ÜDS-Sosyal 2004-2 Soru=67

It is clear from the passage that Plato and Aristotle ----.

Modern psychology considers childhood an
extremely important period of human development.
Western culture views children as vulnerable and
requiring a great deal of attention, care and shelter
from harm. Many laws are designed to protect
children from dangerous toys, dangerous
substances and even dangerous parents. Our belief
that all children ought to have a free public
education and that they should remain in school until
adolescence similarly reflects the view that childhood
is a special and important time. But these attitudes
toward children reflect a relatively recent conception
of early development. The Greek and Roman
civilizations, for instance, which extended from about
600 B.C. to about 400 A.D., are usually regarded as
periods of great enlightenment.Yet the status of
children during those times was hardly enviable.
Although such great Greek thinkers as Plato and
Aristotle wrote of the importance of education, they
also defended practices that today would seem
unthinkable. Infanticide, the killing of newborns,was
routine and viewed as an appropriate way to deal with
babieswho were illegitimate, unhealthy or simply
unwanted.