Professor Emily D. Cahan
Longwood 12; Ext. 2166
e-mail: ecahan@wheelock.edu
Home phone: 781-648-3261
(
Office Hours: By appointment.
This course is an introduction to the
ways in which Americans have thought about children, families, and
government – how children should be
raised to be good citizens, protected from harm’s way, punished for
wrongdoings, helped if troubled, cared for if otherwise left alone, protected
from abuse, and in other ways served (sometimes well, sometimes not-so-well) by
the practices of adults and public policies.
This course examines the history of expertise about children in American
history. Who were the experts in
child-rearing in earlier times and what did they think? Who are they now? Numerous institutions such as orphan asylums,
orphan trains, Child Guidance Clinics, the Juvenile Court, and Head Start have
emerged to serve children’s interests.
We will read, think, discuss, and write about the strengths and
weaknesses of these and other institutions.
An examination of the past always brings to light our values in the
present moment. In that sense, this
course is about the present as much as it is about the past. We will read,
talk, and write about how adults have defined and redefined what’s “good” for
children. What are children’s “best
interests” and how do we know? We will
look at the slow but steady growth in the role of government in children’s
lives by looking at the changing relationships over time between children,
families, and government, mindful of variations in class, race, and gender.
A
FEW OBJECTIVES OF THE COURSE. At the end of the course, students
should be able to:
·
Learning to analyze and critic
·
Identify, describe and critic
·
Write an analytical paper using both
primary and secondary sources that balances evidence with historical argument.
·
Read more incisively and with more
purpose.
·
Speak in an articulate manner about
history and children.
·
Appreciate and understand the
differences between primary sources and secondary sources as different kinds of
evidence for historical analysis.
·
Appreciate the roles that social class,
gender, and race have played in the delivery of professional services for
children and families.
Class
Formats:
The principle methods of instruction are
informal lectures, group discussions, in and out of class exercises, and
presentation and discussion of a few videotapes. An additional source for your
instruction will emerge from your written assignments and the feedback you
receive from both the instructor. Our
work and our enjoyment of this class depends upon many factors, the most
important of which is the creation and maintenance of a trusting and
non-threatening environment in which
The instructor expects that
One can
argue that historical understanding is achieved through evidence,
interpretation, and ultimately a kind of empathy. Just as you must sometimes adjust your own
perspective in order to understand a young child’s point of view so must you
“decenter” (Piaget) from your own point of view in understanding others so you must “decenter” from the present moment
in order to appreciate the past and its meanings. In reading, thinking, and
speaking about history, you must ask yourself “why did these people in the past
think and do what they did? What did
they think they were doing? What were
the consequences – intended and unintended?”
And THEN you may exercise your own critical analysis of the events of the
past and any interpretations of that past that you might have. Just like every other academic discipline,
history relies on evidence and interpretation to construct claims of truth. Ultimately, we learn about ourselves and how
we came to be who we are when we look back to our predecessors. You will learn
about both the professional traditions of the human services and the ideologies
that supported professions and practices with children and families.
You
do many things when you read or write about history. You learn about what
happened in the past as well as how other people have written about the
past. History IS NOT a dry
chronology of events (though dates are often important and chronologies are
sometimes useful). The “records” or
“facts” of the past are first found in
Please note: For every class, I have provided a short
forecast of the readings and a list of questions. These questions serve three purposes: 1) to raise particular important issues to
help guide you through the reading; 2) to provide questions to which you may
address your Reaction Papers, and, 3) to provide springboards for our class
discussions.
COURSE
REQUIREMENTS.
Specific requirements for this course
include:
1)
I strongly encourage you to work with a
classmate or two outside of class to talk about the readings. Keep in
mind: learning is a collaborative
experience! You learn best by teaching
each other! These collaborations may
include on-line discussions of course materials (stay tuned).
2.)
Writing assignments: All writing assignments
are to be completed in a timely fashion.
1.
Reponse Essays. All students will submit a total of five
Reponse Essays distributed across the semester. You may choose
whatever specific topics you wish to write about from within the range of the
course material. The questions posed
for each class suggests some conceptual structure to your papers.
What
is a Response Essay? These 5-6 page essays are intended to help
you understand and think about what you have read and what we discuss. They should describe key ideas from the
assigned readings, address at least some of the questions posed on the
syllabus, and raise issues for further discussion. The key to writing these essays is to combine
summary with evaluation or judgment. In
order to do so, you must write with historical perspective. i.e. a perspective
that places your topic in its historical context. For example, Puritan child-rearing practices
will likely strike you as being harsh, even cruel or abusive to children from
your present point of view. But in their
own times, these practices made sense in the culture of Puritan New
England. Be very careful, or at least
conscious of the possibility that you may be projecting your own values onto
the values held in past times. In doing,
you are not responding with true historical perspective.
In these essays you will present evidence
from the readings to build arguments that support your conclusions. You may
also comment on anything in the readings that struck you as especi
In terms of content, the Response Papers
may take one of several forms within the basic format of an essay. You might
want to respond to some suggested questions that I pose for each class; you
might agree or disagree with the argument presented in your readings and
discuss why you agree or disagree; you might draw out of certain implications
of a given argument, ideology, or social policy; you may write a letter to the
editor of your newspaper on a policy-related matter related to our
reading. While some summarizing is
necessary to structure your paper, these essays must balance summary with
reflection, judgment, and evaluation. You might want to conclude your essay by asking yourself “How did this reading change
the way I think about a particular aspect of childhood? What new issues did the readings raise that I
have never before considered?” When
appropriate, you may include reflections on your own experiences as they relate
to the historical issues we are studying.
Your
written work will be evaluated along several dimensions or standards: 1) All
papers should show a coherent balance
between evidence, interpretation, and judgment. 2) All papers must be written in a manner
consistent with the style and mechanics of standard, formal English. 3) All
papers must use relevant quotations or close paraphrasing from the readings to
support your argument. 4) All papers must contain citations to those readings
that you quote. 5) References to the
works quoted are to be listed either at the end of the paper or on a separate
page. 4) All papers must be turned in on
time.
2. Final Exam. The exam will be in two parts. You will be given some identifications or
short answer questions. The second part of the exam will be in essay format. You will be given a choice of essays. These questions will be designed to
FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS ONLY:
Your final paper (10-15) pages) will
be an extension of one of your Response Essays.
This paper is an extension, in length and depth of one of your shorter
papers. For this final paper, you are
required to use sources outside of the required readings (e.g. consult some of
the recommended reading or do some library research on your topic). Due: December 9.
3) Attendance.
Attendance is critical to your own success and enjoyment of the course. You are required to attend
4) Participation. As mentioned above, active participation is
the key to true and even joyful learning.
We
Grading: The
evaluation of each student will be based on active, meaningful, and sincere
participation in class discussion and on the quality of the written
assignments. Your papers will be graded on the basis of both content and
mechanics as well as the quality of your evidence and argumentation. You are
Response
Papers: 40%
Preparation
for and Participation in class: 40%
Final
Exam: 20%
Students with disabilities needing academic
accommodations should notify the instructor as soon as possible. Students are
also encouraged to
contact
the Coordinator of Disability Services (ext. 2304). To receive academic
accommodations at
TEXTBOOKS
Books are available at the Harvard Medical Coop (
Required:
Muncy,
R. (1991) Creating a female dominion
in American reform, 1890- 1935.
Recommended:
Coontz,
S. (1992/2000)The Way We Never Were.
Jones,
Kathleen (1999) Taming the
troublesome child: American families, child guidance, and the limits of
psychiatric authority.
In
addition to the texts cited above, a Reading Packet will be made available for
purchase from the instructor.
Schedule
of Classes,
Tuesday, September 9.
Introduction to Course, Class, and
Classmates.
The
history of children and families is a new and thriving field of study. Just two years ago, a new scholarly group,
the Society for the History of Children and Youth was founded. The articles listed below provides you with
an introduction to how and why one studies both history and the history of
children and families by pioneers in the field.
The Lerner piece is an extremely thoughtful commentary on the value of
understanding history in shaping our own identities.
Lerner,
G. (1997) “Why history matters.” In History
Matters.
In class exercise: Where do we see the presence of local, state,
and federal government in the lives of children today?
Tuesday, September 16. Children,
Families, and Community in a Young Nation.
Family
life in Colonial America differed in profound ways from family life in
contemporary
Questions: How would your life have
been different if you lived in the Colonial period? Why?
What was the role of fathers, mothers and the community in caring for
the child? Whose responsibility was the
child? What did “family privacy” mean to
the Puritans?
Demos,
J. (1973) Infancy and Childhood in the
Bremner.
R. (ed.) (1970) Selections from Children
in the Colonial Family. In Children
and Youth in
32 (begin with “Honor Thy Father…” – 34 (stop
at Section 4)
36 (begin with “The Trouble with the
Younger Generation” – 38 (stop at section 3).
39 (section 1, Legislation… - 40 (stop at
section 2).
Webpage: Digital History. This is a wonderful site and contains many
links to images, stories, and essays on the history of children and families.
Go directly to: Voices of children at: http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/do_history/young_people/index.cfm;. In the section on “voices of children before
1860” read through the selections on
Puritan Childrearing. Bring a
selection or two to class for discussion.
If you can’t go directly to this link,
start with the general website for Digital History (see above) and follow
links. Go to: http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu.
Follow the link to “Doing History Through” kids and teens; find link to “voices
of children before 1860.” Read through
the Puritan selections and bring one or two to class. Feel free to explore.
Recommended:
Demos,
J. (1970) A little commonwealth: Family life in
Morgan,
E. (1944/1966) The puritan family: Religion and domestic relations in
seventeenth-century
Morgan,
E. (1973) The Puritans and Sex. In Gordon (ed.), op. Cit.
Scott,
D. and Wishy, B. (Eds.(1982)
Questions: How did the role of mothers change in the
Bushnell,
H. (1847-1861) Chapter 10: On Christian
Nurture. In P. Greven Jr. (ed.) (1973) Child-rearing concepts, 1628-1861.
Sunley,
R. (1974) Early Nineteenth Century
American Literature on Child Rearing.
In Mead, M. and Wolfenstein, Childhood
in Contemporary Culture,
Welter,
B. (1966) The Cult of True Womanhood:
1820-1860. American Quarterly, vol. 18, issue 2, Part I (Summer),
151-174. Read especi
In class video: Scenes from “
Recommended:
Bloch,
R. (1978) American Feminine Ideals in
Transition: The Rise of the Moral Mother, 1785-1815. Feminist Studies, vol. 4. 101-126.
Cott,
N. (1977) The bonds of womanhood. Chapter 2: Domesticity , pp. 63-100; Recommended: Chapter 3: Education, pp. 101-125.
In
Scott and Wishy (Eds.) Selections from America's
families: A documentary history.
From farms to factories, pp. 213-221
Wives and Husbands, 246-270
Home and Mother, 270-289
Child-rearing: The mission so sacred.
pp. 290-308.
Tuesday, September 30. Early “Child
Saving”: The Orphan Train Movement
Due: Response Paper 1
Conceived by Charles Loring Brace,
leader of the new Charity Organization Society in New York, the orphan train
movement was a great progressive response to the problems facing poor, urban
children in New York. In theory, the
orphan trains “rescued” destitute city children and placed them in rural
Midwest homes where they were surrounded by nature and protected from the evils
of the city. The reality was somewhat
more complex.
Questions: What was the nature and
purpose of the Orphan Train Movement? To
what social problem(s) was the Orphan Train project directed? Who rode the trains? What were some of the outcomes of the project? In what ways did the Orphan Train Movement
serve children well and in what ways did it serve children poorly? What do we do now with the kinds of poor
children served by the Orphan Trains?
What contemporary social programs still reflect the spirit of the Orphan
Trains?
Brace,
C.L. (1872) Selections from The
dangerous classes of New York and Twenty Years’ work among them. New York: Wynkoop & H
Chapter IX:
Homeless Boys, 97-113
Chapter
X: Street Girls, 114-122
Chapter
XX: Providing Country Homes -- 234-245.
Cook,
J. (1995) A History of Placing-out: The
Orphan Trains. Child Welfare,
181-193. Reprint.
Hasci,
T. (1995) From Indenture to Family
Foster Care: A brief history of Child Placing.
Child Welfare, 162-179.
Web
assignment. Go to the Adoption History
Project site: http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~adoption/. Follow the links to Orphan Trains: Click on Time line, then click 1854, and then
Orphan Trains. Read some of the letters,
choose a couple that interest you, and bring them to class. This is a fantastic site for almost
In
class video: The Orphan Trains
Recommended:
Antler,
J. and Antler, S. (1979) From child
rescue to family protection: The evolution of the child protective movement in
the United States. Children and Youth
Services Review, vol. 1, 177-204.
Finkelstein,
B. Casting networks of good influence:
The reconstruction of childhood in the United States, 1790-1870. In Hawes and Hiner, 111-135.
Gordon,
L. (1999) The Great Arizona Orphan
Abduction. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
In
Scott and Wishy (Eds.) America's
families: A documentary history, Selections:
Family, society, and state, pp. 379-387.
Smuts,
A. (in press) Chapter 1. Introduction. In "Science disccovers the
child, 1893-1935: A history of the early scientific study of children. New
Haven: Yale University Press. Available
only from instructor.
Smuts, A. Chapter 2:
Save the child and you save the nation: The ideology of domesticity and
the origins of social feminism. Available only from instructor.
Zelizer,
V. (1985) Pricing the priceless
child: The changing social value of children. New York: Basic Books, Introduction: pp.
3-21; Chapter 4: From a Proper Burial to a Proper Education: The Case of
Children’s Insurance, 113-137.
Tuesday, October 7. Child Study, Educated Mothers, and the Settlement House Movement
Towards the end of the 19th
century, motherhood became a serious vocation.
The National Congress of Mothers represented Mother’s Clubs from around
the nation and carried the message that mothers had to be educated in order to
be “good” mothers. Their education was
to come in part from a first science of childhood
organized by G. Stanley H
At the same time,
Rothman,
S. (1978) Woman’s Proper Place: A history of changing ideals and practices,
1870 to the present. New York: Basic
Books.
Chapter 3: The Ideology of Educated
Motherhood, 97-127.
National
Congress of Mothers (1897, 1898, 1900) The Work and Words. New York: Appleton. Reprinted in Rothman, D. and Rothman, S.
(eds.) (1987)National Congress of Mothers: The First Conventions. New York:
Garland. Selections:
National Congress of Mothers, 1897.
First convention. pp. 6-10, 165-171,
269-275.
National
Congress of Mothers, 1898. Second convention, pp. 15-20.
National
Congress of Mothers. 1899. Third convention, 195-201.
Wollons, R. (1990) Women educating women: The Child Study Association
as Women’s culture. In Antler, J. and
Biklen, S. (eds.) Changing Education:
Women as Radicals and Conservators.
New York: Suny.
Nasaw, D. (1985) Chapter 10: The children and the
child-savers. In Children of the
City: At work and at Play, pp. 138-157.
Recommended:
Ashby,
L. (1984) Chapter 1: Dependent Children
and “The Gospel of Child Saving” in the Progressive Era. . In Saving the
Waifs: Reformers and Dependent Children, 1890-1917. Philadelphia: Temple University Press,
3-37.
Kuhn, A. (1947) The mother’s role in childhood education:
New England concepts, 1830-1860. New
Haven: Yale University Press.
Diehl, L. (1991) Theodate Smith and Amy Tanner: Child savers
of Clark University. The Journal of
Genetic Psychology, vol. 152, no. 3, 273-287
Schlossman, S. (1976) Before Home
Start: Notes towards a history of Parent Education in America, 1870-1929. Harvard Educational Review, vol. 46,
no. 3, 436-467.
Schlossman, S. (1981) Philanthropy and the Gospel of Child
Development. History of Education
Quarterly., vol. 21, no. 3, 275-299.
Tuesday
October 14. The Rise of a Female
Dominion in Politics
Some
of the leading and highly educated women associated with the settlement house
movement sought political reform. Their
ambitions went beyond settlement work towards public policy. This week, we begin to read a book about the
creation of a “female dominion” in American politics. This “female dominion” would lobby and eventu
It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the
number of names mentioned in this book.
Try to focus on the main characters that include: Jane Addams, Ellen Starr, Julia Lathrop,
Lilian Wald, and Florence Kelley.
Questions: What are the Origins of the Children’s
Bureau? What were the arguments for and
against establishing the Bureau. What did boll weevils have to do with the
campaign for the Bureau? What were the goals of the Bureau and how did its
staff attempt to reach those goals?
What does Muncy mean by the term “a female dominion?”
What is your impression of the letters
(in Ladd-Taylor) written to the women of the Children’s Bureau? Select one or two letters that moved you in
some special way and think about why those letters did so. Why did these women write to strangers for
help? What kind of information to
today’s mothers seek? From whom?
Required:
Muncy, R. (1991) Creating a female dominion in American
reform, 1890-1935.
Introductlon
Chapter 1: Origins of the Dominion:
Hull House, 1890-1910
Chapter 2: A Dominion Materializes: The
Children’s Bureau, 1903-1917.
Bremner selections. Bremner. R. (ed.)
(1970) Selections from Children in the
Colonial Family. In Children and
Youth in America: A Documentary History, Vol. II, Parts 1-6. I: The Children’s Bureau, pp. 751-775. This reading contains actual congressional
debates on the Children’s Bureau. It
should help you to consolidate the arguments made in favor of and against
establishing the Children’s Bureau.
Ladd-Taylor, M. (1986) Selections from Raising
a baby the government way: Mothers' letters to the Children's Bureau,
1915-1932. New Brunswick: Rutgers
University Press, pp. ix-x; 47-57; 61-69; 71-94; 99-108; 115-126; 127-141;
147-161. This may look like a long
reading but it goes very quickly.
In class video: The Women of Hull
House.
Recommended:
Knight, L. (1996) Jane Addams and the Settlement House
Movement. New York: Greenwood.
Phillips,
J. (1974) The Education of Jane
Addams. History of Education Quarterly,
vol. 14, issue 1, 49-67.
Tuesday,
October 21 :
The Rise and F
Questions:
Who staffed the Bureau and what were their backgrounds? How would you
characterize the grea
Muncy, R. (1991) Creating a female dominion in American
reform, 1890-1935.
Chapter 3: Staffing the Dominion: The
School of Social Service Administration, 1903-1930.
Chapter 4: Consolidation and Expansion
of the Dominion: The Sheppard-Towner Maternity and Infancy Act, 1918-1924.
Chapter 5: Contraction and Dissolution
of the Female Dominion: Federal Child Welfare Policy, 1924-1935.
Conclusion.
In
class debate: As you know by now in 1912, in and
amongst much debate, the Children’s
Bureau received from Congress a broad mandate to “investigate and report upon
In groups to be determined in class,
you will prepare an in class debate on the Children’s Bureau. Use evidence for your arguments from the
readings. Review the arguments about the Bureau from last week from Bremner.
Read Muncy carefully in order to capture the debate between those who argued
for the formation of the Bureau and those who argued against forming the
Bureau. The Bremner selections will provide good evidence for both sides of the
debate.
1)
In class: 20 minute preparation for both groups.
2)
Each group will present their evidence and argument for 10 minutes. Make sure that everyone
in your group has an opportunity to contribute.
(total 20 minutes)
3)
10 minute preparation of rebuttal arguments.
4.
Each group rebuts (argues against opponents’ arguments) for 5 minutes. (total: 10 minutes)
5)
Class discussion. A chance to talk about
the quality and power of argumentation on both “sides.” What arguments most persuaded you one way or
the other.
In
assigning “parts” to your peers, you may choose to “play” particular historical
actors who either promoted or tried to defeat the creation of the Children’s
Bureau. For example, a student may play
the part of someone from the Bremner documentary history.
Recommended:
Addams,
J. (1910/1962) Twenty Years at
Hull-House. Selections in Pease, (ed.) The
Progressive Years: The Spirit and Achievement of American Reform.New York:
Brazillier, 58-97.
Ladd-Taylor,
M. (1991) Hull House Goes to Washington:
Women and the Children’s Bureau. In
Frankel, N. and Dye, N. (eds.) Gender,
class, race and reform in the Progressive era. Lexington: University Press
of Kentucky. 110-126.
Zigler,
E. and Muenchow, S. (1985) A room of
their own: A proposal to renovate the Children's Bureau. American Psychologist, 40, No. 8,
953-959.
Tuesday, October 28. The
Juvenile Court.
The juvenile court was one of many
progressive innovations made during the Progressive Era. The premise on which the juvenile court
rested was that children under a particular age should not be held accountable
for crimes committed in the same manner or degree to which adult offenders are
held. At the same time, there was a
class of crimes associated with juveniles.
An interesting set of issues surrounds the definition of juvenile
offenses – what got girls and boys into trouble? How different now… or not?
Questions: What was so special about Judge Ben
Lindsey? How did he differ from his
predecessors in his approach to juvenile crime? According to Schlossman and W
Levine,
M. and Levine, S. (1992) Helping
Children: A Social History. New York: Oxford University Press. Chapter 8: Judge Ben Lindsey and the Denver
Juvenile Court: An Institution of Human Relations, 115-141.
Schlossman,
S. and W
Odem,
M. and Schlossman, S. (1991) Guardians
of virtue: The juvenile court and female delinquency in early 20th
century Los Angeles. Crime and
Delinquency, vol. 37, no. 2. April, 186-203.
Bremner,
R. (ed.) (1971) Children and Youth in
America: A documentary history. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Vol II: 1866-1932, Parts one through Six, pp.
502-523.
Recommended:
Addams,
J. (1912) Jane Addams Addams Indicts
and Ancient Evil. In Hofstadter, R.
(ed.) (1963) The Progressive
Movement, 1900-1915. Englewood
Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-H
Bremner, Section on Juvenile
Delinquence, vol. II, parts 1-6.
Schlossman,
S. (1977) Love and the American
Delinquent: The Theory and Practice of “Progressive” Juvenile Justice,
1825-1920. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Schlossman,
S. (in progress) In the Voices of
Delinquents: Social Science, The Chicago Area Project, and a Children’s Culture
of Casual Crime and Violence. To appear
in Grant, J., Cahan, E. and Beatty, B. (Eds.) Science in Service of the Child:
Education, Child Welfare, and Parenting in Twentieth-Century America,
Tuesday, November 4.
Troublesome Children.
In the 1920s and 1930s, Child guidance
clinics sponsored by philanthropy to support the work of the juvenile
court. Over time, the population served
and the kinds of services provided by the Clinics changed dramatic
Questions: How did Child Guidance change from its early
days in the 1920s to its later days a decade later? What was the role of gender, social class,
and race in the kinds of services offered to children and mothers? What were the different roles of the
psychiatrist, psychologist, and social worker at the clinic? Where are the
child guiders today? Did parents (or
children) always accept the guidance offered?
How does the “mother blaming” of the clinics reflect the 19th century ideology of
domesticity.
Levine,
M. and Levine, S. (1992) Helping
Children: A Social History. New York: Oxford University Press. Chapter 9: The Child Guidance Clinic: A
Product of the 1920s., 142-173.
Horn,
M. (1993 ) Inventing the problem child: “At Risk” Children in the Child
Guidance movement in the 1920s and 1930s.
In Wollons, R. (ed.) Children at Risk in America: History, Concepts,
and Public Policy. Albany: S.U.N.Y.
Jones,
K. (1998) “Mother made me do it”: Mother-blaming and the Women of Child
Guidance.” In Ladd-Taylor and Umansky
(eds.) “Bad” Mothers: The politics of blame in the twentieth century. New York:
New York University Press. Pp. 99-124.
Caplan,
P. (1998) Mother-Blaming. In Ladd-Taylor, M. and Umansky, L. (eds.) “Bad”
Mothers: The Politics of Blame in twentieth century America. New York: New
York University Press, 127-144.
In
class video: Refrigerator Mothers
Tuesday,
November 11: Holiday.
Tuesday,
November 18: Woe to the Parents Who Turn to the Experts.
American parents (especi
Field assignment: Ask your parents or, even better, your
grandparents if they consulted any books about child rearing when they were
raising their children. Who did they
ask when they weren’t sure what to do with a child? Relatives may be an important source. If
they turned to professional advice (Dr. Spock or other child rearing
literature, advice from a doctor, etc.), how did they use the advice? How did they know what to “use” and what not
to “use’?
Questions: How does Spock differ from
Watson? However offensive some of the advice literature may appear to you, you
need to imagine a social context in which some of the older advice made sense.
The Harris article should help you with this historical context.
Three
Classics on Child Rearing. In Scott and
Wishy (Eds.) (1982) America's
families: A documentary history,¨New York: Harper and Row, 528-538.
Watson,
J. B. (1928) Fears of Children and the
Love of Mothers. In Kessen, W. (ed.) The
Child. New York: Wiley.
Harris,
B. (1984) Chapter 6: “Give me a dozen healthy infant…” John B.
Watson’s popular advice on childrearing, women, and the family. In Lewin, M. (ed.) In the shadow of the
past: Pschology portrays the sexes.
New York: Columbia University Press,
126-154
Spock Legacy. Yale Alumni Magazine. Summer,
32-39.
Weiss,
N. (1985) Mother, the Invention of Necessity:
Dr. Benjamin Spock’s Baby And Child
Care. In Hiner, R. and Hawes, J. Growing
up in America, 282-303.
In
class video: On Spock
Recommended:
Cahan,
E.D. (1991) Science, practice, and gender roles in early American child psychology. In F. Kessel, M. Bornstein, and A. Sameroff
(Eds.) Contemporary constructions of
the child: Essays in honor of William Kessen. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum
Assoc.. pp. 225-249.
Geboy,
M. (1981) Who is listening to the
experts? The use of child care materials
by parents. Family Relations,
vol. 30, no. 2, 205-210.
Grant,
Julia (1994) Caught between common sense and science: The Cornell Child Study
Clubs. History of Education Quarterly,
vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 433-452.
Grant,
J. (1998) Raising Baby by the Book:
The Education of American Mothers. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Hawes,
J. (2000) Child Science and the Rise of the Experts. In Fass, P. and Mason, A. Childhood in
America, 61-63.
Mechling,
J. (1975) Advice to historians on advice to mothers. Social History, vol. 9, #11, 44-63.
Schlossman,
S. (1981) Philanthropy and the Gospel of
Child Development. In History of Education Quarterly, 21, pp.275-299.
Senn,
M. (ed) (1977) Chapter 2: Woe to the
Parents Who Turn to the Experts. In Speaking
Out for America’s Children. New
Haven, Yale University Press.
Skinner,
B. F. (1945) Baby in a Box. Ladies’
Home Journal, October.
Zuckerman, M. (1975) Dr. Spock: The confidence man. In Rosenberg, Charles (Ed.) The family in history, 179-207.
Tuesday,
November 25. Creating Families: The
History of Adoption in America
We have already learned about some
forms of adoption in America -- in
particular, child indenture and the orphan train program. For this class, we will think more gener
For
class: Bring an “adoption story” to
class. Talk to someone who adopted a
child or was an adopted child. Find out
how and in what ways was/is the adopted child similar to or different from the
adopting parent – race, ethnicity, temperament, etc. How old was the child when adopted? Did the parents have any special
concerns? How did the child feel about
being adopted? When and how was the
child told of his/her adoption?
Gill,
Brian Paul. (2002) Adoption agencies and the search for the ideal family. In Carp, E.W. (ed.) Adoption in America: Historical
Perspectives. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 160-180.
Berebitsky,
J. (2002) Rescue a child and save the
nation: The social construction of adoption in the Delineator, 1907-1911. In Carp, E.W. (ed.) Adoption in America: Historical
Perspectives. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 124-139.
Recommended:
Herman,
E. (2001) Families made by science:
Arnold Gesell and the technologies of modern child adoption. Isis, v. 92: 684-715.
Tuesday, December 2. Science And Hope: A Case Study in the Formation of Child and
Family Policy
Forecast: In
1965, Head Start was created by the
Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) to provide preschool experiences for poor
children. It was a time when science and
hope merged to form social policy for children and families. Zigler and
Valentine provide some perspective from the “top down” – from the child development
researchers and policy makers down to program specifics. The Greenberg selections provide a
“bottom-up” perspective from the people and politics of rural Alabama. The
story of the group in Mississippi illustrates the politic
Questions: What was/is the purpose of Head Start? How did the social context surrounding Head
Start affect its design? How was Head
Start related to the War on Poverty?
Zigler, E., & J. Valentine (Eds.) (1979). “Head Start, A Retrospective View: The Founders”. Chapter 3
in Project Head Start: A legacy
of the War on Poverty (pp. 43-134). New
York: The Free Press. (BROWSE)
Greenberg, P.
(1990). Selections from The devil has slippery shoes: A biased biography of the Child Development
Group of Mississippi (CDGM): A story of maximum feasible poor parent
participation Washington, DC: Youth Policy Institute. (Original work published 1969).
White, S.H.,
Foreword.
Chapter I. The Ch
Chapter 2: The Dream
begins to move, pp. 18-22.
Chapter 3: “The Funny-named” psychologist and the
well-known communist, pp. 23-25.
Chapter 4: The last minute rush, pp. 29-33
Chapter 5: OED’s
proud of its pet dragon, pp. 34-35. From
Dream to Dragon in Sixty-Eight Days.”
Video
(in class): The American
Experience: The War on Poverty and
Headstart. A powerful and important
“text” on Headstart and the War on Poverty.
Recommended:
Haskins,
R. (1989) Beyond metaphor: The efficacy
of early childhood education. American Psychologist, 44, 274-282.
Stipek, D., Valentine, J. and Zigler, E.
(1979) Project Head Start: A critique of
theory and practice. In Zigler, E. and
Valentine, J. (1979) Project Head
Start: A legacy of the war on poverty. ,
477-494.
White, S. H., & Phillips, D. W. (2001). Designing Head Start: Roles played by
developmental psychologists. In
Featherman, D. and Vinovskis, M. (eds.) Social science and policy-making. Michigan: University of Michigan Press,
83-119.
Zigler,
E., Styfco, S. and Gilman, E. (1993)
(Eds.) Head Start and Beyond: A national plan for extended childhood
intervention. New Haven: Yale
University Press.
Zigler,
E. and Styco, S. (1996) Head Start and
early childhood intervention: The changing course of social science and social
policy. In Zigler, E. Kagan, S., and H
Tuesday, December 9. The Politics of Childhood.
Forecast: Children cannot advocate for themselves
in national politics. They depend upon
the good will and decency of adults to take their best interests to heart and
act accordingly. The political movement
among professionals and policy makers to support children’s interests is gener
Why are government services for children so
scattered? Why is the “Children’s Cause” so fragmented between
different interest groups? How would you
fix it? What priorities would you make
in helping the nation’s children and how would you do it? Does history matter? Can history help?
Demos,
J. (1986) History and the formation of
social policy towards children: A case study.
In Past, Present, and Personal: The family and the life course in
American history. New York: Oxford.
Finkelstein,
B. (1985) Uncle Sam and the children: A
history of government involvement in child rearing. In Hiner, N. and Hawes, J. (Eds.) Growing up in America, Chicago: University
of Illinois Press, 255-268.
Steiner,
G. (1981) Many causes with many
votaries. In The futility of family
policy, 193-216.
Schorr,
L. (1988) The lessons of successful
programs. In Within our Reach: Breaking the cycle of disadvantage. 256-283.
Recommended:
Cahan, E.D. (1997, F
Levine,
M. and Levine, A. (1992) Chapter 14: Social change and helping. In Helping children: A social history,
242-246.
Senn,
M. (1977) Can scientific knowledge help frame our social policies for
children? In Speaking out for
America's children, 99-120.
White,
S.H. (in press) Developmental Psychology as a Science of Personal and Societal
Design. 2001 Heinz Werner Lectures. Worcester: Clark University Press.
Steiner,
G. (1981) The European way? In The futility of family policy. 177-192.
White,
S.H. (1996) The relationships of
developmental psychology to social policy.
In Zigler, E., Kagan, S., and H
Due: Friday, December 12. Response Paper 5 due in instructor’s mailbox
or under door of Longwood 12. Make sure
your name and instructors’ name is on cover page.