Review of The Political Life of Children and The Moral Life of Children
[The following brief review offers a concise statement of Coles' observations on the political and moral development in children.]
These two volumes report the results of long-term surveys in the United States and nine other countries by the noted psychiatrist. Dr. Coles mentions that previous investigations of the ways in which values are transmitted through time have not been extensive, even though the subject is of considerable interest. Not surprisingly, he found that, for good or ill, children pick up political attitudes at home. Where the political scene is one of violent division, as in Northern Ireland, the child's identity is fused with group hatred. Other children—American Indians, for example—early see the political deck stacked against them. The sense of national identity is very strong in young Poles but varies with economic class among young Brazilians. Although the sources of political opinions are comparatively easy to trace, goodness—the most fascinating of qualities—seems as unaccountable among children as it does among adults, and Dr. Coles found young people of every class and nationality whose stalwart loving-kindness is inexplicable by any system he knows.
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