Bill,
The theory you have described (I know you may not agree with it)
still seems very implausible to me. Of course I don't reject JH's views
based on "contemporary views," my point was that big theories demand big
evidence - if the "best evidence" for her theory that children's culture
is transmitted down the generations through children (rather than
through adults) is what happens to adult and child culture "when you
throw populations from different cultures together" than that is not
going to cut it.
Just a couple of questions about this evidence - how often has this
happened?, how closely has the process been observed?, and, most
importantly, isn't a more plausible explanation not that children create
their "own" culture but that they adopt parts of the *total* adult
culture they see around them.
Note that the latter interpretation is entirely consistent with the
idea that children adopt the adult culture around them in general. It
only happens that when different cultures are thrown together the
culture around the children is not unitary.
On the issue of choosing a child's peers you write "I think JH would
say that the only way you can affect your kids peer group is to move to
a different neighborhood or send him/her to boarding school" Right.
That's exactly what I had said. Note that many parents make exactly
these sorts of decisions all the time.
Alex
--
Dr. Alexander Tabarrok
Vice President and Director of Research
The Independent Institute
100 Swan Way
Oakland, CA, 94621-1428
Tel. 510-632-1366, FAX: 510-568-6040
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
