Posted: May 26, 2011 5:04 am
james1v wrote:The problem i have with social experiments like this, is that the child cannot consent.
A good point. But in a sense, social experimentation is an inevitable aspect of parenting, it's just a question of how radical your experiment is. Even if there were a well-defined gold standard in a culture for exactly what decisions parents should make in any given case, deviating from that standard is not inherently a bad idea, and a young child can't really ever provide an ideal endorsement through informed consent. I'm still reserving judgment in this case while mulling over the social complexities...
I wouldn't mind watching some passionate disagreement develop to help think this one out. Come on people, do what you do best and argue about shit!
natselrox wrote:
Sounds interesting but I somehow doubt that we'll know anything new from it...
Why do you say that? Too small a sample size to account for other factors? The treatment of these children by others in society would skew their developmental outcomes and leave researchers unable to separate the merits of the parents' fundamental strategic ideals from the effects of prejudiced treatment and social awkwardness encountered in the rest of their environment?