Between the sixteenth and seventeenth century for instance, childhood was valued by a sizeable world population. It was considered as a natural order of things. J. Plumb argued that a child was an object of respect in addition to being a special creature that had distinct needs and nature. The writer states that this resulted because of the separation and protection of the child from adult world. However, Plumb differs by arguing that the separation and protection were done as a result of uniqueness of a child and not the other way round. In my opinion, the writer’s argument is founded as children were separated to read as well as write.

Perception towards childhood has enormously changed since sixteenth century. To begin with, the childhood characteristics including behavior, language, as well as discipline have undergone immense transformation since then. For instance, in the modern times children dress as adults in addition to smoking in the school lavatory, a behavior that was not practiced by the minors. Moreover, the games that were played by the children in the students have changed too. In the past, such child games were played without special attention from the adults and were done so for pleasure unlike current games played under supervision of adults. Besides, the players seek reputation in the game as fans turn to cheer and jeer them. Besides, childhood has also changed in the perspective of child’s language, desires as well as attitude. Children speak as adults; have attitudes and desires resembling those of adults and even have physical similarities with adults. According to the writer, the above mentioned behaviors prompted some activist groups in U.S. to lobby for the amendment of children rights to resemble those of the adults. Such a bill would ensure that mandatory child education is phased out as such a law only oppressed the subjects against their wish of fully participating in societal issues. The change of children’s behavior is also manifested in the eleven thousand percent increase in crime rates among children under the age of fifteen between 1950 -1979.

The disappearances of shame, literacy as well as education have all affected childhood in one way or another. To begin with, the transformation of social literacy to craft literacy enhanced discrimination of children based on their social class. Social literacy empowered all the children to read and write unlike craft literacy which favored children from privileged class. Through reading, the permanent end of childhood was imminent since children could access secrets meant for adults. However, this was only possible with non-literature sources as literature ensured proper collection and storage of cultural shielding the children from accessing them. Generally, literacy contributed to the end of childhood, a fact supported by Locke who argues that illiteracy and childhood are inseparable.

On the other hand, shame also has effects on the disappearance of childhood. Firstly, it has always been the role of adults in the society to keep some things away from children’s access. However, this has changed in the modern society and shame is never an issue nowadays. For instance, the children of minor ages of twelve and thirteen are currently used in sexually-enticing advertisements in the U.S where they are lucratively remunerated. Moreover, children should also be shielded from specific facets of life including violence, contradictions, mysteries as well as tragedies that they are supposed to know at their younger age. It is considered shameful for adults to reveal such secrets to the minors. According to Quintilian, adults should be blushing especially when talking to the children on issues considered secretive such as sexual secrets. This notion has however changed lately thereby phasing off the idea of childhood. It is therefore noteworthy that childhood can never exist where the idea of shame is not well developed.

Besides, education has also fuelled the disappearance of childhood idea. It is believed that education transforms an individual from childhood to adulthood. According to Rousseau, man is improved by education just as plants by cultivation. In the past, there was no such an idea as provision of education tor the minors. Children were taken to schools at an age of seven or better still, ten when they were considered old enough to be independent. It was believed that education empowered the minors to reason as adults and be able to perform things the same way as their seniors. However, the modern world encourages the provision of education to children at an earlier age.

Finally, industrialization also contributed to the disappearance of childhood. At the outset, the eighteenth century industrialization necessitated the use of children in factories as well as mining sites since they could provide cheap labor. This forestalled the rapid development of education, literacy as well as childhood in England in the seventeenth century.

However, the idea of childhood can not be stopped, not now. For instance, the middle and upper class society protected and nurtured the childhood in England amid challenges posed by civilization. The idea of childhood thereafter spread widely in Europe in the late eighteenth century. Consequently, schools were invented in Europe where childhood was made compulsory as a result of European civilization. The things that used to undermine childhood in the past have to change. In 1780 for instance, both adults and children were treated similarly. Children were subjected to sentence for hanging just like adults. This according to Charles Dickens did not and could not deter or destroy the idea of childhood.

Generally, the idea of childhood has swerved through series transformation since the beginning of sixteenth century. The children’s behavior, way of dressing, degree of discipline as well as language has immensely changed due to changes in levels of literacy, education as well as civilization. Moreover, the disappearance of shame has also contributed to the disappearance of childhood. However, some thinkers believe that the idea of childhood can never fade away permanently as measures are already in place to revive the idea.