Modern vs. Postmodern World

I read an article for a graduate course by David Elkind (1995) titled " School and Family in the Postmodern World." I continue to be fascinated by this article because I grew up in the modern world and I learned so much about why the world was the way it was. The article engages you to look at life years ago and life today and draw conclusions about the children that might have the better lives. The author does not directly address the question with you but you are compelled to draw this question yourself when you see the clear differences in culture, lifestyles, and values between the modern and postmodern world.
The modern family values were grounded on togetherness and the nuclear family. It was characterized by domesticity, maternal love, and romantic love. Domesticity is a belief that each family member's primary loyalty is to the home. Mothers provided the nurturing care as well as making the home a comfortable place to live. Maternal love is an instinctive need of mothers to unconditionally love and care for their family. In romantic love it is tied to the notion that there is only one true mate for us. We will meet them, fall in love, get married, and spend our lives committed to that one person.
The modern school did not have any publicly supported Kindergartens. In schools with Kindergartens, it was not a requirement to attend. Kindergarten was structured to reflect the beliefs of domesticity and maternal love with play being the focus. Many elementary schools were built without cafeterias because it reinforced the roles of the mother and her responsibility to provide her child with a lunch that she prepared. Curriculum planning was founded on the beliefs that children were innocent and naive and adolescents were even considered immature. The curriculum was guarded in what was taught and what was censored.
By comparison, the postmodern world, today's world, differs greatly. We live today's world and know the realities of the demands of life. Today's child is afforded so many opportunities that the modern child could never have imagined. The advancement of technology alone has enabled the children of today to see and do things that we never could have dreamed of. But our lifestyles come at a price. Families do not eat meals together. Children are busy engaging in "abbreviated conversation" via text messaging and instant messaging that spoken conversations between people are becoming less frequent. There are more distractions in today's world to distract from what is truly important in life- family. So, the essential question is, which children have richer lives, the modern children or the postmodern children?

Elkind, D. (1995). School and the postmodern family. Phi Delta Kappan. 77(1), 8-14.