it's not that childhood must necessarily be preserved, just that their interests and skills representative of those interests ought to be fostered in a meaningful way which allows them to fully blossom. with the advent of culture, every generation is a chance at creating a new species. but for the large part we have treated our culture like part of our biology: seeking to preserve it (look at conservatives and fundamentalists around the world) even to the point of doing so against the circumstances of our environment. imo the maintenance of this biological paradigm within the more adaptable cultural framework generates all our societal ills. biological evolution has been a game of reacting to our environment. it should follow then that the potential for cultural evolution offers us a new strategy to be
proactive, enabling us to create the conditions for life we prefer and thereby greatly accelerate the progress of our species. we can recognize that this potential exists all we want, but unless we begin fostering a generation that is not weighed down by our past it will never be realized. i believe this begins by raising our children for the sake of our children as opposed to raising them for our own sake.
if we were to take this prospect seriously we would create a peaceable world because i believe our current non-peaceable world is built upon the illimitable transgressions and inequities of our past; these having been generated by old paradigms that have proven to be antiquated on our shrinking planet. doing away with the material of a building removes its structure also, and thereafter, being burdened by past behaviors and dis-integrated paradigms no longer, we can break new ground and get creative with our new materials. an integrated society, an integrated world. . . these are the very hallmarks of peace.
ps man, have you heard of
ANUS? reading your posts i think you may find something of worth there.