“Keeping Young Minds Sharp”: Schooling, Children's Cognitive Stimulation and the Rise of Parenting Magazines, 1959-2003".

The institutional environment in which schools operate is in flux. A new logic of childrearing encourages parents to invest energy in cognitively stimulating their children. This logic comprises one of many sources of environmental turbulence schools face. I analyze the emergence of popular 'parenting' magazines in Canada, America, Australia and the United Kingdom from 1959 to 2003. Secondly, I perform a content analysis of over 500 parenting articles in popular Canadian magazines. Results suggest that a staggering array of parenting magazines have emerged across the four nations studied. Over time, Canadian parenting articles increasingly emphasize children's cognitive needs and schooling, encouraging parents to build and strengthen their children's academic skills. I conclude by arguing that schools must respond to these changes in their environment, by treating students as unique individuals within a bureaucratic school setting, or risk losing legitimacy and being seen as out of sync with their institutional environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]