(1) Today, we believe that (1)essential (2)aspects of (3)character are formed in childhood and (4)adolescence. We understand the young have different needs and experience the world (5)differently from adults. We can even see that adults themselves have been (6)influenced by a modern (7)emphasis on (8)youth. However, (9)historically this wasn’t always so. The development of modern (10)industrial societies has (11)brought about a (12)fundamental change in ideas about childhood and youth.

(2) As the historian Philippe Ariès has (13)pointed out, modern (14)attitudes towards childhood and youth (15)stand in contrast to views of the young in (16)earlier periods. Ariès has (17)noted that many Europeans in (18)the Middle Ages did not know when they were born or how old they actually were. The idea that one becomes an “adult” when one (19)turns a certain age (for example, on one’s twentieth birthday) did not (20)exist. (21)Thus, the difference between childhood and adulthood was not clear, and children were often (22)treated in the same way as adults. In (23)medieval France, few children went to school and six-year-olds worked in the (24)fields (25)alongside their (26)elders. Ariès even suggests that the concept of childhood itself did not exist in the Middle Ages.

(3) How did modern (27)perceptions of childhood and youth develop? One important factor was the growth of trade and the rise of (28)merchant cities, as happened in (29)Renaissance Italy. The importance of (30)providing the young with the skills necessary for trade was (31)recognized by cities like (32)Venice and (33)Florence, which (34)set up schools to teach reading, writing, and mathematics. As European (35)nation-states (36)emerged in the seventeenth century, the need for government (37)officials ― (38)tax collectors, (39)record keepers, and (40)administrators ー (41)expanded. In France under Louis ⅩⅣ, for example, (42)increasing numbers of young people studied in the many (43)academies created to (44)meet this demand. The trend towards more education continued into the eighteenth century. By the late eighteenth century most children were going to school and spending more time (45)apart from adults.

(4) The increasing numbers of students receiving education (46)brought about another important change of attitude. Eighteenth-century thinkers like (47)Jean-Jacques-Rousseau believed children should be (48)allowed to develop (49)according to their (50)individual (51)abilities and not be overly (52)disciplined. (53)Followers of Rousseau, like Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, (54)stressed the need for play if children were to grow into healthy adults. This emphasis on the needs of children led (55)in turn to (56)further changes. By the middle of the nineteenth century, industrial societies began (57)passing laws to end (58)child lobor.

(5) A final factor has been the rise of “(59)youth culture.” The development of new technologies in the twentieth century meant a need for greater skills and rapid growth of (60)secondary and higher education. By 1930, a majority of teenagers in America were (61)enrolled in high school;by 1960, more than forty percent of American high school (62)graduates were going on to university. As the time between childhood and adulthood became longer, (63)psychologists (64)emphasized the importance of “adolescence”, a period when individuals are most open to the world and make (65)crucial decisions about their futures. But as the young spent more time with their (66)peers, youth developed a culture ー music, fashion, even language ー (67)independent of adult society.

(6) (68)Present-day ideas about childhood and youth have (69)undoubtedly had an effect on adults. Movies, television, and music are increasingly (70)aimed at the young and have influenced society (71)as a whole. Many adults (72)imitate the young. They wear (73)clothing ー jeans and T-shirts ー (74)associated with youth, and try to keep their youthful looks.

(7) Adults have become like adolescents (75)in another way. While technological change creates new products and jobs, this process also means that skills which adults have learned may become (76)out of date. Adults can find themselves in the same position as adolescents: they must be (77)ready to make decisions about their futures, learn new skills or start new jobs. Attitudes associated with adolescence, such as a (78)willingness to (79)explore new (80)options, are increasingly common among adults.