The Children of the Dream

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THE CHILDREN OF THE DREAM
Communal Child-Rearing and its Implications for Society
The dream is the kibbutz, one of the most enduring modern attempts to create a Utopian human society. The children of the dream are the first generation to be born and reared on kibbutzim. Bruno Bettelheim, a pioneer in the study of children's emotional development, spent months of intensive research at a kibbutz, visited others and interviewed a wide variety of people. His object was to examine closely and at first hand the kibbutz method of child rearing -and its effects on personality formation. The lack of privacy and of exclusive family life, the bias against individualism and the absence of the competitive spirit are all diametrically opposed to the traditional Western middle-class ideal of education. It is these aspects of kibbutz life which lead Bettelheim to examine the Western ideal more closely. His examination led him to pose some disturbing questions.
How far is the middle-class... Tovább

Fülszöveg

THE CHILDREN OF THE DREAM
Communal Child-Rearing and its Implications for Society
The dream is the kibbutz, one of the most enduring modern attempts to create a Utopian human society. The children of the dream are the first generation to be born and reared on kibbutzim. Bruno Bettelheim, a pioneer in the study of children's emotional development, spent months of intensive research at a kibbutz, visited others and interviewed a wide variety of people. His object was to examine closely and at first hand the kibbutz method of child rearing -and its effects on personality formation. The lack of privacy and of exclusive family life, the bias against individualism and the absence of the competitive spirit are all diametrically opposed to the traditional Western middle-class ideal of education. It is these aspects of kibbutz life which lead Bettelheim to examine the Western ideal more closely. His examination led him to pose some disturbing questions.
How far is the middle-class parent's ambition for the child's achievement a reflection of their basic distrust of the child's innate ability Why does the parent simultaneously expect prodigious skills of the children and impose an early repression of their instinctual desires ? Do we pay too high a price for the greater intimacy between parent and child in our society ? And, despite this intimacy, why the steadily growing gulf between child and parent in Western society}
In The Children of the Dream Dr Bettelheim lays bare the essential issues which separate the family from thfe commune, the conventional home from the kibbutz, and asks which best serves the needs of the human spirit. This is one of those rare books that is vital reading for all parents and educators.
'A fascinating book, extraordinarily well written and full of provocative observations.' TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT
'The reflections of a warm, sensitive, humane and just observer.' NEW SOCIETY
'His clear style of writing, almost free from the clutter of psychological jargon, makes The Children of the Dream easy as well as fascinating reading.' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

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