World in Action...
enters the struggling,
changing world...
of the seven year old.
They're teddy bears, they're not real.
A Polar, look at those claws.
This is no ordinary outing to the zoo.
It's a very special ocassion.
We brought these twenty children together for the very first time.
They are like any other children...
except that they come from startlingly different backgrounds.
No! No feeding, it says.
Stop it at once
I know there's no feeding but it doesn't really matter.
We brought these children together...
because we wanted a glimpse of...
England in the year 2000.
The shop stewards and the executives of the year 2000 are now seven years old.
Give me a child until he is seven...
and I will give you the man.
Let's get to know these children.
Taking her little sister to school on the London Council Estate,
Jackie.
From the Yorkshire Dales,
Nicholas.
He goes to a one room village school...
four miles away from his home.
From this Liverpool suburb...
We chose...
Neil.
And this is Tony.
His girl friend calls him a monkey.
He goes to one of the oldest schools...
in the East End of London.
Would everybody, please sit round now?
Get on with their work, I don't want to see any backs to me.
Shouldn't be anybody turning around...
Tony, do you hear as well?
Next to Tony there is his girl friend,
Michelle.
Tony!
Don't turn around again!
In this class room, Waltzing Matilda...
is being rendered in Latin.
This is an exclusive pre-prep school...
in Kensington.
I think the Beatles are mad...
because they make too much noise...
and their hair-style's so bad.
If they composed
softer music...
I wouldn't mind so much.
I just loathe their hair-cuts
That was John.
If you loathe their hair-cut...
you wouldn't have liked Henry the Fifths hair-cut.
This is Charles.
And that is Andrew.
This dormetary is in a children's home...
supported by charity.
This is Paul...
and Simon.
I had a dream when all the world was on top of me...
and everything was on me, and I just about got out
and everything flew up in the air...
and that all landed on my head.
Go on Potter.
If you don't now, don't go.
Now shoot! - We're going to!
My heart's desire is to see my daddy who is six thousand miles away.
Bruce doesn't live with his parents either...
but for a different reason.
He goes to a private boarding school in Surrey.
Bruce wants to be a missionary.
I think the most important thing in the world is everyone should know about god.
I think we should give all... some...
most of our money to the poor people.
In the head mistress' study...
of a fashionable school for girls...
we met Suzie.
We spoke to her "deep in the chintz" of the staff room.
Tell us, do you have any boyfriend Suzie?
Ummm...
yes! -Tell me about him.
He's up in Scotland and I think he's thirteen.
and I'm rather lonely up there because he usually goes to school.
but we usually play till about...
half past six when he comes home from school.
Then we go in and then...
he goes home to do his homework.
The world of the seven year old...
can be primitive... even violent.
What do the children themselves think about fighting?
Is it important to fight? Yes!
Well I feel like joining in when there's already a fight.
I always feel like that.
I always feel like joining in when there's already one.
Neil from the Liverpool suburb.
We don't do much fighting in school because we think it's horrible and
It hurts.
Sometimes we play nice with the boys and sometimes we argue with the boys.
- Susan, Jackie's friend. - Do you ever fight with them? - No, just argue
Most of the time we are all right. But. one day when
I remember we were all coming to school and
at break time they started hitting us and so we started to fight!
so we said we're never gonna play with you again.
But we always do.
If they fight me I think someone if someone comes up and starts fighting...
then I think it serves them right
We play with Richard the Lion Heart and William Tell.
Well... we pretend we got swords...
and then we make the noises of the sword-fighting...
and when somebody stabs us we'll go ....'aaaaaahh'!
Nicholas from Yorkshire...
seven this year.
I have quite a lot of fun when I fight...
I always like to wait till someone... you better watch out for me...
because as soon as you're not looking...
I like to dash up and put my hands in front and hit them against your back.
And on the grass...
we... we play international wrestling.
Yeah that's only in the summer time though.
yes summer we can go on the grass.
I just like fighting somehow. - Yes, tell me about it.
I just want to. He was in the washroom and threw soap at me
I chased him in the class and I hit him
When I was down in the place at Kent...
there was this little boy who I think was younger than me... and...
my Nanny was having a game with him...
and he was a naughty boy because he slapped me in the tummy.
Some boys can be nice and others can be horrible.
And then he slapped Nanny...
and I didn't like that kind of boys.
Jacqueline, what do you think about boys fighting?
Well... its really silly to fight because...
if you fight and Miss comes in the class-room then you only get told off
I think discipline is fair enough.
Farmer is the sergeant and he is quite a good one, last term he wasn't...
He had a cold
and he didn't want to wear his voice out from shouting.
And that's Farmer. He gives me nightmares.
The vast majority of the seven years olds know little of discipline.
But a few, from the moment they are born...
are trained to accept it.
squad steady
squad left foot in one place
squad breathe in
Well I don't like
the big boys hitting us
The prefects sending us out for nothing. And they
the staff in washroom sends the nurse out
where there is no talking, no I wasn't talking today...
and Brown set me up for nothing.
I think the system of having House Captains...
is rather good because when somebody's naughty
the House Captain asks him and... and... and has a talk to him.
Once I had a talk to Gravel he was in my house...
and...and I asked Sir he could put him out of my house because...
he was always getting minuses.
What did the sir say? -Yes.
The sir said that he was...
he... we would see about it this term.
Well... I think it's a very good system.
And you had to speak to anyone?
Just because you are one, I suppose.
No, no, I haven't.
You're not are you?
But I am. Straull Meckanace. got three minuses in a day.
He is a pest.
You think, House Captain should be elected or appointed by sir?
Appointed.
Appointed
I think its more fair to have elected.
Yes. So do I but I think it is best to be appointed. -Because you didn't...
It saves lot of time. -It doesn't!
Appointed!
It is much easier because all that you have to do is...
count up the pluses and here you are. -Yes!
At Suzie's school...
the exercise is classical ballet.
For Neil and his classmates...
its free movement to music.
Michelle and her friends are left to amuse themselves.
This distinction between freedom and discipline is the key to their whole future.
What about after school?
What do they do in their spare time?
When I've gone home, I have tea.
Then I practice my piano.
And then I practice my recorder.
Then I start watching television.
What time do you go to bed?
When I have my bath at six o'clock...
and then go to bed at seven and read till half past seven.
I usually go to bed at ten o'clock or eleven o'clock.
When I go home...
I go and see my mother...
and I have tea and watch t.v....
and then I... I do my homework and then I go and see my father.
And then what time do you go to bed?
last night I didn't go to bed until seven.
When I go home, I come...
I come in and mummy gives me a cup of tea...
and then I go out and play.
And when it starts to get dark...
I come in again and put on t.v.
I am the only child in the village except for my baby brother.
he was one last Friday...
I mean the friday before last Friday...
Neil from Liverpool,
said he prefered living in town.
Because in the winter, if you lived in the country...
it would be just all be wet and there wouldn't be anything for miles around
And you get soaked if you try to go out and there's no shelter anywhere...
except in your own house.
But in the town you can go out on...
wet, wintery days because you can always find somewhere to shelter...
because there are lots of places.
They'd like to come out for a holiday in the country when we like...
when I like the holiday in the town.
In Tony and Michelle's school...
unlike others...
boys and girls are brought together in the class room.
And they meet quite naturally in the cinema queue on Saturday morning.
Sometime on Saturday mornings I go to the cinema
Sometime with my friends and sometimes with him.
You don't! - I do!
she doesn't
I don't always see you
you go to a different cinema
last week i went to the.....where you go
yeah but i didn't go
How much does mixing or segregating the sexes matter?
What effect does it have on what boys and girls think about each other?
will it influence their chances of love and marriage?
We asked the children what they thought about the opposite sex.
Tell me do you have any girlfriends?
Well... not many.
What do you think about girls?
well not much.
I don't think much of girls.
Touch a boy, kiss a boy.
Sometimes we get our own back and say...
catch a girl and kiss a girl.
Yeah
And what was that?
The girls are always screaming. -Yeah
When we catch them,
we kiss them, -Yes.
And when its catch a boy, kiss a boy when the girls catch us, they kiss us..
they say 'aaaaah'... -Yeah.
but much louder though.
If we did... all love Jeffrey
we all want to marry. - Yeah.
I think I know the one that he likes best and that's her.
Susan most of all likes Lesley
She told me before. -Do I?
You said, she keeps changing her mind though
Yeah! I don't know which one really
Well, my girlfriend is in Africa...
and I don't think I have another chance of seeing her again...
and there were two in Switzerland which I liked too in a hotel, Park Hotel.
Well, I know he is hers...
He loves her.
I don't, I love him.
And these two...
I love you, I love Christopher
See, he loves Suzan because Suzan loves him.
He loves Lindsay and Lindsay loves him. -I don't love him
once Caroline Tetford said
She loved me. -And what happened after that?
And I am going to marry... I marry her when I grow up.
I hate her. She's always getting bad tempered and cross with me.
Is she?
Yes! Neil Hughes! Move your desk forward and sometimes... and sometimes...
when...when she is supposed to have the chair on the back of the desk...
and when I take it... when I put it back...
she says, 'Neil Hughes!' take your chair forward.
And she just gets into a girly cross with me like that.
I'd like to get married when I grow up.
But I don't know what sort of boy but I think one...
thats not got lot of money but is...
has got some money. Not a lot though!
Would you like to get married Paul?
Tell me why not!
I don't like it. Say... say you had a wife...
Say... say you have to eat what they cooked you
And say I don't like greens well I don't...
And say... she says you have to eat what you're given... so...
I don't like greens so if she gives me greens then... then that's it
When I get married I don't want to have any children...
Because they are always doing naughty things and...
making the whole house untidy.
When I get married I will like to have two children.
You'll have Nanny to look after but you won't look after them?
No I want a Nanny to look after them.
If I could I would have two girls and two boys. -Yes so would I
And what about you Jackie?
My Mom because she got five girls she had seven years bad luck
and seven years is a bad luck thats why she has got five girls.
And so... when my baby was supposed to be born...
and we all wished it was a boy but...
But we were all waiting in my nans for my dad 'cause he visited her
he came home and said "it's another girl kids"
we all said "awwwww!"
What do you think about girl friends at your age?
I've got one but I don't think much of her.
No but I said that when boys go around with girls...
they don't pay attention to what they're doing.
My Grand mother had an accident because...
a boy friend was kissing... his girl friend in the street.
The girls never... never... never do what the boys want them.
They always start playing with dolls...
when boys want to play rough and tumble. -It's not true!
They're rather boring you never get a chance to play with them and things like
rough and tumble...
And they always start playing with their dolls.
Yes... as soon as you start... -and silly things like that...
Only intelligent girls start playing with you -and they always take you away...
from whatever game you are playing yourself.
Yes! They say `I don't want to play that game with you...'
and they don't stop crying. - Yes!
Do you have a girl friend?
I don't want to answer that.
I don't want to answer those kinds of questions.
They Love. -That's right!
Back to love, 'amo'.
Now let's have the present tense of 'amo'.
Amos, amas, amant...
anamus, amatis, amant.
Yes, What's the last one?
Amant! -Amant.
Fill up the gaps on the board there
Have a little chalk? -Yeah
In your best writing please. All right!
What's Major... what's 'amatis' mean?
We love.
No, Holden. Amatis?
You love. -You love! Second person, isn't it?
Yes sir.
That was silly wasn't it
Now then Russell, let's hear the present tense of 'porto'.
Porto, portas, portat,
portamus, portatis, portant. -That's right!
Holden, let's hear the present tense of 'evasto'.
Evasto, evastas... evastat,
evastamus, evastatis. evastant.
Yes, speak up.
Now let's... what does `evasto' mean?
I...
All right, let's...
Well, got it? - Lay waste.
`Evasto'- to lay waste!
All right.
All right you can talk again.
Are the children themselves aware of differences between rich and poor?
have they learned prejudice.
What do they think about money?
I think it's not a bad idea to pay for schools...
becasue if we didn't...
schools would be so nasty and crowded.
Yes. -So do I think so.
Yes!
And... people in the schools wouldn't -And poor people would come rushing in
The man, in charge of the school...
would get very angry because he would...
And he would get bankrupt. -because he wouldn't...
He wouldn't be able to pay all the masters if he didn't get any money.
Yes. I think he would get bankrupt because paying all the...
What does bankrupt mean?
Having no more money and go to prison
Why do you have to go to prison? That's strong!
Becasue that obviously means you've been spending it too much.
I've got twenty three three penny pieces...
and I don't know how many half penny pieces I've got now
I read The Financial Times.
I read Observer and The Times.
What do you like about it?
Well, I like...
I usually look at the headlines then read...
about them... about it.
I like my newspaper because I got shares in it
and I know everyday what shares are -The stuff misers like you like
No. But...
on Mondays they don't move up so I don't look at it.
What would you do if you have lots of money, about say... two pounds?
Me?
I would help the poor.
Yeah because the poor if you don't help them they would die
Wouldn't they?
And everytime we've a harvest festival, we send them food.
Once these two, no Susan and Janet went round giving food out
What do you think about rich people?
Well... not much.
Tell me about them
Well, they think they can do everything...
without you doing it as well and they think just because they're rich...
and they have to have people
like they have to do all their work and stuff.
I don't think much of the accents.
Neither do I. -Neither do I.
That doesn't prevent me liking them.
Poor children, they boast about themselves. - No they don't.
Rich children boast about themselves and say how clever I am and things like that
Yes, and rich children always make fun of poor children, I hate.
Yes. -Yes they say, look at that lovely little sissy and they laugh at them.
Yes, and they throw things at them.
Yes.
And poor child gets scared to death.
The posh ones
Oh Yes. Oh yes. Oh Yes.
They're nuts!
you just have to touch them
Jacqueline, what do you think about coloured people?
You said to me once that you like them but what do you really think about them?
Well, they're nice and its as same as us really...
but one thing...
it's only because their skin is brown and we're white...
sort of pinkish we're.
Some people from Africa come here...
but when they go, they put their clothes on
I've only seen them on television and places like that.
I don't... I don't know anybody who is coloured.
I don't want to know anybody who is coloured. Thank you very much!
Coloured people. I don't like them very much.
No... it sounds like ghostly coloured people.
Do you think of a purple person...
with red eyes,
yellow feet and...
I can't really think of what they really look like.
They are just same as me, aren't they?
What do they think about each other?
And how'll they act together?
To find out, we invited them all to one big party...
and joined in
Tell me what did you three think about...
the other children that you met today...
and all that, there were quite varieties?
Yes but they were bit too tough for my liking.
Some hit me right in the back and I 've still got some pain there.
And well, some of them were rather dirty.
what did you think about them? -I played with them quiet naturally.
I think they were rather nice, really.
I don't like the boys.
Those three, I don't like all of them. None of them.
What about the girls?
Yeah, I liked that girl...
but not the boys.
Why?
Because once I pulled his scarf he said, 'Don't you pull my scarf' and I hate him
And when we were at that park...
he went round punching everybody.
If some of our children didn't get on with each other...
does it really matter?
After all...
they're not likely to meet in the same class room.
At the Kensington school...
all the boys are being prepared for public school places and universities...
whereas of these thirty children getting their milk from Tony.
Only, three are likely to win a place at a grammer school.
Indeed, the vast majority will leave school...
and start work at fifteen.
What plans do the children themselves have?
When I leave the school, I'm going to College Court...
and then I would be going to Westminster Boarding School if I pass the exam.
Then we think, I am going to Cambridge and Trinity Hall.
What does university mean?
Well...
before I'm old enough to get a job
I'll just walk around and see what I can find.
When I leave the school, I go to Broadstairs, St. Peter's Court.
And after that I'm going to Charter House.
And after that Trinity Hall, Cambridge.
I like to be like Kathy Kirby
I want to be a jockey when I grow up. Ya I want to be a jockey when I grow up.
When I leave school...
I'm going to the Dragon School...
I might.
I might go to Charles House, Marlborough
And...
I can't.... remember all other places...
because mummy has got so many places... and those're some of them.
What about university Charles?
I might go to Oxford.
Well...
I don't think I need to go to university 'cause I'm not gonna be a teacher.
I don't think you want to go to university if you want to be an astronaut
When I grow up, I want to be an astronaut but...
if I can't be an astonaut I think I'll be a coach driver.
Tell me about the coach driver.
Well, I'm going to take people to the country...
and sometimes take them to the sea-side and...
And I'll have a big loud speaker on the coach and tell them where about we're...
and what we're going to do.
And what's the name of the road is.
All about that.
When... if I can't be an astonaut I would like to be a...
a bridal sergeant in the police force...
like my dad is.
I was gonna be a policeman but...
how thought how hard it would be to join in.
When I leave the school,
I'm down for Heathfield and Southfield Manor and then maybe,
I may want to go to a university...
but I don't know which one yet.
I'll buy myself a nice new made house you know.
one that's all nice and comfy.
I am going to work in Woolworths
When I grow up I like to find out all about the moon and all that.
Well, going to Africa...
and try and teach people...
who are not civilized...
to be more or less good.
At the end of their very special day in London...
after their trip to the zoo and the party...
we took our children to an adventure play ground...
where they could do just what they like.
There's from a children's home set about building a house.
That's Nicholas.
And Tony.
Andrew.
And Bruce.
John.
Suzie.
Jackie and her friends.
Give me a child until he is seven...
and I will give you the man.
This has been a glimpse of Britain's future.