I have really enjoyed this series, and I am showing 28-Up to a human development class next week. However, I am trying to track down the source of the quote that was the premise for the series- "Give me the child at 7 and I will show you the man" (or something close to that).
I have not been able to figure it out. Any help?
Thank you.
It's a Jesuit maxim. "Give me the child until he is 7 and I will give you the man." (Some sources said "give me the child until he is 10").
shareThank you, googlekisser! Very interesting.
share> "Give me the child until he is 7 and I will give you the man."
To me, the Up Series confirms this in some ways and not in others. I can see that there is a physical resemblance of the adults to the children. (I'm being rather obvious here, I know.) And I see there is a "resemblance" in each one's personality. But it's just a resemblance, sometimes stronger, sometimes weaker. In John, it's very strong. But Nick largely overcame his shyness, and Neil seems completely different from the little kid skipping down the sidewalk. Suzy has big changes in her personality.
So I see that there is a lot of the seven year old in the adult, but there is also a lot that is different.
I guess I'm just saying that I think the quote is an over-simplification. There is a lot more going on than that.
Regarding the quote itself, I find that there are many variations of it, and some seem to have the opposite meaning: Give me the child at 7 and I will make the man. I was reading one variation that seemed to be Middle English or something, and strongly suggested this meaning, but now I can't find it, alas.
BTW, not just in this series, I always enjoy comparing pictures of the child and the adult.
I think what's really fascinatingly bizarre about this series is the remarkable scope of guessing where each of the children think/hoped they were going to be/achieve from the initial start. However, I have not watch any of the series below 28, so my argument is mostly based on the quick flashbacks to each of the children in seven year intervals from each of the series after 28 (barring 49 since I haven't seen that one).
There's nothing wrong with her a hundred dollars can't fix. - Tom Waits