(A friend sent a translation of a write-up from the November 2007 issue of Majdoor Samachar to Minh in February 2021. Her response of 21 February 2021 is part of Chapter 11 of “Fragments & Pathways For Imagining a Near Future”. Follows.)
● For the normal, healthy upbringing of a toddler, fifty people of different age groups are essential. A prevalent proverb in Africa : for a good childhood, an entire village is needed.
[Minh: Do you have any research supports to the amount of about 50 people mentioned here? It sounds to me that the more diversified group, the better effect to the kids. Kids are always curious and the more conversations they have with varied people in ages or genders, the more experienced they can acquire. So in which way they conclude that about 50 people are required for their nurturing and development? And is there any requirement for these 50 people in specific or frequent connection that support to the idea? Since it is likely that even there is less than 50 closely frequent people around, total of people that a kid deal with during their childhood may be thousands or more.
In the book Nation of Israel (Author: Nguyen Hien Le), It was mentioned about the group called Kibboutzm were being created after the country became independent and kids were
raised independently with their parents in a group and they were being cared by teachers or caregivers. Group’s creation was based on the demand of hard-working and busy parents that wanted to spend more time for common jobs. After that the children nurturing has been changed a bit to be adaptive with society’s development and awareness. But it seems the groups had worked well in a way…]
—– Link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ejOki49iCAaWWRNwf5zu8_9wrEHdSCs9/view?usp=drivesdk
—10/02/2022