Saturday, June 19, 2010

Why The Title?

When BF Skinner wrote the book Walden II in the late 1940's he set off a controversy. The book called for a community living utopia with socialist ideals. Skinner himself describes the community as a type of non-violent anarchy. One of the most controversial issues was the call to disband the traditional family and involve the community in child rearing.
While I don't entirely agree with Skinners book I think the concepts are intriguing and worth thinking about. If anyone gets a chance to read this interesting book you will be greatly rewarded. The book's concepts are extensions of what we will learn about radical behaviorism in our text book and lectures.

2 comments:

  1. Very nice. So this is where we make our three posts and final project posts? All of ours post go on your blog as new posts?

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  2. I don't necessarily agree with disbanning the traditional family, but I do agree with Skinner's outlook on raising children through a community. The saying, "It takes a village..." isn't so far from the truth. While I have strong beliefs about how I want my children to be raised, the people that surround me definitely play a role in how I choose to go about raising them. For instance, I don't want my boys hitting each other and no matter what I do, I can't seem to get them to stop being physical. I have friends and neighbors that have children, with plenty of advice to give on handling the given situation. Take it one step further and the Internet is a haven for message boards and parenting groups that focus on child rearing, ready and willing to dole out advice on demand. There is a need for traditional parents, to an extent. I also feel that there is a significant need for the community's ideas on how to walk away with the most positive outcome.

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