While I support the gist of Merri Pemberton's post, there is one passage
to which I take exception:

On Wed, 1 May 2002, Merri Pemberton wrote:

> I agree that we are better off in many aspects and many students need to
> realize that. I believe that the serious problems facing the the ones who
> lived 200 years ago e.g. starvation, made them a stronger and more determined
> people.
___
        The old "that which does not kill me makes me stronger" lie. The
people who died of starvation, disease, cruelty and any of the catastrophes of
 history did not deserve their fates for any reason. Many who managed to
survive such events were left permanently weakened and in need of care. I
presume that MP did not really mean to say any of this, but that's where
this line of reasoning leads.
        And more: it is pointless to make comparisons between the youth of
200 or 2000 years ago and those of today. Not that they might not be
interesting, or amusing, but they are useless in dealing with today's
situations in any practical manner. For example, consider the current PBS
program "Frontier House."  All of the children work in the house or in the
fields, apparently nearly full-time. Today this would be considered, and
rightly so, child abuse. What have the children on this program learned,
other than this was a very effective way to lose weight?

        Adrienne DeAngelis
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