M301  

Play and difference

The concept of 'cultural difference' in the play of children has emerged from a much quoted study of 1968 by Sarah Smilansky, entitled 'The Effects of Socio-Dramatic Play on Disadvantaged Preschool Children'.[i]   

Whilst studying preschoolers in Israel, Smilansky found that children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds engaged in little or no make-believe play.  The concept of 'deficits' in imaginative play abilities was established, and much discussion followed concerning the relationship between imaginative play and creativity, and possible modes of enriching childhood play experience.

Subsequently researchers have argued that the concept 'deficit' is inappropriate as it can lead to self fulfilling expectations by teachers and carers, and a preferable view would be of 'differences' in play repertoire.

A more recent study of Korean/ American children has found that differences in pretence or socio-dramatic play relate to cultural values rather than cultural disadvantage.[ii] Children from a Korean/ American preschool, with teachers from both cultures, were found to behave 'in ways that were compatible with the values and expectations of their parents and teachers' and were 'acquiring the skills most emphasised within their respective subcultures'.  Anglo-American children scored well on social competence, whereas Korean/American children scored well on standardised measures of cognitive functioning, reflecting parental emphasis on 'academic skills, task perseverance, memorisation and hard work'.[iii]

An issue of wider cultural knowledge also arises from this: in association with all the 'post’s' of modern times (the postmodern, post colonial, post structural) there has been a gradual change in Western cultural assumptions and knowledge forms.   The established universalist categorisations and hierarchies - where whatever does not fit the 'norm' is classified as deficient - is being replaced by an understanding of equality in difference, acceptance of diversity, and the realisation that 'norms' are culturally grounded.[iv]

How many years it is since I first read that short story by HG Wells, about a seeing man who wandered into the country of the blind and was threatened with having his eyes put out so that he should not be different.  The original emphasis by Wells was on the failure to appreciate individual 'vision' - but the story is amenable to other meanings.[v]

And then again...

The quote below, from the 1500’s, discovered whilst looking for the reference for HG Wells, would imply a different meaning to that of Wells in 1900’s.

'In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king'.
[In regione caecorum rex est luscus.]

Desiderius Erasmus, Adagia (III, IV, 96)
Dutch author, philosopher, & scholar (1466 - 1536)