Children and Their Educators: Changing Relations in a Meritocratizing World (Section II CHILDREN AND Childhood) (Essay‪)‬

Children growing up today in meritocratic post-industrial societies encounter a variety of socialization regimes--some introduced recently. Parents continue to be the most important adults in children's lives, but over the past century a host of caretakers, counselors, teachers and educators has emerged on the pedagogical stage, all eager to give advice. Large and complex educational systems, a variety of media included, (1) now surround children as they grow up; within these systems siblings and peers have a special place as relevant others. The socializing tasks previously undertaken, chiefly by parents, and neighboring adults have been differentiated and re-allotted: now many people perform them. Initially, this change took place among the elite. In the seventeenth-century Dutch Republic, for instance, well-to-do families of merchants and regents fine-tuned the supervision of child-rearing among various educators. A host of adults, often including domestic servants, household staff, tutors and teachers, was involved in the care and education of the children of the elite. (2) Meanwhile, children from the lower social classes were growing up within simpler socialization networks; their preparation for adulthood was therefore less complex. Insofar as they attended school, their education primarily consisted of learning the Christian virtues. To master skills required for a craft or job, they had to be apprenticed and learn through on-hands practice.