Joshua Meyrowitz, in Daedalus
6~~i-k~ (Summer 1984), American Academy of
Arts and Sciences, P.O. Box 515, Canton,
Mass. 0202 1.
Until recently, middle-class American children and adults lived in two different worlds, each with its distinct sphere of knowledge, language, behavior, and dress. Through their control over playmates, books, and conversation, parents and schoolteachers shaped what youngsters knew about life's "nastier realities."
No longer. "Childhood as a protected...