 
UC
Berkeley professor's book on childhood in America helps define
the country's past, future
18
Jan 2000
By
Janet Gilmore, Public Affairs
BERKELEY--The
new millennium has spawned countless articles chronicling leading
figures in history, important technological advances and key
historical events.
But,
according to two University of California, Berkeley, professors,
how America views children is perhaps the best indicator of
how far we've come, where we're headed and who we are.
In
their new book, "Childhood in America: Past and Present,"
history professor Paula S. Fass and social welfare professor
Mary Ann Mason write that, "The means we devise to teach
and to socialize children and to protect them define who we
think we are as human beings and as a society."
Their
book, released this month (New York University Press, $24.99),
is an anthology comprised of social reports, book excerpts,
court papers, laws and other data that document the history
of American children over the last 400 years, with emphasis
on the last 200 years.
"Our
treatment of children has changed as we have changed,"
said Mason.
Parents
today tend to view their children as dependable emotional assets,
said Fass, and a link to the community via school and sports.
"Our
children provide a means for emotional identification and connection
for each of us as our community structures and even family relations
become more tenuous," she said. "Our identities have
become very bound up with our children."
Both
Fass and Mason agree that the emotional value of children has
increased dramatically despite, and perhaps because of, the
breakdown of marriage.
This
contrasts sharply with the 18th century and early 19th century
when far fewer parents were divorced and children were viewed
as economic assets. Back then, many middle class children obtained
little schooling. They toiled away in the fields or in the household
industry, earning wages that were the property of their parents.
"People
lived so close to the bone in terms of survival that they had
to use every hand they could find," said Mason.
Orphans
and other children fared far worse - one-fifth of all children
were slaves, the property of their masters.
In
the middle of the 19th century, during the Industrial Revolution,
middle-class households changed. Fathers went off to work in
the cities, and mothers took on the duty of supervising the
children at home. In law and social attitudes, the authors contend,
mothers were elevated as child nurturers and caretakers of children.
"The
Victorian mother and child came to dominate sentimental representations
of family life," according to the book.
During
the second half of the 19th century, women gained legal rights
to their children, including the ability to gain custody of
their children following divorce.
Still,
it was not until the end of the 19th century and beginning of
the 20th century that adults began to value children for their
emotional worth. Children were viewed as an investment for a
brighter future.
It
was then that new child labor laws were enacted, allowing for
longer schooling. Schools and other institutions began to emphasize
play. Parents were having fewer children and were expected to
put more emphasis into raising those children.
Children
were viewed as tender innocents in need of nurturing and protection.
And it was during this era that scientific theories of optimal
child rear practices first emerged.
Today,
parents have become more skeptical of faddish child-rearing
theories, the authors contend, and busy schedules prevent many
middle-class parents from devoting much time to researching
the latest child psychology theories.
And
while parents may not spend as much time with their children
as they'd like, Fass said, the parents' need for that strong
emotional bond is more important than ever.
"Our
children provide a means for emotional identification and connection
for each of us as our community structures and even family relations
become more tenuous," Fass said. "Our identities have
become very bound up with our children."
History
shows that Americans always have used children as a means toward
an end. The authors said that children are used to make laws,
to make points, and used as convenient symbols of our better
selves.
Meanwhile,
Mason said, more and more children are being neglected, live
in poverty and have inadequate medical care. The attention,
Mason and Fass agreed, should be redirected from a single person
focusing on a single child to a society focusing on all the
nation's children.
Said
Fass, "We as a society need to become more careful about
the lives and futures of all our children as a common endeavor."
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