She was only five, but she spoke in a metered and matter-of-fact tone, stating plainly that she no longer wanted to play with boys because she had observed that boys on the playground were rough and used harsh words and tone. Bias or astute observation? By age six, she shared that it appeared that girls were valued less than boys by society, and by age seven she proclaims she would like to move to a country with a female leader because she feels life during a pandemic would be better there, as women make better leaders. You might think my daughter was fed these thoughts, that I sit to brainwash my child, or get into lengthy political commentary with her – but I don’t – I truly don’t, although I have lied to her on one occasion, but more on that later. The scientist in me was fascinated that to a young child growing up in the Midwestern United States, gendered stereotypes and the implications of gender inequalities were already clear and causing concern. Continue reading
Tag Archives: childhood
Insights: Can We Provide a ‘Good Childhood’ to American Children?
This is a reflection written by Esther Kaufman on the lecture by Professor Cindi Katz at the recent Learning Outside the Lines Conference.
By juxtaposing childhood in Sudan and New York City, Professor Cindi Katz successfully brings to attention alarming issues impeding social childhood development in her lecture “Good Childhood, Social Childhood”. Continue reading
Insights: Prof. Cindi Katz on “Good Childhood, Social Childhood”
A gleaning of some of the insights shared during the conference on Children and Youth in an Interconnected World, full of presentations from a broad range of distinguished speakers, all talking about the role of children and youth in this fast-changing world.
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Good Childhood, Social Childhood
Professor Cindi Katz, City University of New York, starts her lecture by asking the question what do we mean by ‘good’? Asking this and without wanting to getting a banal answer, it turns out to be a difficult question, a more difficult question than asking what is ‘bad’. The messy spaces of civil society form the geographies of social reproduction, shaped by political economic processes and by struggles to survive and resist those processes. Without social justice, there is not going to be healthy social reproduction and security. Continue reading