Under Pressure
Rescuing Our Children from the Culture of Hyper-Parenting
Chapter One
It's the Adults, Stupid
On these magic shores, children at play are forever beaching their coracles. We too have been there. We can still hear the sound of the surf, though we shall land no more.
—J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan
On a summer afternoon toward the end of exams, the ancient colleges of Oxford are a playground for gilded youth. Sunshine warms the stone buildings as a breeze riffles the ivy clinging to the eaves. At Magdalen College, students from around the world hang out on lawns of putting-green perfection, reading newspapers, chatting on mobile phones, listening to iPods. A croquet game starts up, sending laughter echoing round the old quad. This is a snapshot of the new elite at rest. To paraphrase Cecil Rhodes, father of the Rhodes Scholarship program, these young ¬people have won first prize in the lottery of life.
Or have they? George Rousseau, codirector of Oxford University's Centre for the History of Childhood, is not so su ... read full excerpt from: Under Pressure ebook
