----- Original Message ----- From: "joanna bujes" <joanna.bujes at ebay.sun.com> To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com> Sent: Friday, May 25, 2001 2:51 PM Subject: Re: Childhood
> I agree that it is better for children/adolescents to be able to make an
> actual contribution (through work) to their family and society; but I
> think, the way that is done is also very important.
>
> Also I don't understand what you mean by "democratizing" in the following:
>
> "Production of social relations that give
> rise to _long_ periods of childhood & adolescence (during which
> individuals are not asked to take on social roles & tasks aside from
> being children/adolescents, playing, learning, etc.) among the
> working class, beyond the offsprings of the bourgeois & the
> petit-bourgeois, is part of the democratizing process of capitalist
> development."
This is disturbing talk. I would rather, instead, do as much to blur the lines between "work/play", "child/adult", as possible. If we could make work that would be as free an expression of energy as the play of children... about which I think there's a relevant quotation from Marx somewhere. Besides, I'd rather watch my nephew playing with his trucks than to see him taking out the garbage; I think he makes a great contribution to his family's life.
Paul G.