The Progression of Childhood Over 100 Years

The

Progression of Childhood OVER

100

years

IDS 302 J IRY IS SHAHEEN GRAPHIC NOVEL / 2 01 0

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Oh, Hi.

I!m kinda like a spirit, but like, of Time.

I!m here to help YOU.

ANYWAY!

I!m Eric I!m a pretty big deal.

See, the thing is, history is , well, HUGE. And the best way to understand it is through kids.

So let me take you back in time, and then I!ll bring you back. We can chill, and check out the difference of lifestyles children had from the late 1800!s to modern day.

I!ll show you children's work life, play life, family life, and school life. I hope you!re ready, cause traveling through time is intense

LETS GO 1800’S

ZZWWAAPP ZZWWAAPP

WHOA

I totally forgot how different this time period was from modern day. ................................

The Development of the Industrial United States (1870-1900)

....ANYWAY

Play

Marbles, dice, Jacob!s ladder, tops, jump rope. These are the games these children played.

Poor kids, I don!t know how they lived without Halo.*1

Work

Family

Families were often self-reliant, growing their own food, making their own clothing. Up until the rise of the machine.

They lived a very busy lifestyle, Family life was uniform, Adults viewed children as little adults, placing high standards and pressure on children.*2

Once the century turned, machines and factories began to employ children into dangerous jobs. *5

Formal schooling was largely restricted to those who could afford to pay. So Suzie over here can!t go to school. Even if she did, she would be placed with children of different ages, placing her at a disadvantage *1

School

American public education suffered from the fact that more than twothirds of the nation's schools were rural, one-room schoolhouses

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Schoolhouse teachers who usually had little formal education themselves faced the daunting task of instructing students who ranged in age from five to twenty years old.*1

children were supposed to go to school until the age of 16; however, most kids never finished the 8th grade. "They went to work in factories, farms and coal mines to help their families.*16

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The early 20th century a time of uncertainty, but kids had it better.

Well, looks like we!re here. Boy oh boy , what change in atmosphere. Vaguely transitioning from 1900 to 1950#s. This was the period of the world"wars. A time of"uncertainty"and"insecurity. A time when when traditional values were being questioned.*6, 15

WORK

PLAY Technology and Pop Culture exploded beyond the scope of anything anyone else had ever seen, making it possible for everyone in the country to listen to the same show on the radio or watch the same stars in film. The toys, and games, reflected the boom. *19

Good news though, child labor laws came into existence.

Hurray! Now kids could do chores, or go to school!! *18

This left children more time to play with new toys based on current culture. *19 1938, that Congress passed the Fair Labor Standard Act. It set the minimum age at 14 for employment outside of school hours in nonmanufacturing jobs, at 16 for employment during school hours, and 18 for hazardous occupations. *18

Family structure and lifestyle changed drastically during this period. Since so much constantly changed (the depression, the wars, the culture) family structure was difficult to maintain.

However, families still found time to enjoy life. Playing games, and passing time with neighbors

During the worst part of the early 20th century, school life for children was bleak. Not enough money was available to offer a strong education

SCHOOL

FAMILY

One or both parents left the home looking for work. With money being tight, and parents working to make ends meet, children began to become not only physically independent, buy psychologically deserted. *19

schools went through hard times in the 1930s.

The value of farm land plummeted, and that meant that property taxes that supported schools fell as well. During the Great Depression, some school districts couldn't pay their teachers. *18

Here we go, now things are picking up.

1950!s to 1990!s.

Family Life The idea of traditional families begins to get fragmented for children.

Divorce is on the rise, birthrates decline towards the 80!s, single parent households and stay at home dads come about. Unwed parents, gay parents and remarried parents complicate the family structure. These complexities impacted childhood life. *17

The classroom dramatically progressed in reconstruction from the 1950!s to the 1990!s. It shifted from being teachercentered, using fragmented curriculum students working in isolation, and memorizing facts, to more alternative techniques, in a real-life, relevant , project-based atmosphere. *21,*11

School Life

The late 20th century an age of anxiety, searching for meaning and unity *6

PLAY

By this time children!s work life had been strictly domesticated.

Children would not be able to work until 15 years of age.

Therefore allowance was a good way to acquire money to spend on luxuries. *12

Children's play life began to take on electronic form. The play atmosphere began to shift from physical to mental.

Children were now exposed to a new world of gaming and fantasy. *3, *5

Toys away Mow grass

Work

Fold Laundry

vacuum wash dishes

$

$

$

The early 21st century a culture of mixed mindsets, a world of media. *6 Best time to be a kid. Get 50 bucks to mow a lawn. Get an Ipod for X-mas.

Have hundreds of friends by just clicking a few buttons. The 90!s were neat, but this is the life.

SCHOOL LIFE

Students are digital learners – they literally take in the world via the filter of computing devices:! the cellular phones, handheld gaming devices, PDAs, and laptops home.

Schools in the 21st century are laced with a project-based curriculum for life aimed at engaging students in addressing real-world problems, issues important to humanity, and questions that matter.

Here is the curriculum: - Media Literacy Skills - The Global Classroom - Green Education *11, *4

FAMILY LIFE

American Society has witnessed an evolution in family structure. Single parenthood, adoptive households, stepparenting, stay-at-home fathers, grandparents raising children, homosexual parents, teen mothers, and blended families make up the majority of American structure.

Families are having fewer children than ever, but children are often staying home longer. There has been an incline in divorces and a decline in marriages. *17

Yet, with all the dramatic positives and luxuries, it looks like kids are beginning to feel the negatives of reality. Pressures of new environments, expectations, and responsibilities. Families are leaving kids feeling alone and vulnerable.

PLAY LIFE

Play life is now completely entangled with entertainment. Pop culture/ media pushed the toy industry and they both make loads of money on kids buying Twilight Scene It dvd games. The fantasy mindset of gaming in the 90!s carried through and evolved into a virtual life mindset. Now kids can live two lives, one real, the other digital.*4

But can kids handle this type of role?

Has the course of history and society placed children in a position of social suicide? Less human contact.

Emphasis on self gratification.

Options beyond their wildest dreams.

Kids have transcended into a position of control. It is what they buy, what they watch, and what they like/ dislike, that effects the economy.

WORK LIFE

Even though there are laws regulating under age work, technology has made it possible to make a buck. Kids are able to obtain online data entry jobs, start blogs, make money on youtube, and much more. The internet sets up securities for such things, but with the changing times, children find ways around them. *4, 18

Looking back on the progression of childhood over the past 100 years, we see dramatic changes in the topics of work life, school life, play life, and family life. Our interdisciplinary understanding of these topics has allowed us to take away both positives and negatives of each period of time.

However, one thing is for certain. Children are continually progressing in their effect on culture, as well as being effected by culture. *17,18,19

Well, it was good while it lasted. I!m Eric. And now I!m off to observe, and take on the spirit form of time.

POUND IT. laterz

REFERENCE REFERENCES

1)MacLeod, Anne Scott. American Childhood: Essays on Children's Literature of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1994. http://www.enotes.com/american-history-literature/childhood 2) Sealander, Judith. The Failed Century of the Child: Governing America's Young in the Twentieth Century. New York: Cambridge University, 2003. http://chnm.gmu.edu/cyh/case-studies/122 3) Strickland, Charles. (1984). The Rise and fall of modern American childhood: Reflections on the history of childhood in the twentieth century. Atlanta, GA: Emory University, Department of History. http://web.grinnell.edu/courses/mitc/vandergr/201%20Web%20site/History%20of%20Childhood.htm 4) Tapscott, Don (2008). Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World. McGraw-Hill. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Z 5) class lectures 6) Humanities 7) FFFFound.com 8) http://www.dccomics.com/sites/essential30/ 9) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Miller_%28comics%29 10) http://bookshelf.diamondcomics.com/graphicnovelnotebook/?p= 58 11) Kellner, Douglas; New Media and New Literacies: Reconstructing Education for the New Millennium 12) Grant, Jodi, Director of the After School Alliance; Fourteen Million Kids, Unsupervised 13) McLeod, Scott, Dangerously Irrelevant 14) Time, Learning and Afterschool Task Force, A New Day for Learning 15) Belasco, James A., Teaching the Elephant to Dance, 1991 16) "Labor Days" Centenarians. ed. Bernard Edelman. New York: Farrar, 1999.

17) Douglas, Ann. The Feminization of American Culture. 1976. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998.

18) Strickland, Charles. (1984). The Rise and fall of modern American childhood: Reflections on the history of childhood in the twentieth century. Atlanta, GA: Emory University, Department of History.

19) Suransky, Valerie. (1982). The erosion of childhood. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

20) Calhoun, Arthur W. (1945) A social history of the american family: The colonial period (Vol. 1). New York: Barnes and Noble.

21) Popenoe, David. 1988. Disturbing the Nest: Family Change and Decline in Modern Societies. New York: A. de Gruter.