THE ROLE OF CULTURE

                                                                                             Chapter 10

THE ROLE OF CULTURE

The Chapter at a Glance

Culture and its significance in child development.

The first impact of culture.

Diversified cultural influences.

Cultural variations and conflicts.

The child and the future culture.

Culture is a great moulder of human thought and behavior. A child is profoundly influenced by the culture of the family or the region in which he happens to have been give birth. The many ways in which diverse cultural forces affect various aspects of child development will be briefly reviewed in the present chapter. The specific effect of culture on the development of a child's personality has been discussed in a subsequent chapter on Personality Development.

 

Culture and its Significance in Child Development

            Culture represents the intellectual side of civilization. It is an integrated whole comprised of the arts, sciences, educational aims, language, religion, social customs, mode and fashions aims language , religion, social custom, modes and fashions of a people. It thus includes the ideas, beliefs, customs, acquired sensibilities, preferences and patterns of thought and behavior commonly shard by a group of people. Culture is the totality of the ways of their life, a complex tissue of their habits, attitudes, outlooks, skills, etc. It is reflected conspicuously in institutions like religion, government, educational centers, etc.

            Culture is a gigantic moulding matrix. An individual is exceedingly moulded by and in return moulds the culture of his time and place. He lives in a state of perpetual interaction with the various cultural forces around him. He finds that to be guided by culture in everyday life yields more considerable achievement and immense satisfaction than he could possibly get if he preferred to live in a state of nature.

       

The First Impact of Culture

The various cultural forces that impinge upon the child affect his   imitation, experience, education and conditioning. The first impact of culture on his growth and personality is na­turally made at home. It takes place through the habits, customs and values of his family.

In the beginning his cultural horizon is confined to the ideals of his parents. As he comes into interaction with other children and adults in the street, school and other social places his cultural horizon expands gradually. It continues expanding practically throughout his life.

Diversified Cultural Influences

The dynamics of some of the significant cultural forces influencing certain specific areas of the thought and behavior of the child are now discussed in the following pages.

Family Culture and Early Child Training

The early home training of children is exceedingly determined by the cultural and economical level of the family.

In lower class families early infant training is not fastidious. A poor family generally lives in a small and over-crowded home. It has no provision for adequate or separate bathrooms, bed­rooms, kitchens, lawns, etc. The child, therefore, can defecate, urinate, eat and sleep practically anywhere he likes. As he grows older he is usually sent out to the street for elimination. At a later stage he may even be expected to move out of the town to the fields for the same purpose.

Similarly, for washing purposes he usually goes to the public bath rooms attached to mosques and parks, public wells, and even uses canal and river water. His diet is simple, wholesome and insufficient. His environment is barren and un-stimulating. Right from early infancy he is expected to share the burden of domestic responsibilities by assisting the parents in various ways. Consequently, he gets little time for the leisure and recreation needed by children of his age.

            Being poor, his parents are usually over burdened with a host of domestic and professional problems which are constantly threatening the very survival of the family. They don’t get much time to pay adequate attention to the needs of their children. The home-life and hence the pattern of growth of such children is dictated by disorder, squalor and neglect.

Child Training in Middle and Upper Class Families

            The child in a middle class family is relatively better off. He usually gets at least some of the basic facilities necessary for early child training. His parents, however, are very ambitions about his development.  He is often expected to learn too much too soon. An average middle class family for instance, hastens the child though the learning of early toilet habits rather recklessly. He is usually pushed excessively in matters pertaining to the learning of manners, social grace, knowledge, skill etc. Such a parental attitude therefore is liable to produce an anxious child.

            The child in the upper class family is usually over indulged. He is pampered by his parents. He is constantly protected by nurses and tutors who look after his basic needs. He is the center of attention. Everybody is there to serve him. He is provided with all possible facilities conducive to the acquirements of those habits and attitudes which are considered appropriate for the children of top class families. Too much indulgence and protection by adults at home is most likely to spoil such a child.

Cultural and Children’s Make-Believe          

            Cultural forces thus are operative upon the human individual right from early infancy. One can even perceive them at work in the make-believe of infants and children. Young children reflect the culture of their family and folk in their make-believe and playful behavior.  

            While playing with their dolls, for instance, the children from upper, middle and lower class families usually assign them different roles. They treat them in a manner indicative of the culture of their respective parents.

            Thus for instance, children from lower and lower middle class families are usually prone to assign common household duties to the doll, spank and scold her occasionally. Such an attitude towards the doll reflects the cultural pattern of their homes wherein domestic work, spanking, scolding, etc., are common features.

Children from higher and upper middle class families would hardly get any satisfaction from assigning such roles to their dolls during their make-believe play, because such behavior patterns are relatively rare in the cultural pattern of their fami­lies. They would rather dress her up richly, and make her sit and chat while people call on her. The dolls of upper class family children, following the cultural pattern of their elders, would prefer to move about and participate in social functions rather than attend to the drudgery of domestic work.

Effect of Culture on Children’s Playful Behavior

            Similarly other recreational and playful activities of children are also deeply influenced by their respective cultural background. Children from poorer families are more inclined to take pleasure in those sports, games and recreations which are cheap and are customary in their circles. Poorer children are usually more interested in playing ‘pakhunni’, ‘gulidanda’, ‘eechocheech’, hide and seek, blind man’s bluff, ‘kabaddi’, kite-flying, spinning tops, etc.

              

The middle class child who enjoys the facilities of schooling as well, feels more fascinated by such organized games and re­creations as hockey, football, basketball, cricket, scouting, guiding, hiking, etc.

Upper class children, too, may well feel interested in these games. In addition to these group games, however, they also develop a taste for expensive mechanical toys, recreational in­struments, guns, horses, bicycles, automobiles, pets, etc.

Impact of Democratic Values

It may, however, be pointed out that the above-mentioned preferences are not mutually exclusive in an absolute sense. Children of one cultural status may find occasional access to games and recreational interests typical of other classes and groups. Such possibilities, however, are very rare especially for poorer children.    They find it difficult to get time for and bear the costs of the more expensive recreations and games mostly enjoyed by the better off children.   Upper class children, on the contrary, have access to practically all types and modes of indoor and outdoor recreations, sports and games.

It is, however, heartening to find that this rigid class consciousness and discrimination in the playful pursuits of children is on the decline these days.   With the growing tide of social and cultural awakening, the speedy fall of feudalism and progressive rise of democracy in our country, sports and recreations are rapidly becoming a social institution free from the stigma of class distinction.

With the expansion of educational facilities for children in under-privileged areas and the broadening of the mass mentality by reformers, social workers and even enlightened religious preachers, the recreational situation is fast changing. Children of all classes are now getting more and more liberal opportunities for mixing with each other in order to participate and to compete in a variety of sports, games and other recreational pursuits.

Restrictions and Curbs on 'Kammee' Children

In certain culturally backward villages, however, class distinctions are still imperative in all fields of life. In such village a landlord will not permit his child to mix and play with children of the 'kammees' or the 'inferior' class families.  Kammee children are practically debarred from playing certain games which are considered to be the exclusive pastime of better class children. They are even discouraged and denied admissions into the same schools in and around the village where the landlord families send their children for education. Owing to these restrictions, Kammee children in such culturally backward villages are, therefore, very seriously handicapped in their recreational and cultural pursuits.

The dynamics of such a deplorable social phenomenon is not very difficult to grasp. Our village life is almost solely based on a feudalistic agrarian economy. The feudal lord is mostly an illiterate, rigid and unprogressive tyrant. He is fanatic about maintaining the status quo in the village. His sole desire is to continue uninterrupted in power. One of the techniques that he adopts to materialize this narrow outlook is to debar the under-privileged villagers and their children from all possible opportunities of improving their status. He fears that this might diminish his hold over their bodies and minds.

Luckily, however, with the rise of democracy and the agrarian reforms, this inhumane element in some of our cul­turally backward rural areas is now on the decline.

Effect of Culture on Language Development

The time of the utterance of the first word, as we have seen, is mainly determined by physiological factors. The content of the language, however, and the richness and variety of expression depend largely upon cultural factors. The child picks up his native language very easily. The quantity of the vocabulary and the quality of the child’s language is usually determined by the culture of the place and the family he belongs to.

 

            The cultural level of the family influences immensely the quality of the language commonly spoken by the child. Thus child hailing form a home where the parents are writers, journalists, doctors, engineers, lawyers, high state officials etc., has usually abundant chance to develop a rich vocabulary and facility of expression. Relatively fewer such chances are available to a child who belongs to a home with poorer and under-privileged parents. This is so, obviously because a child in an educated family hears more words and better expressions in his environ­ment than the child from a home of uneducated or unskilled people.

Family Status and the Child's Linguistic Development

In our culture a child from a lower class family is most liable to hear his parents speak frequently of their immediate problems and worries, generally connected with food, clothing, housing and other fundamental bodily needs. The visitors calling on the family are also usually heard talking of the same problems most of the time. The child's vocabulary and expres­sion, therefore, are likely to remain limited to few recurring words and phrases centering round these problems of existence.

On starting school the child makes immense improvement in the quality and quantity of his language. But the schools where children from poorer families are sent for education are mostly staffed by teachers whose socio-economic and cultural status is equally low. The vocabulary and expression of these unfortunate teachers is usually limited and stereotyped. Such children, therefore, have comparatively lesser chances to enrich their language adequately even at the school.

Language Environment in the Middle Class Families

The child from the middle class family gets a relative better language atmosphere at home. His mother might be illiterate. Her social circle might be narrow and uneducated. But the father is usually a petty businessman or an employee in an office, factory, etc. He has fairly wide social contacts of his own. The things commonly talked of in such a home include a variety of subjects ranging from basic needs and familial matters to affairs of the office or business, local and international politics, etc. The child’s school too is relatively better staffed.      

The middle class child, therefore, has better chance to deve­lop a wider vocabulary and a better and more varied expression. His expression is mostly free from the narrow and stereotyped language usually spoken by the unfortunate child from poorer families.

Language of the Upper Class Child

The child in upper class families, or families with literary and cultural traditions, is in a definitely advantageous position. In most such families both of the parents have a sufficiently wide and varied social circle. The matters usually talked about at home are divergent as well as stimulating. The form of the spoken language is rich in idioms and full of phrases.

            Furthermore, newspapers, journals and books are easily accessible at home. He invariably gets better educational facilities. His school atmosphere is linguistically far healthier than that of most average schools. Such a child is, therefore, liable to excel in the quality, freshness and variety of his language over the children belonging to less fortunate families.

 

Individual Variations in Linguistic Health

It may, however, be noted that though the cultural and economic status of the family is a powerful factor in determin­ing the linguistic growth of a child it is not the sole factor. A host of other influences also play a considerably significant role in this direction. Some of these factors are the attitude of the family towards a child's language development, the emphasis placed upon linguistic health, the child's own attitude and the amount of effort he is willing to exert towards acquiring skill in language, even his interests, general outlook on life, etc.

            Individual variations, therefore, are bound to appear with regard to the language development of children regardless of the economic and cultural status of the families.

Influence of Culture on Friendship and Love

The development of friendship, affection and love is also largely determined by cultural factors. The usual sequence of friendship and love relations of a child in the Western culture tend to follow a certain sequence. Thus they pass through__

"a very early period in which there is no specific manifestation of affection; next, a period in which affection goes to the parents; next a period in which it is directed to persons of the same sex; next a period in which affection is non-specific but directed toward the opposite sex; and finally a period in which affection is specifi­cally centered on a person of the opposite sex."

The pattern of development of affection with the Eastern child as well is more or less the same. In our culture, however, due to religious, social and conventional barriers on hetero­sexual interaction, the frequent mixing of older boys and girls is not socially and religiously approved. This is perfectly in line with the way Allah Almighty has designed us to live in this world. Free mixing of grown up boys and girls may lead to mutual understandings and friendships to some extent but this shall have all the chances to go astray and suffer from severe frustrations__hence the concepts of Haya, Purdah and Ghaz-e-Basar in Islam. This in fact is the most rational and closest-to-Taqwa behavior leading to pure and happy life throughout. Arranged marriages through parents or Walees with full consensus of both the boy and the girl always succeed in life better than otherwise.

Friendliness of the Eastern Child

Excepting this handicap, which might perhaps be a blessing in disguise, the development of love and friendship in our culture proceeds otherwise very smoothly and favorably. Our culture expects a child to be friendly to all those he comes in contact with.

"The children of India," Murphy tells us, "are the friendliest children I have ever seen. They trust people; their smile is whole­hearted, warm, and gay. They have more than just passive friend­liness; they are ingenious in finding ways of getting acquainted with anyone who does not speak their language, and they are perceptive and initiatively quick to understand how to make a genuine contact and establish a relationship."

This also holds true of the Pakistani child obviously because the pattern of life in both of these two countries is very much alike in many respects. It is rather more true of the Pak­istani child because his culture and traditions do not impose any class restrictions or other artificial barriers whatsoever in school interaction. The dynamic culture of-Pakistan, deriving its ins­piration mainly from the Islamic Ideology, is rather hostile to any artificial class, creed or color barriers between man and man.

 Cultural Determination of Children's Interests

Culture is the greatest moulder of children's interests, de­sires, fantasies, preferences, aversions, etc. A child soon finds that if he develops a liking for skills and acquires proficiency in a particular field he gets the appreciation of his peers and adults. During the course of time winning of social appreciation and rewards, and fear of disapproval and punishment become strong incentives for the child to develop certain recreational, cultural, educational and even vocational interests and prefer­ences.

Differing cultures of different families, groups, countries, regions, etc. are, therefore, bound to result in variations in the interests, outlooks, preferences and dislikes of children. Thus the interests of a child from a lower class family are most likely to be different from those of child from a middle or upper class family.

Similarly, the very cultural zone or area from which a child hails influences the trend and spirit of his interests. Thus, for instance, the likes and dislikes of the Punjabi, the Sindhi, the Frontier or the Tribal child, the Baluchi, the Bengali and the Kashmir child are bound to display great variations typical to their particular cultural zones. Even in one and the same cul­tural zone the interests of the rural and the urban children are liable to vary considerably. This holds true of all places and peoples in the world.

National Variations in Children's Interests

A study of variations in interests of children belonging to various countries caused by their differing culture would be extremely   revealing.                                                               

Sarhan has reported a very interesting comparative study highlighting the differences  and similarities between the interests of  American and Egyptian Children. A gist of this study is as follows: 

Interests of American and Egyptian Children

             Interests Common to Both                                          Main Differences in Interests

(1) Interests in material thing declines   as the child grow older.   (2) Interest in academic work declines with age.  (3) Increases in age bring interests in self improvement. (4) Increase in interest in out of school intellectual activities with age.    (5) More interest in own language and arithmetic than in science or social studies. (6) Greater interest in people with increase in age. (7) Sex differences were common to both cultures. Girls expressed less interest in material things. (8) There was an egocentric character to interests. (9) Disinterested in those school courses which did not bear obvious relation to a goal.

(1)   American children showed more interest in material things than the Egyptian children.   (2)   More American children expressed interest in improvement of living quarters.   (3)   Comparative larger percentage of American children expressed interest in people outside the family circle. (4)   Arts, crafts and hobbies were reported more frequently by American than Egyptian children.      (5)    A much higher proportion of Egyptian children expressed whishes pertaining to religious qualities and social graces. (6)   40.1% of Egyptian children and less than 1% of American children reported home work as favorite out of school activity. (7)   12.5% of Egyptian and none of the American children expressed interest pertaining to health. (8)   More Egyptian than American Children expressed patriotic wishes.

           

Needless to re-emphasize, the foregoing variations in interests among American and Egyptian children are mainly the outcome of the varying demands, pressures, expectancies and convention of the cultures of their respective countries.

Influence on Intelligence and Achievement

Dr. Watts suggests that cultural forces also influence the intelligence of children. He found that a child's performance in an intelligence test was considerably influenced by the cultural background of his family.

Cultural factors have also been found to be responsible for a child's ambitions. A certain amount of the desire to have and to possess is there by nature in every normal child. Cultural demands and pressures, however, give this natural desire further impetus and shape.

           Thus, for instance, children in middle and upper class families have more incentive and chance to realize their ambi­tions because their social and cultural environment is constantly stimulating and encouraging them towards their achievement. One the contrary, a poor child belonging to an under-privileged family has relatively fewer incentives and opportunities to achieve and to succeed.

  

Competitive and Co-operative Behavior

Culture also expects the child to be competitive to some extent. This expectation is more pronounced in Western indus­trialized cultures. To be competitive, however, does not mean that one should not be co-operative. Logically these two activi­ties might appear to be mutually contradictory. Psychologi­cally, however, they may not necessarily be so. They may rather supplement and complement each other. Thus a child can be, and culture expects him to be, competitive with his class mates at studies, sports, etc. He can at the same time be cooperative in his general behavior.

            Later efficient living also demands that one’s behavior should combine both of these apparently conflicting demands of culture. An individual who combines both of these traits adequately has far greater chance for optimal achievement than the one who either lacks them or finds their demands mutually irreconcilable.

Cultural Variations and Conflict

It is evident from the foregoing discussion that the cultural variations are an exceedingly enlightening phenomenon. Mark the interesting customs, traditions, conventions, rituals, rites, etc., prevalent among the Bengali, Punjabi, Sindhi, the Kashmiri, the Frontier, the Tribal and the Baluchi people, etc. in Pakistan. Similar cultural variations in other regions and countries of the world are equally fascinating. In fact, our world would be an ex­ceedingly dull and boring place without these cultural variations.

Varying cultures put varying demands on children falling under their respective jurisdictions. These cultural demands may sometimes clash with other demands of a different culture or with some equally strong inner force pulling the child in a diametrically opposite direction. Such a situation is technically known as a culture conflict.

Contradictory Character of the Western Culture

 Perhaps the contradictions involved in the western culture are most conducive to such conflicts. The Christian and the Jewish religious ethics emphasize brotherhood, love, forgiveness and need for repentance. The Western economic system, how­ever, glorifies achievement and success based on "getting ahead". Such behavior usually necessitates a ruthless, hostile and callous form of competition which is very common in the spheres of industry and business. The average individual thus might feel utterly puzzled to decide which way to proceed.

The   Western   culture   is   predominantly   a   mass   culture, working with the automatism of a machine.   Most of the Western people, therefore, just don't bother to stop and think about the implications of the conflicting demands of their religious and economic systems.    Such unthinking people are consequently relatively happier than those few who look before they leap.   It is precisely this thinking minority which is apt to discover the contradictions involved, feel them and fall a prey to mental conflict. Such conflicts might range from mild mental unrest to serious maladjustments and even splits of the personality culture conflict thus open up before them the doors to unrest, disease, delinquency, crime and immorality.

 

Conflicts in the American Culture

The American cultural pattern provides the most clear-cut example of a culture conducive to generate tensions and con­flicts. The Christian morality clashes with the American democracy which cherishes extreme liberty, free competition, even permitting aggression, etc.

Such sharply divergent systems of teaching are most liable to produce confusion in the mind of a child. It may also be responsible for unhappiness and maladjustment. Minor mental anomalies and deviations, which follow, have often been found to develop into serious conflicts and splits of personality in later adult life in America.

Cultural Conflicts among American Immigrants

Another interesting phenomenon of culture conflict is common and peculiar to American immigrants. People of different nationalities settling down in America often inter­marry. Their offspring face a culturally conflicting situation at home. They find that the customs, conventions, attitudes and outlooks of their parents are so different that they seem to clash with one another. Thus, for instance, a child may find that his Italian mother's cultural outlook points towards a direction opposed to his Spanish father's cultural preferences.

The child may further find that each one of the clashing cultural patterns at home also differs from the American culture outside the home. He is, therefore, bound to face insurmount­able adjustment problems. Both at home and outside he is apt to be perplexed by gigantic adjustment difficulties regarding language, manners, customs, likes, dislikes, etc. The doors of a serious conflict having been flung open to him, such an unfortunate child is most liable to become a victim of anxiety, insecurity, tension and frustration. He might even be dragged into delinquency or mental disorders of serious nature.

Culture Conflicts in the East

            The phenomena of conflicts, though very pronounced in the West are not confined to those countries. The East too has peculiar culture conflicts of its own. 

In Japan, for instance, the culture expects the child to con­form to authority almost absolutely and unconditionally. At home a rigid discipline with undue emphasis on cleanliness, personal hygiene, hard work, etc. is ruthlessly enforced on the child. Such an authoritarian cultural demand usually clashes with the natural impulses of childhood, yearning for freedom, initiative, self-assertion, recreation, leisure, etc.

The Japanese child thus feels two conflicting pulls; one of the culture and the other of his natural urges. Both impel him in opposite directions. The conflict that ensues expresses itself in too frequent temper tantrums, excessive fear, abnormal suspicion, etc. during childhood. Too frequent suicides at adult level are also largely indicative of the same personality maladjustment consequent upon conflicting cultural pressures.

 

Culture Conflicts in India

In India the rigid caste system creates social and cultural barriers between the inferior class 'Shudra' and the privileged class 'Brahman'. Such an artificial distinction clashes violently with the requirements of democracy demanding equal status and opportunity for everyone.

Other traditions and customs in Indian orthodox culture also conflict very seriously with the demands of modern socialism and democracy. The child in India, therefore, is bound to be adversely affected by such a culturally conflicting situation. The social reformer and the school teacher in India are busy with the stupendous task of resolving these serious conflicts amicably. But the task is too gigantic to be accomplished very quickly.

The Partition Muddle and the Children in Pakistan

            On the eve of the partition of India into India and Pakistan, the latter, like the former, faced pathetic scenes of culture conflicts. The mass uprooting of people from various remote parts of India, and their haphazard rehabilitation at unknown places in Pakistan gave birth to heterogeneous ‘mohalla’ and group formations. Such newly formed settlements and group organizations lacked cultural cohesion and homogeneity.

            Thus for instance, a literary family from highly and differently civilized area in U.P. had to settle afresh side by side with an agriculturist family from Punjab at a place unfamiliar to both of them. While mixing and playing with each other, the children of the two families soon found that the culture of their respective homes were entirely different from each other as well as from the one prevailing in their new surroundings. They found that other children behaved differently from how their own parents had taught them or expected them to behave. This set before the children a situation leading to clashes and conflicts.

The One-Unit Confusion and the Child

Another miniature scale example of culture conflict came to be observed on the eve of the integration of the former provinces of West Pakistan into One-Unit, namely, the Province of West Pakistan. The administrative arrangements in connection with the integration of services necessitated large scale inter-regional transferences of officers and reshuffling of the departmental establishments.

In such a situation the children of the transferred employees sometimes felt it difficult to adjust to the relatively different and unfamiliar culture of the new region. Such a difficulty was more pronouncedly felt in those cases where neither the Government nor the individual families concerned had made any psychological preparations for the affected children to adjust to the changed cultural horizon of the new place. Such oversights in the past point out clearly towards the necessity of adopting adequate psychological precautions in similar situations in future, e.g. shifting of the Federal Capital from Karachi to Rawalpindi temporarily and then eventually to Islamabad.

Our Inconsistent Thought and Behavior

A constant and highly undesirable factor which favors the continuation of culture conflicts among our children is our inconsistent thought and behavior. On the one hand we endeavor to tell the child that our country is an Islamic democracy which implies that the conduct of the people in Pakistan shall be guided by the demands of Islam and democracy. We further attempt to tell him that the demands of both, our religion as well as modern democracy, could be and ought to be reconciled and practiced in good conduct. Yet at the same time the general behavior of most of the adults, including parents, teachers and key men in various walks of life, violates the spirit of our pious declarations. Even a cursory reading of a morning newspaper would reveal that we seem to have failed to live up to the basic ideology which is the very foundation of our State.

When a child finds that the very parents and the teachers who admonish him to be a true Muslim and a true patriot are far from being so themselves, he feels extremely disappointed and utterly bewildered. The commonest courses left open for a child facing such a conflicting situation are two:

(1) He may ignore the conflict, develop immunity to pricks of conscience and join the crowd of the inconsistent adults who themselves act entirely differently from the way they admonish their children to behave.

(2) He may, on the other hand, react to the situation very sensitively and develop a mental conflict.

Both of these courses are equally undesirable for personal, emotional, cultural and social health of the child and of the Nation.

Reconciliation between Religion and Democracy

Theoretically the cultural situation in Pakistan is entirely different from that prevailing in some countries where the religious and social traditions are intrinsically hostile to the democratic ideals of the equality and fraternity of mankind. The Pakistani religious and social ideology, however, is in perfect harmony with the teachings of modern democracy. It does not present a conflicting situation comparable with that prevailing in other countries.

Theoretically at least, therefore, the cultural situation in Pakistan is far healthier than that in several countries.' And it is decidedly better than the conditions prevailing in most Western countries where the preached prevailing religion and the practiced democracy, speaking with conflicting tunes, are most liable to disturb the mental health of children and adults.

Our Cultural Crisis

            In Pakistan, however, little effort has so far been made to give a concrete shape to this dynamic element in our culture. The crisis facing the parents and the teachers here is: how to convince the child that there is in fact no conflict between the requirements of religion and democracy and that in one's everyday life the demands of both of them could be met without any clash or conflict.

Such a conviction cannot obviously dawn on a child's mind by mere high-sounding declarations. The actual life of the various adult authorities alone, particularly the parents and the teachers, shall convince our children that their country, its culture and the spirit of its constitution are in fact most worthy of their honor and esteem. Such a realization is bound to have a favorable effect on the lives of our children, and the adults of future. It will give an entirely different shape to the growth of their thought and behavior and pave the way for better cultural health.

Fortunately, however, with the realization to put the present character crisis right, more and more constructive steps are now being taken to bring about healthier changes in our religious, social, cultural, economic, political and mental life. A major change is evident now, whether through a bloody revolution or through a peaceful movement. People have become fed up from the present system of governance and the corrupt as well as characterless political leaders. Hopefully, after this major change, our cultural confusion is likely to lose its previous intensity.

The Child and the Future Culture

What is the culture of the contemporary age? How does it affect the child? Does it contribute towards happiness, welfare and evolution of the human race and its values?

            The upshot of the preceding discussion is that if we look within and around us to answer these question we are apt to feel rather disappointed to realize that the various cultures and the world culture as a whole have failed to fulfill their main purpose__ that of making human being happy, peaceful, cooperative and creative.

Aggression and Intolerance in our Culture

            True, we have constructed huge citadels of arts, sciences and languages. Apparently we seem to be better off than the cavemen. Nevertheless we have equally excelled in the arts of destruction. Despite all our apparent maturity we still don't appear to have solved the problems of intolerance, aggression, maladjustment, exploitation and war. This is the main tragedy in the con­temporary culture which a child is forced to accept, adopt and practice for his survival.

The contemporary cultural situation is obviously highly undesirable and unwholesome for our children. The culture of tomorrow, therefore, must aim at diminishing or eliminating brutality and violence from the minds of individuals and nations. To materialize this dream the future culture must begin with the children. Our present day knowledge of child development seems to be very inadequate and defective. Why should a child become a problem at home, a trouble-maker for the society and a threat to world peace despite having received a thorough training at home and an elaborate education at school? All this suggests that something must be seriously wrong somewhere.

Enlightened Child Development

In fact, we need to make a more refined, methodical and concentrated approach towards the problems of children. There are several significant problems related to their development which need our serious attention.

A basic problem which requires our immediate considera­tion, for instance, is the glaring inequality in our contemporary social provisions for children. The way the needs of children are met within schools and families of varying socio-economic status is highly uncivilized and miles away from our cultural ideal. We tend to over-feed and over-educate the upper class child and starve and neglect the slum-child both physically and mentally. Such an unhealthy situation is a slur on the fair name of culture and democracy.

Application of Democracy to Child Development

Individuals, nations and governments should, therefore, realize the dangers following from such fundamental inequalities in child growth. It is these inequalities and inadequacies at child level which breed dissatisfaction and discontentment at all stages. They arouse worry and anxiety and cause frustration and maladjustment. They pave the way for biases, prejudices, conflicts, diseases, riots, militancy, terrorism and wars.

In order to eliminate these undesirable elements from our culture we must apply democratic values to the problems of child development. We must reconstruct a home, a region, a country and a world which provides equal and adequate opportunities for all children. Every child must be enabled to get the demands of his physical, social, cultural, emotional and intellectual growth fulfilled on democratic and equalitarian bases.

Towards an Enlightened Culture

Such a scheme is not merely a Utopian dream. If the governments of the world and the key-people in all countries realize the urgency and the magnitude of the problem, they could hasten to take the most appropriate steps in this direction. They could, for instance, curtail the defense budgets and spend a major part of it on the development of children, their welfare and education. Such a step is bound to pave the way for a peace and prosperity that shall be both stable as well as creative.

The preamble to the United Nations Educational, Social and Cultural Organization reminds us that : "Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that defenses of peace must be constructed". The most obvious and appropriate method of seeking the defenses of peace is to concentrate on the child. How can conflicts and wars originate if the child is taught to cherish and practice harmony and peace?

Education of Teachers and Parents

The materialization of such a program also necessitates an enlightened education of the teachers and the parents who handle the children during their most formative and suggestible years. Teachers need adequate training in understanding children. They must possess all the necessary information regarding the problems connected with various levels of child development. A well planned education of the parents will reduce the various inadequacies a child faces at home.

Even pre-parental education would help immensely; that is, the education of adolescents and pre-adults for future parenthood. Suitable pre-parental education would go a long way towards paving the way for a better outlook towards children and their needs.

Emergence of a Child-Centered Culture

The collective result of all these measures would be the emergence of a culture which is refreshing, stimulating and creative. It would be a culture in the real sense of the term. Such a culture is bound to succeed in preparing the child for a better, healthier and mature life. The culture of today is a failure. It is suicidal. The culture of tomorrow promises hope only if it is child centered in the best possible way. Only Islam has the requisite material, methodology and concept to teach and lead the world to success.