Scan barcode
A review by jbethke
The Disappearance of Childhood by Neil Postman
3.0
3.5 stars
I listened to this on audio, so I was doing laundry, dishes and chasing kids while listening. This book was very challenging to me, I found myself nodding in agreement with many parts, yet perplexed at Postman's attitudes during other parts.
Overall, I enjoyed the challenging of the culture (that is, the culture of 1981 and 1993). I think the main difference I have is worldview from the author. I am a Christian mom who chooses to homeschool, and so I approached this work with positivity, of course I want to preserve childhood!
The early chapters of this book describe the Middle Ages, and the time period where there was no childhood, young people and adult coexisted with the same exposure to the world, and the same social expectations were upon both groups of people. To summarize his point, the emergence of the printing press and widespread literacy created two separate groups of people, those who can read and understand the new "secret world" and those who could not.
Being a Christian, my knowledge of the Bible tells me that there are many stories and commandments about young people, including many that say to instruct the young, and Jewish tradition which has a set structure for young people being considered mature, so I am suspicious of Postman's narrow definition of the creation of childhood, yet I admit I have not researched this myself.
Towards the end of the book, Postman speaks in depth about the media, and it's influence on culture, including the blurring of lines between childhood and adulthood. I agree mostly with him, especially since my memory of the world is not too keen considering I was eight years old the year the new edition of the book was released. I can only guess his current comments at the age of the internet, social media and the like (it would be very interesting and I would check it out if a new edition was released).
Going on, he describes his disdain of the "moral majority" and "fundamentalists", and much of his criticism I agree with. He goes on to say that the Children's Rights movement is interested in abolishing compulsory schooling, as children should have the right to choose how they spend their time, and also that the spread of technology makes schools unnecessary. He does not spend much time on this topic, and to be fair homeschooling was not done much or legally at the time of the first edition, but I feel like Postman neglects to see how homeschooling has the ability to extend childhood, protect children from adult things, and allow for freedom and preservation of playtime and childlike things. I feel that if he knew the extent that media and technology are taking hold of schools, and that things like recess are being taken away, he might agree.
Overall, I enjoyed being challenged in my thoughts, I do wish he would have put more emphasis on why it is important to have separate child and adult worlds through the lens of psychology and development, I feel like that was a missed opportunity.
I listened to this on audio, so I was doing laundry, dishes and chasing kids while listening. This book was very challenging to me, I found myself nodding in agreement with many parts, yet perplexed at Postman's attitudes during other parts.
Overall, I enjoyed the challenging of the culture (that is, the culture of 1981 and 1993). I think the main difference I have is worldview from the author. I am a Christian mom who chooses to homeschool, and so I approached this work with positivity, of course I want to preserve childhood!
The early chapters of this book describe the Middle Ages, and the time period where there was no childhood, young people and adult coexisted with the same exposure to the world, and the same social expectations were upon both groups of people. To summarize his point, the emergence of the printing press and widespread literacy created two separate groups of people, those who can read and understand the new "secret world" and those who could not.
Being a Christian, my knowledge of the Bible tells me that there are many stories and commandments about young people, including many that say to instruct the young, and Jewish tradition which has a set structure for young people being considered mature, so I am suspicious of Postman's narrow definition of the creation of childhood, yet I admit I have not researched this myself.
Towards the end of the book, Postman speaks in depth about the media, and it's influence on culture, including the blurring of lines between childhood and adulthood. I agree mostly with him, especially since my memory of the world is not too keen considering I was eight years old the year the new edition of the book was released. I can only guess his current comments at the age of the internet, social media and the like (it would be very interesting and I would check it out if a new edition was released).
Going on, he describes his disdain of the "moral majority" and "fundamentalists", and much of his criticism I agree with. He goes on to say that the Children's Rights movement is interested in abolishing compulsory schooling, as children should have the right to choose how they spend their time, and also that the spread of technology makes schools unnecessary. He does not spend much time on this topic, and to be fair homeschooling was not done much or legally at the time of the first edition, but I feel like Postman neglects to see how homeschooling has the ability to extend childhood, protect children from adult things, and allow for freedom and preservation of playtime and childlike things. I feel that if he knew the extent that media and technology are taking hold of schools, and that things like recess are being taken away, he might agree.
Overall, I enjoyed being challenged in my thoughts, I do wish he would have put more emphasis on why it is important to have separate child and adult worlds through the lens of psychology and development, I feel like that was a missed opportunity.