Discourses in Childhood

There are various discourses of childhood that help us understand how childhood is viewed and how children themselves are seen. It is important to also look outside the system world and look towards the life worlds as it gives a more realistic view of various childhoods and shows how diverse the concept of childhood is because children do not share the same experiences. Regardless if you are looking at the system or life world the notions of rights, opportunities and capabilities are often discussed. These notions aids us in understanding childhood, however they can often obstruct us as well.

The purpose of this assignment is to closely observe the development of a child through an interview and apply the theories and concept of child development in his particular cultural and educational context. I selected the child who lives in my neighborhood for the interview and began with seeking the permission from his parents. The child’s name is ‘Abdullah’ and he is seven years old. He lives with his family in Terre Haute and his family consists of parents and two sisters. Abdullah goes to Sugar Grove Elementary School in the Terre Haute city along with his two sisters and he is in grade 2. The interview was conducted at his home and I ensured his convenience. He was cooperative and provided insightful responses to the questions and he provided significant detail in the interview. I was able to track his development stages and connect it to different theories of Developmental Psychology including psychoanalytical perspectives and Piaget’s stages of development. In the following paragraphs, I will explain my observations about Abdullah’s development in the light of developmental theories with special focus on cognitive, social, linguistic, and emotional development followed by making connections between his socioeconomic and cultural background and development. Lastly, I will conclude paper by highlighting that the observations during the interview can facilitate my future practice as a teacher.

Childhood, in the 21st century, has become the center of attention because of the highly influential book “Centuries of Childhood” published in the year 1960. In the book, Aries (1960) argued that the concept has been created by the modern history and further indicated that children were considered as mini-adults before the 17th century. According to Dr. Montgomery (2013), the childhood in 1970s and 80s have enormously transformed in terms of their treatment and their lives. Moreover, Dr. Montgomery revealed the contemporary and historical differences in the terms childhood. For instance, children in the 21st century have fewer responsibilities and their lives are characterized by school, play, consumption and family instead of paid labor, work, production and public life. This implies that the standards of childhood differ on the basis of economic setting and traditions of the societies.

During early modern Europe, children were viewed in many different ways which changed how parents chose to raise their children. During the 1500’s, the mortality rates for children were high, therefore children were viewed as if they were adults and very precious if they survived, many people believed that they needed to treat children harshly to make them strong. In the 1600’s, children were raised tenderly as they were rational beings that could use reason. Children were viewed in many ways during early modern Europe to be rational, precious, and in need of guidance where these views determined the parents’ choice in child rearing to behaving harshly to kind guidance.

A discourse community is said to be resistant to internal criticism and self-scrutiny because all ideas that severely contrast the values and beliefs within the community are defined as being on the outside, as demonstrated in the texts. “The Discourse itself defines what counts as acceptable criticism” (Gee 162). All of the articles use similar rhetorical strategies by describing a problem in shared thinking; the common conception that the

Childhood studies is a subject area surrounding the study of children’s lives through many different concepts or ideas with many different features. It is related to many different fields such as law, history, sociology, health, anthropology and much more as Martin Woodhead (Open University) said “It uses multiple methods rather than just singular methods” and is “inter-disciplinary” Childhood studies expresses and tries to understand the many different parts of a child’s life and the different issues surrounding childhood, therefore it has many different features.

Therefore by arguing that childhood is social constructed, the “new sociology of childhood” enables one to understand young people from a different perspective. Such notions of childhood innocence, vulnerability, helplessness, economic dependence among others are scrutinized with regard to broader structural forces. Thus young people even though by virtue of their biological and psychological make-up may be similar across all cultures, what they are expected to do or how they view themselves differ from place to place, situation to situation. For instance even though the United Nations universalize childhood by defining it as,   “Childhood is the time for children to be in school and at play, to grow strong and confident with the love and encouragement of their family and an extended community of caring adults” (UNICEF 2005).

The article is very informative and well written in a use of standard grammars, clear, and persuasive paragraphs. Each paragraph has lots of details that support each topic. The tone of the article is very serious and emotional because the child who feels secure and safe is more confident and positive than neglected children. The author wants to convey the message to the audience about how parent-child and peer relation is important for the young children because it can influence the growth of child development.

During the years 1850-1950 childhood began to take shape as the model we recognise as childhood currently. Children were removed from factories and put into schools, children’s clothing, furniture, literature and games were developed; law also changed to recognise childhood. The stereotypical family also developed during this period (Postman 1994:67). Childhood became a birthright, due to theories such as, Piaget’s (1896-1980) theory of cognitive development childhood came to defined as a biological state as well as psychological (Postman 1994:67). Postman (1994:74/75) argues that childhood became obsolete at the same time that it was perceived as a permanent fixture, 1950. He choose this time as it coincides with the rise of television; as he believes it is through television that the divide between adulthood and childhood can be seen most clearly.

Language is an extensively complex topic. To effectively engage in a variety of social contexts one must be well versed in both the concept of 'Discourse' (so capitalised because of James Gee's discrimination between 'discourse' as "connected stretches of language that makes sense" and 'Discourse,' as a concept made up of various discourses as described by David Green, 2006, pp. 3 ), and the basic principles and 'codes' (Bernstein, 1960, as cited by Green, 2006) of the Discourse appropriate to each situation one encounters. A deficient working knowledge of the situational discourse leaves you vulnerable as what Green continues on to describe as an 'outsider' and therefore subject to being classified and treated as inferior. It is important to avoid a reflectively tyrannical system occurring within the classroom setting, as it leads to devaluing of individual children's culture and home Discourse through the process of placing them in direct conflict with the institutional school Discourse (Gee, 1990, Michaels 1981, as cited by Green, 2006).

Bartsch K & Wellman, HM. (1989). Children Talk About the Mind. New York, NY: Oxford University Press

Ideologically, children have become the focus of a moral panic, in which the media have played a crucial role. Media presentations of children have metamorphosed them from the innocent ‘sugar and spice’ angels, reminiscent of the iconography of “Bubbles” in the Pears’ soap advertisement, into inherently evil demons who, typifying Britain’s declining moral standards, seem incapable of distinguishing right from wrong (4-5).

the world, for example in India when a girl is 16-17 years old she is

Relating to Gee’s definition of a primary Discourse, he states that the environment in which a child first acclimates to holds heavy influence in how that child proceeds to live out their life. Essentially, based on his findings, he offers the idea that once a primary Discourse is established, it’s extremely difficult to branch out in acquiring the secondary Discourses that are main-stream within public school systems. He essentially offers the idea acquisition of skills that conflict primary discourse values is nearly impossible through learning in a classroom, thus making the role of a teacher to be somewhat null. In contrast to Gee’s article, while respecting his theoretical definition and research on Discourse, Lisa Delpit’s article titled

To start with an overview of social constructionism in very general terms leads to build understandings of child and childhood in a social world more explicitly. Notion of social construction is defined in diverse disciplines and instead of generating a description there are a number of thoughts. “It is sometimes called a movement, at other times a position, a theory, a theoretical orientation, an approach; psychologists remain unsure of its status (Stam 2001, p. 294)”. Vivien (1995, p. 10) points the origin of social constructionism stems from two to three hundred years ago in the period of enlightenment, modernism and postmodernism. By all means, Berger and Luckmann’ (1966) book The Social