Social and economic changes affect children indirectly, through the modifications they engender in parental behavior. No-fault divorce laws, for example, made divorce easier and led to a substantial increase in the number of separated families. In contrast to social and economic change, technological change can impact children directly without…

The author suggests that a balanced view of freedom tempered with constraint can overcome barriers to the human potentials movement. (Author/WY)

The modern school reflected modern society and the nuclear family; today's school mirrors the kinship structure and values of postmodern society and the permeable family. Assumptions of sociological differences, particularity, and irregularity are supplanting modernist beliefs in social progress, universality, and regularity. Children's competence…

Children are becoming a luxury (or an economic liability) for postmodern parents. For some parents, child rearing is a recreational activity ranking low on the priority list. As parents abrogate more responsibilities to the schools, society will have to allocate more funds for education. Even teens and college students need more adult-organized…

Though our larger society feels its traditional values are threatened, the push for character education is motivated by moral concerns and is inappropriate for the school curriculum. Benefits of moral education have not been demonstrated and consume valuable instruction time better served by other topics. Moral values are best taught by example in…

This paper declares war against the miseducation of young children, who learn best through direct encounters rather than through formalized inculcation of symbolic rules. A variety of socioeconomic forces (including the civil rights and women's movements) are forcing preschoolers into learning environments originally designed for school-age…

Considers the information revolution a force for social change which will transform family structure, educational modes, and increase pressure on young adolescents to grow up quickly. (Author/DB)

Describes changes in the family and society between the modern (first half of the century) and the postmodern period (second half). Presents sentiments, values, and perceptions of the modern nuclear family and the postmodern permeable family, and how early childhood education has been defined by each. Discusses current disputes over what form of…

The modern nuclear family, often idyllically portrayed as a refuge and a retreat from a demanding world, is fast disappearing. In its stead is a new structure, the postmodern permeable family, that mirrors the openness, complexity, and diversity of contemporary lifestyles. This book examines the postmodern family and finds evidence of an emerging…

Public schools have mirrored postmodern social transformations that have challenged our provincial notions of common values and defined roles. Postmodern innovations-inclusion, multiculturalism, full-day kindergarten, character education, and distance education--are the offspring of our new cosmopolitan society. Most have greater social than…

Postmodern social changes, ways these changes have contributed to the assumption of additional child-rearing functions by schools, and the modeling role of Catholic and other religious schools are discussed. Controversies in secular and religious schools arise from the transition from modern to postmodern values, not from parents'/schools' bad…

One of the many positive consequences of the transition to a postmodern society is the increased recognition of the range of individual differences among children of the same age. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the postmodern reinvention of childhood, focusing on ages 4 through 8 years. The book's introductory chapter describes the…