Liberation's Children: Parents and Kids in Postmodern Age (Hardcover)

by Kay S. Hymowitz (Author)
Key Phrases: ecstatic capitalism, new work ethic, child experts, Sesame Street, New York, Ecstatic Capitalism's Brave New Work Ethic (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
Most education criticism focuses on poor children's schooling and assumes that more money would make it better. Hymowitz's literate articles on the education of upper-middle-class children, from day care to university, argue that money buys a different, not necessarily a better, education. She shows high-achieving parents cramming their tots for entrance exams at elite day-care centers and kindergartens, and in general attending to cognitive rather than social development. The tykes they deposit in elementary schools lack manners, fellow feeling, and due respect for authority, and since court rulings exalting students' individual rights have derailed school discipline, the kids are successively worse in middle and high schools. Hymowitz doesn't blame the schools per se, however, as much as she scores such encompassing phenomena as sexual liberation, postmodern nonjudgmentalism, and what she catchily dubs ecstatic capitalism, in which the workplace becomes the arena of all meaningful achievement and validation. This is a collection rather than one long essay, and among its rewarding side trips from the main thrust are penetrating dissections of Sesame Street and contemporary feminism. Ray Olson
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Review
"A devastating debunking of fashionable ideas that have brought much frustration and heartache to parents and children alike." -- Thomas Sowell, Capitalism Magazine

"Sharply drawn analyses" -- Adolescence

A very different set of insights which parents will appreciate. -- Bookwatch

Adults...should take note of Hymowitz's observations about what 'liberation' has wrought. -- William J. Bennett, former U.S. Secretary of Education

An informed, intelligent and very powerful critique.... Written with wit, with pointed examples and with passion. A very important book. -- Judith Wallerstein, Ph.D.

Hymowitz is on to some very important truths in this book.…A masterpiece of culture criticism. -- National Review

Hymowitz raises difficult questions that should not be ignored, and she presents them with a befitting urgency.... Thought-provoking... -- ForeWord

Liberation's Children scrupulously points out all-too-familiar "obsession with individual autonomy." -- The Weekly Standard

What a book! The author is an amusing and cogent writer. -- Lloyd A. Wells, Metapsychology Online

…Offers an original and coherent reading of contemporary bewilderment about what our children need…. -- Times Literary Supplement

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Ivan R. Dee, Publisher (May 25, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566634954
• ISBN-13: 978-1566634953
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,209,483 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good scolding from a tough, January 22, 2004

By	Stephen Armstrong (Hadley, Ma USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Hymowitz's collection of essays has not received the attention that it deserves. This is too bad, because it is a powerful scolding the the laissez-faire, "modern," "child-centered," "feminist you-can-have-it-all," day-care and sex-education society that has little moral wisdom to pass to its children. Her observations on how "experts" have caved into what she calls the "Americal Pastorale Child" motif are apt, and acidic. Her fundamental axiom is this: that all (good) child development depends on a transmitted morality based on self-denial and self-discipline. The only way to achieve these is not to depend on the "inherent" capacity of children to develop these, but, instead, on powerful, care-giving, available adult(s) who decline to take shortcuts, and who take moral stands in their lives.

I loved a number of sections of this book. Hymowitz dissects Sesame Street elegantly as a public TV enterprise that teaches kids to watch TV, not learn literacy. She points out that it is a paradox to teach children and adolescents to be free and also to have self-restraint. She takes exception to the "expert" view that children and adolescents "naturally" develop empathy: "And why are well-nurtured teenagers so lacking this natural feeling when it comes to the suffering that their flagrant rudeness causes their parents?" (p. 61).

Great book, a little hard to read casually, but her message is not a casual one. After you finish it, however, you may wonder, "Well, what do I do now?"

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Right on target, September 28, 2003

By	Madelene Towne (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Ms. Hymowitz cuts through today's cultural morass and pinpoints exactly where we are going wrong with today's achievement-oriented but emotionally vacuous and valueless children. From French lessons for six-month olders to starstruck Sesame Street, from desensitizing sex education for middle schoolers to college without distribution requirements, Ms. Hymowitz shows us how today's children are groping for values in a world that promotes work over family and self-expression over love. For anyone perturbed by today's degenerative culture, this profoundly disturbing and incisive book is a must-read.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cuts below the surface, September 17, 2003

By A Customer

What has always bothered me at a low level is explained here with incisiveness and an uncommon sense. I told my husband who is a pediatrician that he needs to make this a required reading for every parent that walks in his door.

The book is a collection of essays, each covering a particular age, from daycare to preschool to tweens and so on. Each essay discusses the the pernicious effect of such venerable institutions as Sesame Street (sugar-coated fast pace pushing of empty movie and TV icons) on our children. In every essys, her analysis is so completely on the mark.

We are being manipulated and as parents we are not fighting. We buy tank tops for our tweens, high-cut bikini underwear and all sort of nonsense with out a whimper. We allow our baby girls to dress like Vegas show girls and are brainwahsed into thinking that it means nothing and has no effect on our girls' psyche. On all fronts, schools, media, clothing, everyone has dropped their standards.

No matter what age your child, I highly recommend this book. I am buying a bunch to give to my friends.