Mark your calendars
for our next Center Associates' Seminar:

Sheila Cosminsky and Diane Markowitz

"Nutrition, Health and Health Care among Children of Migrant Workers in South Jersey"

Thursday March 8th from 12:20 - 1:20

Large Conference Room - Dean's Office, Armitage Hall

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Preparing Camden Teens for Futures in Allied Health Professions

Kennedy Health Systems Wellness Program Lyndette John from the Temple University School of Nursing Maida Basic and Michelle Gould of Monell Chemical Senses Center demonstrated olfactory science principles. Steve Hodson of Southstar Helicopter Service from Virtua Health	On January 10, 2001 more than 500 students from 10 Camden schools participated in the Rutgers University-Camden Campus' sixth annual Allied Health Sciences Expo 2001 Sponsored by the Science Preparation Alliance of Rutgers and Camden (SPARC) program, the Expo allowed 8th grade students to learn more about careers in health care and the allied health sciences. Exhibitors included research centers, such as the Monell Chemical Senses Center; teaching institutions, such as UMDNJ, Camden County College, Temple University and Rutgers University; area hospitals, such as the Cooper Health System, Our Lady of Lourdes and Virtua Health; and other health care providers, such as the Camden County Board of Health. Cooper University Medical Center presented Radiography, Cardiovascular Perfusion, Medical Technology and Alllied Health Students received blood pressure screenings, tests of their sense of smell, measurements of their nutritional status, instruction in how to transport emergency patients, and exposures to a great deal of information about careers and opportunities in health-related fields.
Tina Emert from Our Lady of Lourdes Wellness Center performed blood pressure screenings

For more information about the Allied Health Sciences EXPO, please contact Bill Whitlow.

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Service Learning Course

This spring a group of 15 undergraduates are learning about the "Digital Divide", the difference between communities that are richly supplied with access to computer technology and those that are not. These students are combining academic studies of the applications of technology to education and to community development with 'hands-on' participation in schools and community centers in Camden. Their instructor for the course is Anne Harkins, the Technology Coordinator for the Rafael Molina School. They will spend at least 5 hours each week working with students at the Molina school and with students and adults at one of the community centers that have agreed to provide student placements. At the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center, for example, the director, Cathy Dunbar, has arranged to offer computer classes for adults during the day. She also has organized an after-school study program for neighborhood students.

If you would like to learn more about the service learning courses or volunteering to work with a Camden organization, please contact Angela Connor-Morris, Program Coordinator, at 856-225-6741 or ibconnor@camden.rutgers.edu.

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Upcoming Events.

April 13th - Center Associate Seminar - Tetsuji Yamada: "Health Outcomes and Improvement of Health Stock Through Children's Accessibility To Health Care Services"

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"Fit for an Early Death" Kids!
200 Years of Childhood On Display at Winterthur Museum

Reported by Ed Mauger, Center Volunteer

Let the sweet work of prayer and praise
Employ my youngest breath
Thus I'm prepared for longer days
Or fit for early death."

This excerpt from a 1784 children's book was part of the striking exhibit which is in its final weeks at Winterthur on "200 Years of Childhood" in America. On Friday January 26, associates of the Center for Children and Childhood Studies toured the exhibit with Tracey Rae Beck, Curator of the exhibit.

Full of children's toys, furniture, clothing, books, and other artifacts from the Winterthur collection - the exhibit was organized into historical periods that reflected shifts in the perception and treatment of children. Special displays on significant themes like education, dress, religion, and work were mounted at appropriate points of the exhibit.

The earliest era on display, 1700 to 1770, showed children treated as "incomplete adults." Seen as offspring of Original Sin, children were trained to conquer their own sinful natures, as they became integrated into the adult world. Adults frequently kept infants tightly swaddled to insure straight posture as they grew. Toddlers were placed in walking stools ("go carts"), wooden contraptions to hold them upright as they attempted their first steps.

The exhibit covering, 1750 to 1830, showed adults beginning to view childhood as a natural stage of human development. The upperclasses began to install separate nurseries in their homes. Clothing for children was more comfortable and furniture designed to their size. Manufacturers were producing toys for children.

In the post-revoluntionary period, childhood came to be seen more as an age of innocence. Paintings of the era show both small boys and girls in dresses, with similar haircuts. A separate children's literature began to appear.

However, as much as adults' attitudes toward children had changed, it was still difficult to shelter children from the hard realities of life in the 19th century, including the prospects for early mortality. It was important to develop a strong spiritual life not only to enter adulthood, but also to face death. The 1784 children's book which included the poem quoted above acutally featured stories of young heroes who had died.

Ms. Beck introduced her tour by explaining how she developed the exhibit, based on Karin Calvert's study, Children in the House. She was also careful to make the distinction that the exhibit reflected more the adults' opinion and treatment of children than the actual direct experience of childhood. After all, it was the adults who did the collecting and telling about childhood.

The same great care taken by Ms. Beck in mounting the exhibit was evident in her preparation for our visit. She had taken note of our members' particular professional interests and adroitly addressed them at various points in her gracious tour through the displays. This stimulated additional dialogue as we progressed through the exhibit. Altogether, a fascinating afternoon at Winterthur.

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Animals and Innocents -
An Analysis of Western Theological Perspectives on the Meaning and Purpose of Child Rearing

Dr. John Wall, an ethicist in the Department of Philosophy and Religion and Center Associate, spoke at the Thursday, January 8, 2001 associates' seminar about his project "Animals and Innocents: Theological Reflections on the Meaning and Purpose of Child-Rearing." His presentation was based on a paper he recently delivered at the Annual Meeting of the Society of Christian Ethics. This project is supported with funds the Center received from the Rutgers University SROA program.

Contemporary ethicists - both philosophical and theological -- generally have not addressed the issue of child-rearing as a legitimate area of intellectual inquiry, despite the fact that major Western philosophers going back as far as Plato and Aristotle have devoted considerable effort to it. Dr. Wall finds this all the more troubling given the status of children in U.S. and abroad. Children recently overtook the elderly as the poorest group in the United States; millions of children lack any form of health insurance; children are spending decreasing amounts of time with parents and adults; and rates of teenage depression, suicide, homocide, drug use, and other factors are on the rise.

Dr. Wall chooses to begin with the questions of the meaning and purpose of child-rearing, and the responsibilities and obligations these meanings and purposes impose on various adults and institutions in society (not only parents but also extended family, educators, community leaders, businesses, psychologists, religious groups, and governments). This moral question has four parts: (1) how should we conceive children's starting point as they enter the world, (2) what purposes or goals should child-rearing strive to accomplish, (3) by what means should we move toward these goals, and (4) what agents (adults and institutions) should take what kinds of responsibilities for these means.

As a first stage in gaining better insight into these questions, Dr. Wall has developed a three-part typology of Western theological and philosophical approaches to child-rearing. The "developmental" view -- seen in different ways in Aristotle, Aquinas, Locke, among others -- has understood children as starting out as either irrational animals or mere potentialities who require education to develop rational human capacities. The "social" view - Augustine, Calvin, and Puritanism -- sees children as fallen creatures that need to be disciplined into a moral social covenant or into civilized society. The "romantic" view - found in thinkers like Rousseau, and Schleiermacher, among others -- views children as starting out originally innocent and needing their original goodness nurtured into talents that can stand up to the corruption of the social order.

Each of these approaches (as well as others) underlies our assumptions about child-rearing today in the United States, but they come out in different ways and also conflict with each other. Each, ethically speaking, has strengths and weaknesses for today. Dr. Wall hopes to develop a better understanding of how these models are appropriated in our child-rearing practices today, and ultimately how they should be put together critically into a new and more adequate understanding of contemporary child-rearing ethics.

For more information, please contact johnwall@camden.rutgers.edu

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Thank You to
Center for Children and Childhood Studies
Student Volunteers

The Rutgers University Center for Children and Childhood Studies recognizes the valuable contribution of time and talent from our student volunteers who have helped with the Camden Campaign for Children's Literacy (CCCL). These volunteers have read to children in hospitals and clinic waiting rooms and libraries, and assisted in the collection and distribution of new and gently used books to Camden children.

If you are interested in volunteering for the CCCL, please contact Angela Connor-Morris, Program Coordinator, at 856-225-6741 or ibconnor@camden.rutgers.edu.

Thank you to the following student volunteers:

Kathleen Brogan, Antoinette Reid, Aubrecia Cooper, Justin Roushe, Ruth Guzman, Liz Stevenson, Kreshelle Kales, Lourdes Tourres-Kee, Terri Kasper, Shannon Towns, Violeta Katsikis, Crystal Waters and Kim Leicester.

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CCCS Associates In The News:

Surf for Information on Gender Equity

The Gender Equity in Education Clinic at the Rutgers-Camden School of Law gained national attention on January 18, when Linda Wharton, Center Associate and clinical staff attorney for Camden School of Law, appeared on the nationally broadcast NPR radio show "Justice Talking," where she discussed college athletics during "Gender Wars at Center Court."
Catch the debate online at http://justicetalking.org/season_two_shows/gender_wars.html.

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HIV-AIDS Awareness Lecture

African American History Month is not only a time of celebration. It is also a time to take note of serious and substantive issues affecting the lives of African Americans. On Monday, February 26 at 6 p.m., Judith Peters, Community Co-Chair of the Philadelphia Planning Group for HIV Prevention, will give a free public lecture on the impact of HIV-AIDS on the minority community, especially as it affects women and children. In the black and Latino communities, AIDS has been thought of as a disease of gay white men or intra-venous drug users. However in recent years there has been an alarming increase in AIDS among heterosexual women and their infants, and among teenagers. For more information about the lecture, contact Dr. Wayne Glasker at 856-225-6220.

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New Grant Received

The Science Preparation Alliance of Rutgers and Camden (SPARC) has received a $5,000 continuation grant from North East States Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM) for the "Monitoring Air Quality in Camden with Air CURRENTS" project. This project works with teachers and students in Camden high schools to develop science projects based on measurements of air quality. The initiative makes use of a professional-grade air quality monitor, the ACCESS system, which can be used by students to monitor criterial air pollutants for both indoor and outdoor air quality. Projects will be conducted during the school year then presented at an Air CURRENTS Congress in May.

For more information about SPARC, please contact Bill Whitlow, Associate Director for the Center for Children and Childhood Studies at 856-225-6741.

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Support for the Rutgers University Center for Children and Childhood Studies

The Rutgers University Center for Children and Childhood Studies gratefully acknowledges the support we have received from individuals, corporations, foundations, and state and federal agencies. Although the Center has received funding from Rutgers University for a portion of our first year operating expenses, the Center's operations are not totally underwritten by the University. Contributions and grants are used to support various research, service and outreach programs, undergraduate and graduate education in childhood studies, as well as Center operations. Without this support from sources outside the University, the Center would not be able to offer the same quality programs. The Center has also been fortunate to have individual supporters who have made program designated and general contributions. The Center is able to accept financial contributions, as well as in-kind gifts, gifts of stock, and planned giving (bequeaths) through the Rutgers University Foundation. Development Officers at the Rutgers University Foundation are available to discuss different types of contributions and their specific tax benefits.

If you are interested in making a contribution to RUCCCS, please contact Sharon Beales, Director of Development at 856-225-6324 or beales@camden.rutgers.edu.