Demographics lecture 3
- 1. Children as Solution Using Children to Solve Demographic Problems
- 2. Adults have frequently seen children as a way to solve demographic problems and ensure the future of their group.
- 10. Q: If your nation has an empire, what do you have to do to ensure you keep it? A. You have to prepare your children to lead and maintain it.
- 13. Boy Scouts, 1910 • Primarily for middle class Protestant boys • Activities supervised by adults • Teaching “primitive” skills through camping • Concern that boys were overcivilized and would grow up to be “sissies” • Desire to instill “character” and prepare boys for the changing economic environment
- 14. Girl Scouts
- 15. New Images of Girlhood • Encouraged to be “real girls” • Wholesome vitality and energy • Spunk and grit expected • Ability to transform curmudgeonly adults
- 20. Effecting the Future • The Boy Scouts were created to prepare children for a specific envisioned future. • More darkly, Hitler used his Hitler Youth program as a tool in the creation of his ideal future. • Question: What are we preparing children for? What is the future we’re trying to achieve through youth programs and the way we educate youth? • What agency do children have in this process? Are they pawns or partners?