Making Sense of Induction: Looking across International Cases

Abstract

We began this book with a claim that induction represents a phase and not simply a program. In arguing for recognizing induction as a unique period, we are reminded of the lessons of Aries (1996) and others about childhood. That research demonstrated how ‘childhood’ came to be constructed as a category during the nineteenth century, created in part to go against a then-prevailing view of a child as simply a ‘little adult’. This was done in order to argue for a protected period in the life of the young human, where particular things both should and should not happen. Yet, nowadays, childhood has become a ‘natural’ category.