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SUMMARY:The ideal function of any capitalist activity"? The troubled times
  of child precocity in the 20th century - Clementine Beauvais (Faculty of 
 Education)
DTSTART:20150512T170000Z
DTEND:20150512T180000Z
UID:TALK59307@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:20337
DESCRIPTION:It has become commonplace to note the presence of market imper
 atives\, unquestioned consumerist values and an emphasis on efficiency\, p
 roductivity and future employability in contemporary Western education. In
  this context\, it would seem logical that children who are quick to learn
 \, or develop certain skills early\, would be perceived as a particularly 
 valuable resource. And indeed child precocity has become increasingly asso
 ciated to dreams of productivity\, and its associated rhetoric has migrate
 d somewhat\, in the course of one century\, from political idealism to eco
 nomic pragmatism. Yet the precocious child does not\, as Barthes would hav
 e it\, fulfil exactly ‘the ideal function of any capitalist activity’.
  For one\, reality calls: precocious or gifted children do not always resp
 ond well to expectations of fast achievements. Furthermore\, the controver
 sies around the acceleration and ‘optimization’ of time around precoci
 ous children testify to the difficulty for adults to consider childhood al
 ong the Tayloristic timelines offered to them by neoliberal ideology and p
 olicy. The figure of the precocious child crystallizes tensions around chi
 ld time\, a time to be condensed and budgeted in order to best prepare for
  a competitive world of scarce resources\, but also a time to be stretched
 \, qualitatively spent\, privileging relationships\, explorative play\, an
 d emotional growth.
LOCATION:Room TBA\, Homerton College
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