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Rating:  -
Postman's message is much needed today, even if the book is a few years old.
In a clear manner, Postman documents the loss of childhood today due to the onslaught of adult information being thrown at children in cartoons, TV, on the internet, in the classroom, etc. Postman would not advocate a continuing adolescence, but would promote holding back certain information from children until they're older and better able to process the information.
Unfortunately, many today will probably not heed the message of this "prophet". But I find his writings beneficial to ponder in this information saturated world.
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Despite having been written in the early 80's the themes and ideas raised are still thought provoking and relevant. A really valuable read for anyone working with and advocating for children!
Rating:  -
It's hard to take Neil Postman seriously after reading his _The Disappearance of Childhood_, in which he argues (p. 87) that television is bad because it teaches children homosexuality is normal and praises the Moral Majority as being the only group to realize this important truth. And true, he admits it's an exaggeration to say "such a situation necessarily and categorically signifies cultural degeneration", he does insist it clearly "poses dangers".
Postman's argument is that childhood is the creation of the printing press, which led to a culture in which learning to read was necessary to become an adult, and thus children became a separate group. In the same way, he argues, the emergence of television, which requires no special training to view, is destroying the distinction between children and adults and bringing us back to that pre-literate age.
Not once does Postman ever explain why this should be considered a bad thing. Instead, his book simply assumes it's obvious that we need to pretend to keep kids from naughty words (even though they know them anyway), that we need to make it hard for kids to learn about sex, that we need to pretend for them that political leaders are infallible, etc.
One is almost tempted to believe the book is tounge-in-cheek, an impression assisted by the preface to the second edition -- the only place where actual children are ever considered -- which quotes letters Postman has received from students who have read portions of the book and disagree completely. He then proceeds to praise the children for agreeing with him!
And this, in miniature, is the problem with the whole book. Postman investigates the history of childhood and modern thought, finding it a creation of the printing press, and thus a social and not a biological entity. But instead of investigating whether the result was good or bad, he simply ignores his own work and proceeds directly to assuming it must be good. What we are witnessing here is not the disappearance of childhood, but the disappearance of thought.
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This book offers an unusual and rewarding historical perspective on childhood. I had never imagined that there would be a connection between the invention of the printing press and childhood, but Postman shows there is one.
This book from a communications professor changed the way I think about communications technology and how these techologies impact children and adults: from the printing press to television. For example, from now on, I will observe more closely the relationships between children and adults as portrayed on television and in movies.
Even though the book was written during the 1970s and refers to shows of that era, I believe that were Dr. Postman able, he would make the same points concerning many of today's television shows, especially news, commercials, and sitcoms. I wish that he had been able to update the book with his thoughts about childhood and the Internet.
The book has an excellent bibliography.
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When browsing for other items I saw by happy accident that this book is still available. It's a pleasure to recommend this brilliant piece of argument - that the postmodern world of hyper-communication has erased the passage of development we have hitherto called childhood and replaced the child with the little adult, with access to all the "secrets" of sexuality, risk and pleasurethat once were revealed in a series of steps over time as the young grew to maturity. Postman's message, that technology has not liberated but infantalized society, puts a frame around modern problems of education, child-raising, and loss of meaning. Whatever you make of this book you will not be neutral. It's a superb polemic, and one of my favourite books. Unreservedly recommended to everyone contemplating the raging "culture wars" with confusion.
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