In 1960 Yale Professor Fred Greenstein published an account of research he had conducted on hundreds of New Haven school children. He discovered that children were taught to respect authority figures, especially the President. He learned that very young children often confused the President with God.
As children grew older, they realized that the President was definitely not God, but they still held residual feeling that the President was more than a mere mortal. This carried over into adulthood; when Kennedy was assassinated, many people suffered from insomnia, depression, and a general feeling of unease.
Most parents, even those who didn’t like the current President, taught their kids to respect him. I remember how shocked I was when our daughter, then about five, came home from kindergarten talking about “Pig Nixon.” I loathed Nixon, wrote letters to him urging him to resign, and went to anti-Nixon demonstrations, but nonetheless told Rachael, “You don’t call the President a pig. He is the President of the United States.”
Greenstein’s work was criticized. Another researcher studied minority kids and found that many of them were afraid of authority figures. Critics said that New Haven school children were not representative of many American kids in Appalachia or inner cities. Besides, Greenstein did his study during the Eisenhower administration, and it was not a total stretch to confuse the fatherly Eisenhower with Jehovah himself.
I wonder what kids now think of our Nazi-friendly, woman bashing, immigrant-hating Trump. If I had a kid coming home from kindergarten today talking about “Pig Trump,” would I be shocked? Does any kid, even a three-year-old, confuse this President with God?
Our three Grandchildren (12,9 and 8)all agree that Trump is evil. We are very proud that they can see through his language and we don't discuss politics with them. They see him for what he is by themselves.
ReplyDeleteWhen I think back to Presidents I didn't like very much-Reagan, both Bushes-I still thought they were well within the American tradition. This one is so far outside of being "presidential" that even kids are appalled and confused. I just hope Trump's behavior will not enter our culture as the new normal.
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