Ray Ciervo Ministries

Neil Postman is one of my favorite authors. His work, Amusing Ourselves to Death, is a must read for every American truly concerned about the culture we live in. Now, when I find an author I like I hunt down more of his works. With web sites like Amazon.com it's not too hard to find some.

I've read several of Postman's books that span almost twenty years. Amusing caught some social theorists' attention and brought him some notoriety. His book, The Disappearance of Childhood, really brought some things home to me.

In Disappearance, he gives a "history" of childhood. Basically, discusses how children have been viewed and treated throughout history. I thought he had some very interesting insights and information. However, what has made me think is the way we are viewing and treating children today.

Postman posits that certain knowledge and information is no longer kept away from children. Comments like, "You're not old enough to know that" are not commonplace any more. In fact, Postman makes the point that with cable TV and the internet children have the access to the same information that anyone else has.

One particular point he made was how parents and other concerned adults would not let children see certain adult behavior. The reasoning behind this was to teach children that certain emotions or appetites ought to be under control. Besides this, there was the understanding that learning certain things ought to be orderly and sequential. Furthermore there was the idea that when appetites and emotions are out of control there were some heavy consequences to pay. However, with this new access and a liberal view of knowledge this is no longer true. Now children see adults with appetites and emotions out of control with no serious consequences. So now we see violence on the rise committed by adolescents. We see shootings, rapes, robberies and the like more and more.

There is no more "ought to" when it comes to behavior. Junior doesn't have to control his emotions because Uncle Jack doesn't either. This Postman says is one serious cause in the disappearance of childhood.