Part 6

You are going to read four extracts from online articles about childhood. For questions 37-40, choose from the scientists A-D. The scientists may be chosen more than once. 

Mark your answers on the separate answer sheet.

The Changing Face of Childhood in the USA

A Mary Granger 

Parents often complain that childhood today seems different to what it was when they were young - when a free day meant they ran care-free out the door after breakfast and played until twilight. But they are somewhat hypocritical, because many of today's better-off children seem to have less time for such unstructured play as they face an unfortunate mass of parent-organised things-to-keep-kids-busy' that might include karate lessons, tutoring or ballet. Parents are increasingly unwilling to let their offspring play outside. As a result children are more protected than ever before. A generation ago children went cycling on their own, went on public transport alone, took responsibility for themselves. Some experts suggest that the whole nature of parenting was different; that it was much less hands-on and more trusting of the child.

B Max Poenbaum 

The interaction between the child and the natural environment provides an authentic learning experience based on sensory absorption and investigation, but it disappears with the passing of childhood. Then adult cognitive reasoning gradually takes over as the world is seen in a more objective or scientific way. At the transition between childhood and adulthood, young people can feel in danger of having nothing stable to hold on to, caught between the trapeze of childhood that has been let go of and the trapeze of growing up not yet within his or her grasp. Now parents must become a safety net at a time when the young person feels naturally anxious and insecure. But these days, parents are struggling against the slow creep of an increasingly commercial and sexualised culture and behaviour. That very culture, which is so rightly blamed for preventing younger children from being children also undermines the parenting of teenagers.

C John P. Ondorenko 

It is clear that young children have a special affinity for the great outdoors that is connected to their development and their ways of knowing and learning. This is a unique and unrepeatable ability that starts to fade during the teenage years. Even so, today's teenagers are under pressure to grow up before they are ready. Celebrity culture, adult-style clothes and music videos are all guilty of encouraging them to act older than they are. As a result they are adrift in a sea of disaffection. In particular th performance and social obedience than ever before. On the flip side, they are much more tolerant and aware of ethical issues and also more caring regarding the future of the planet. A common adolescent complaint is of ever-increasing boredom, and yet children today have no reason to be bored, partly as the number of formal, extra-curricular activities available to them is unprecedented.

D Steven Zafaria 

Once the pre-teen years are gone, parents have a more aloof adolescent who is more reluctant to be touched who would rather spend time with friends, who feels too old to play with parents, who is embarrassed by their public company, who is more private and less forthcoming, and who seems to court their disapproval through deliberate resistance and opposition. The pattern is a standard one and always has been, as any psychologist will tell you. Teenagers may think they are fully independent, fiercely so in fact, but parents must be there for them, taking a back seat, intervening less than before, but ready to listen and guide when called upon. But parenting is becoming increasingly complex. The increasingly commercialised and sexualised world we live in means that children are missing out on a proper childhood. The solution is clearly not to keep children wholly innocent until they are adults, but we have surely reached the point where some regulatory protection is required.

Which expert

37 _________ has a similar view to Poenbaum on how long people's instinctive relationship with nature lasts? 

38 _________ expresses a similar opinion to Zafaria on what the role of a parent should be regarding teenage children? 

39 _________ has a different view from the others on whether children are growing up too fast?

40 _________ expresses a different opinion from Ondorenko on the value of planned activities for children?