Exam 1 in a week
- passage guidelines
- exam review page (above)
- we will review Friday
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Our topic
- wellbeing in childhood
- how childhood compares to adulthood
Important distinction
We can ask....
- how good is childhood internally -- for the child, at the time (this is our question)
- how good is childhood externally -- how does it prepare the child to be an adult
Other internal vs. external question--
- how good is a week in the hospital internally for the patient, at the time vs. externally, as far as future benefits go
- how good is training for a sport internally for the athlete, at the time vs. externally, as far as future benefits go
Internal question about childhood
- It's hard to keep our focus on the internal question because we have a strong tendency to see childhood as a period of preparation for the future
- All our authors are interested in the internal question
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Patrick Tomlin, "Saplings or Caterpillars: Trying to Understand Children's Wellbeing"
The puzzle of Erin and Dane
- we can explore the internal question about childhood by thinking about shortening or elongating childhood
Tomlin's thought experiments
- Erin is given a pill at 6 that elongates her childhood
- Dane is given a pill at 6 that shortens his childhood
- Is it wrong to give them the pills? Why? Which is worse?
How should we fill in the details of these thought experiments so that we are focusing on the right thing?
- Does the pill have side effects?
- is Erin one day abandoned because her parents grow old?
- Does Erin lose friend after friend, since they grow up?
- Does Dane learn enough by 6 to have a successful adulthood?
- Does Dane form bonds with his parents, despite his short adulthood?
5 views of childhood we could apply to the puzzles about Erin and Dane
(1) The Sapling View of children-- children are deficient versions of the adults they will become
(2) The Fruit View of children -- people are at their best when they are children, and then they "rot"
(3) The Diversity (or Variety) View -- it's better to have multiple stages of life
(4) The Normality View -- deviation from the normal is bad
(5) The Caterpillar View of children -- children are a different kind of being than adults
Use workbook to discuss
