The Changing Culture of Childhood: A Perfect Storm

Association for Childhood Education International. 17904 Georgia Avenue Suite 215, Olney, MD 20832. Tel: 800-423-3563; Tel: 301-570-2111; Fax: 301-570-2212; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http://www.acei.org

Y

6

Academic Standards; Academic Achievement; High Stakes Tests; Play; Poverty; Program Effectiveness; Public Policy; Failure; Alternative Assessment; Personal Narratives; Political Influences; Elementary Secondary Education

0009-4056

In this article, the author observes how a combination of interrelated elements are currently changing the face of the civilizing traditions of the U.S. education and forming a new culture of childhood. These include: (1) the standardization of education; (2) the dissolution of traditional spontaneous play; and (3) the growing specter of poverty in the United States and around the world. The author compares the effects of these elements to the perfect storm. Each element has contributed its destructive force, which created an enormous potential for failure and damage to children--a sociopolitical system out of control. As such, the author suggests that reactive, standardized learning should be replaced with creative, thoughtful, introspective, interactive learning. He explains that the engine that drives high-stakes testing, dismisses the value of children's play, and ignores the poor is a political engine. The author further contends that if everyone will speak out, this storm will pass and good sense and a confluence of cultural creativity will return to the classrooms.

ERIC

21

2007

EJ762953