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PART THREE:Understanding Childhood and Education in Context

Chapter 4Global Perspectives on Children and Childhood.

What is Childhood?

The area of childhood is a complex one with varying definitions, descriptions, explanations and constructions. This section brings together some of these varied explanations and definitions, beginning with a historical perspective and moving on to address more specific African and Ghanaian notions of childhood. A social constructionist perspective will also be discussed. Whilst some understanding of childhood is important to this book it is the Ghanaian construct of childhood, and how these constructs inform our understanding of children within the context of boarding schools that will be of primary concern.

Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on Childhood

One of the first intellectual explorations of childhood was by the French historian Phillipe Aries in 1962, who asserted then that as soon as children were able to exist without the care of their mothers and other care-givers, they became part of an adult society (Waters, 2014). In their middle teens, children were perceived as mini-adults, hence issues of age and maturity were considered to be irrelevant. Aries also suggested that childhood as a distinct stage in a person’s life did not exist. Pollock (1983) however, disagrees with this and argues that children were regarded differently in the past, but that they were still children and also recognises that this modern form of childhood is historically specific.

In 1976, DeMause offered a psychogenic theory, suggesting that from a historical perspective, children were killed, abandoned, neglected, terrorised and abused by their caretakers and that the history of childhood can be seen as a ’nightmare from which we have recently began to awake‘ (p 67). Of particular concern is DeMause’s acknowledgment that historically, children were receptacles of abuse, in various forms and in various places. He coined the term ’poison containers‘ to mean vessels into which adults discard their psyches in order that their feelings are detached from them. Relating this to child abuse, he cites the example of a mother who hits her baby because she cannot cope with their crying. This action is used because the mother feels that her baby should ‘love’ her and that by crying, this baby is demonstrating hatred for her. This mother has used this action to excuse herself and ‘explain’ her depression or her own experience of being unloved.

Hart (1991) provides the reasons for this as stemming from diminished food supplies, poverty and in some cases, unwanted pregnancies. With time therefore, parents and adults developed empathy for the state of childhood, which strengthened the parent-child relationships thereby reducing the harsh and sometimes inhumane treatment of children.

Jenks in 1996 uses DeMause’s typology as a starting point for his exploration of childhood, reflecting on the abuse children suffered at the hands of adults and develops from there the idea that childhood should not be seen as a universal classification, because it is experienced differently across places and time. It has also been proposed that childhood can be described using three dominant images:

•The innocent child

•The miniature adult and

•The evil child (Woodhead and Montgomery 2002)

In explaining the innocent child, Woodhead and Montgomery (2002) refer to childhood as being the time of innocence when children are protected by their parents or other significant adults. This view suggests that children are weak, incompetent and unable to make decisions for themselves. This construct of childhood may be at odds with children’s participation in decision-making if adults regard children as incompetent and therefore unable to contribute in any meaningful way to decisions which affect them.

The child as a ‘miniature adult’ construct views children as working alongside their parents, where it is considered that there is no set phase in life. This construction of childhood makes it easy for countries to justify child labour and child soldiers. In ancient Greece and Rome, children of slaves worked alongside their parents for long hours and in tough conditions and this could lead to children being required to undertake excessive work within the home and other domestic settings.

This idea very much resonates with the phenomenon of street children which is rife in Ghana. In 2002, an estimated 19,196 street children were working on the streets of Ghana (CAS, 2003, p11) and Williams (2000) suggests ’child work is part and parcel of the fabric of Ghanaian society‘ (p 215).

Twum-Danso (2010) also found through her research that although some children were required by their parents to engage in petty trading to earn income, the monies earned from this work was given back to their parents to draw from to meet the entire family’s needs and that, supporting the family in this way was still not sufficient in allowing children to express their views in matters affecting them.

By the evil child, Woodrow (1999) is referring to ancient times when Christianity portrayed children as the products of ‘sin’ who needed to be beaten and exorcised of their evilness. This led to infanticide, incest and harsh physical punishment which included drowning and starvation. In more recent years in the UK, the murder of Jamie Bulger and the subsequent punishment meted out to the perpetrators of his death suggested a less sympathetic view of children and their childhood.

Childhood positioned within the legal discourse offers further opportunities for debate and analysis. Minow (1986) argues that the differences in the age requirement for children in the different spheres leaves systems open to ongoing discrimination against children. Basing her paper on the US legal system, she concludes that it is not only confusing but also contradictory when a child of six years of age cannot give medical consent but can give evidence in court against their parents.

This example, in my view reflects one of the dilemmas in the UK in relation to the idea of ‘Gillick competence’ (Fraser Guidelines) by which a child below the age of 18 is assessed as being competent and mature enough to make decisions about matters which affect them. Children must be able to understand and evaluate for themselves the benefits and risks of the proposed treatment (Fundudis 2003).

Such a test/assessment in our opinion could create complications for parents in the different aspects of decision-making. It is possible that some children will be more ‘competent’ in certain areas of their lives than in others. The question one then poses is, if a child ‘passes’ the Gillick competence assessment in the area of contraception and safe sex, does this make them equally competent at deciding which school they want to go to or which parent they want to live with in the case of separation? Contextualising this to the situation of boarding schools in Ghana, would a child be able to decide that they do not wish to go to a boarding school, regardless of whether or not there is day provision in their town or village?

A contemporary view of childhood, according to Walkerdine (2004) is that childhood is mobile and as such is influenced by changes in politics, economics and other social factors and that children experience varied and different childhoods. This view of childhood is consistent with the social constructionist perspective by Burr (2003) in that it recognises childhood as ever-changing, therefore resulting in changes in people’s understanding of children and childhood.

Frones (1994, p148) defines childhood as ’the life period during which a human being is regarded as a child, and the cultural, social and economic characteristics of that period‘. This definition is interesting because it relies on characteristics linked to socio-economic attributes of any given life period. Again, this evidences the potential differences in constructs of childhood for people living in a range of diverse political and social economic circumstances.

Waller (2014) concludes therefore that views of childhood have changed and are changing (p 32) and this very much resonates with the sentiment of this book. What may today be perceived as abusive towards children may have been construed as acceptable in the past. Conversely, what is perceived as acceptable now may have been abhorred in the past and it is important that this remains at the forefront of policy and decision making.

Consequently, the discussion to follow explores what it means to be a ‘child’ in Ghana specifically and in Africa more widely.

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