Yesterday was just too busy to blog: a long meeting at work to decide on a new hire (we did!); lots of grading (the bane of many academic lives right now); and some time sitting around the Albany, NY airport waiting for my wife and daughter to return from a short jaunt to DC (the plane was 1.5 hours late - which allowed time for grading!).
Today, not only is there a bit more time (the exams still stare up at me from my desk...) but many topics to take up. Here are two:
A story in the NYT: Parenting as therapy for child's mental disorders
A story in the WaPo: In China, Aging in the care of strangers
Taken together, they are a great illustration of the continuing relevance of Confucian ideas to modern life.
First, the NYT piece. The main theme here is that, even though the bio-chemical basis of mental disorders is well-founded and true, good parenting can help improve the prospects for children with these sorts of problems:
But the science behind nondrug treatments is getting stronger. And
now, some researchers and doctors are looking again at how
inconsistent, overly permissive or uncertain child-rearing styles might
worsen children’s problems, and how certain therapies might help
resolve those problems, in combination with drug therapy or without
drugs.
The psychotherapy techniques intended for the improvement
of interactions between parents and children have been used mostly for
children who suffer from attention disorders or who exhibit aggressive
or defiant behavior. But recently, mental health professionals have been studying their use for families whose children suffer from depression or other mood problems.
In a comprehensive review, the American Psychological Association urged
in August that for childhood mental disorders, “in most cases,” nondrug
treatment “be considered first,” including techniques that focus on
parents’ skills, as well as enlisting teachers’ help.
The article goes on to detail very specific ways in which parents can structure their children's daily routines to help mitigate the worst effects of certain mental disorders. It is important to remember that a child's behavior is not wholly the result of parent's actions. We should not go back to the bad old days when parents, and often mothers, were completely blamed for a child's "excitableness" (i.e. ADHD). Rather, we should recognize that in some cases, perhaps many cases, adjusting how parents go about their parenting can have good effects upon "troubled children."
And that is a confirmation of a basic Confucian tenet: human potential is shaped by close and loving social relationships. Confucius obviously understood family connections, and especially parent-child connections, as being the earliest and most basic social network for any individual. When that tie fails, a person is likely to face heightened stress and anxiety; when that tie flourishes, a person will have a solid base from which to move out into the world. And that applies to children with mental disorders as well as anyone else.
If this story demonstrates the relevance of Confucianism to modern psychiatry and psychology, the WaPo piece suggests the demise of Confucianism in China. It is a well-worn tale: with the rise of the one child policy and a more materialistic and consumption-driven society, care for the elderly is gradually shifting away from families and toward more impersonal institutions:
Only children often bear the burden alone of taking care of their
parents, while the cradle-to-grave welfare associated with state-owned
factories is becoming a thing of the past. Two or three decades ago, a
more traditional way of life emphasized the Confucian ideal of
respecting one's elders. Today, making good money is the slogan of
choice.
"I understand why children send their parents to rest
homes," Tian said. "It's not a shame at all today. It's really a big
change." His daughter, who is busy selling cosmetics part time and
caring for a 4-year-old daughter, has health problems of her own.
We should not romanticize the past. Two or three decades ago, China was not a Confucian paradise. In 1966, the Cultural Revolution was exploding across the country, aimed explicitly at devaluing and smashing "the old." In 1976, the death of Mao Zedong created a moment of deep political uncertainty; nobody in December of that year could have predicted what China would become in 2006. And when we take into account the horrors of the Great Leap Forward we can pretty much discard "respecting your elders" as an priority of PRC politics and policy.
In any event, I think a better way to work through this kind of issue is not to frame it in terms of "China is less Confucian now than it was at some moment in the past," but rather in terms of a constantly evolving and changing interaction of ideas with social and economic and political conditions. Confucianism has been revised in various ways over the centuries (one thinks immediately of the Han and Sung reinterpretations). I see no reason to believe that that kind of dynamic revision is impossible of should stop at some particular modern or postmodern moment. In other words, there are ways in which the Confucian emphasis on caring for elders can be translated into practical and humane contemporary outcomes.
What does this mean more specifically for the situation that China - and the US - now finds itself in? It seems to me that Confucianism would continue to raise certain kinds of questions.
For children: is there more you can do to spend time with your aging parents or elders as you scramble to balance family and work and play? Even a little more time - and I think Confucius would tell us time for personal interaction is important - would be positive.
For aging parents: is there more you can do to adjust your expectations about how your daily health needs can be met without assuming your children will be near or free to take care of you? None of us like to contemplate our own demise but, let's face it, at some point walking will become difficult, cooking and cleaning will be less manageable, assistance will be required for all sorts of intimate needs. How will all of this happen if a child is far away or swept up in the demands of a highly competitive job? We all have to think about how to continually extend and build our social networks, growing out from our immediate family, to create new avenues for the cultivation and expression of our identities and humanity.
For society at large: how can resources be used effectively to ease the strain that elders experience as they confront the physical and social challenges of old age without necessarily having the financial support or physical propinquity of their children?
Confucius tells us that we all create our moral selves through the enactment and protection and preservation of our closest loving relationships. Modern life makes it difficult, if not sometimes impossible, for individuals to follow through on their family duties. It is important, then, for all of us (however we define "us" - I am thinking nationally here for pragmatic policy reasons) to work collectively to make it more possible for each of us to find the best situations for our children and elders. The richest members of society do not need to be showered with excessive end of year bonuses and the most extravagant global strategies for war-fighting do not need to be enacted. What we need is more attention and effort and money to help families and children and elders. That is what Confucius would say.
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