Birth–Michele’s and others’–is the natural jumping-off point for “Childhood,” an ambitious PBS series which begins next week. In seven hourlong episodes, it charts and illuminates the physical, emotional and intellectual development of children. Weaving together historical footage on child rearing and commentary by psychologists, physicians and other experts, the series also cuts in and out of the daily lives of 12 families in the United States, Brazil, the Soviet Union, Cameroon and Japan. The family, we hear again and again, is the heart of a child’s life. It is, says Urie Bronfenbrenner, professor of human development and family studies at Cornell University and a “Childhood” participant, “the most powerful, the most humane and by far the most economical system we know for making and keeping human beings human.”

Despite tiresome spurts of simplistic pedagogy, “Childhood” is often fascinating, a multicultural guide to the early years of human life, covering everything from infant memory to sibling rivalry, first steps to first dates. It doesn’t so much dispense advice as put it in perspective and serve up choices; Dr. Benjamin Spock even shows up to suggest that parents look at how “expert advice” has changed over the years so that they won’t be slaves to it. Reassuringly, if a bit overbearingly, “Childhood” bears the message: affection, attention and “responsive interaction,” not environmental details, are what matter. And it’s parents, not professionals, who are often the most perspicacious. Anita Gholston, an African-American college counselor and mother of three preschoolers in White Plains, N.Y., is particularly keen eyed. “My role as a parent,” she says, “is to try to shape them in some ways, but certainly not to impose so much on them that they can’t be who they are. And I think who they are is already in there. I don’t think I put it in there.”

Though “Childhood” imparts no radical news, it has some remarkable and informative segments, particularly those on the acquisition of language-strikingly similar in both hearing and deaf children-and moral development. Around the age of 3, children in every culture begin to empathize, to differentiate between right and wrong, and to react with shame or anxiety when they violate moral standards. Put children in an environment where standards are not adhered to, says Jerome Kagan, professor of human development at Harvard University, and they will maintain the ability to make moral judgments-but their reactions disappear.

While emphasizing the uniqueness of every individual, the series often exemplifies Carl Sandburg’s observation, “There is only one child in the world and the child’s name is All Children.” The universality of the physiological and psychological makeup of children everywhere-young members of the Baka tribe in the Cameroon rain forest or six brothers and sisters living in the urban jungle of Sao Paulo–is remarkable. Children’s reactions to the first day of school–whether in a New York City suburb, Japan or Moscow-are not bound by culture or geography; they are predictable and interchangeable.

In an ideal world, all families would be like those in “Childhood”-the children irresistible and unself-conscious, the parents loving and coping well. But few of us live in such a paradise. In the United States alone more than 28 percent of households with children have only one parent, so it’s surprisingly shortsighted of executive producers Geoff Haines-Stiles and Peter Montagnon to feature only families that are, if not perfectly happy, at least intact. Mothers and fathers are together; they share in the upbringing of their offspring. The desperate realities of childhood’s dark side are rarely evident, which is why one tiny anthropological clip in the series has an almost unbearable impact. In New Guinea, a woman is alone in a verdant clearing, in heavy labor with a child she doesn’t want. She squats and rocks; the baby slides out. The mother covers the infant with bracken, leaving only the tiny fists and feet exposed, and walks away. Two hours later, hearing the baby’s cries, she returns. With a long stick, she removes the cover of leaves and cuts the umiblical cord. Gently but matter-of-factly, she carries her newborn off. We wonder of that baby, more strongly than we wonder of Michele Kaufman, who are you, and what will you become?

title: “It S A Small World After All” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-15” author: “Robert Adam”

At issue was nothing less than the role the West should play in the story of humankind. The cerebral jousting homed in on the panel’s statement of purpose. Representatives from the American Historical Association drew a line in the ideological sand. Children should learn about all civilizations from a variety of perspectives, the group argued. It is a multilayered tale, not a monologue told by Europeans. That approach diminishes the importance of the West, complained several council members. How can children understand other civilizations if they can’t grasp their own?

Months later the panel reached a wary compromise. ““Standards in world history should treat the history and values of diverse civilizations,’’ reads the current goal, ““including those of the West.’’ If you are into counting beans, says the project’s codirector Gary Nash, the document rep-resents 40 percent Western civ and 60 percent the world. Nash, a UCLA historian, also directed the U.S. history standards, released last week to contentious reviews. World history, by contrast, is a newer concept. The ““Rise of the West’’ still passes as global history in many states. ““In the five millennia of human history, European history is a blip,’’ says University of Chicago professor Thomas Holt, president of AHA.

One man’s blip, of course, is another’s quality time. Some critics who served on the panel believe the quest for inclusion has created a diluted result. ““Significant issues are pushed aside to please interest groups,’’ says Gilbert Sewall, director of the American Textbook Council. The Industrial Revolution, he says, is given short shrift, while women’s history is ““wedged in, in artificial and excessive ways.''

The voluntary guide for fifth through 12th graders is one of eight works commissioned by Congress to help raise national teaching standards in core academic subjects. When it is released next week by UCLA’s Center for History, it will join geography, art and U.S. history in the wait for congressional certification. In the meantime, nearly all panelists agree on one thing: the 300-page guide is too big. ““Teachers are already overburdened,’’ says Theodore Rabb, history professor at Princeton University. ““This may be too much to absorb.''

Here’s a quiz NEWSWEEK concocted from a draft of the world-history standards. How global are you?

  1. Who was the first famous man to say: “What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others”?

A. Jesus B. Confucius C. Aristotle D. Your sixth-grade square dance partner

  1. What was Edo?

A. Tokyo in feudal times B. An ancient East African empire C. Mongol name for Korea, meaning the “Hermit Kingdom”

  1. What is Emperor Ashoka famous for?

A. Spreading Buddhism throughout India in 2nd century BCE (before the Common Era) B. Spreading Christianity into Ethiopia in the 4th century CE (Common Era), C. Spreading Taoism throughout China during the Han dynasty. D. Conquering Rita Repulsa in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers

  1. Angkor Wat is to blank as Notre Dame is to blank.

A. Cambodia and France B. Afghani sheep’s bead polo and American football C. Tibet and Liechtenstein

  1. What is the world’s first novel?

A. “The Rubaiyat,” by Suleiman the Magnificent Angkor Wat in Cambodia B. “The Tale of Genji,” by Lady Murasaki Shikibu C. “Pamela,” by Samuel Richardson D. “Beowulf” by Beo Wulf

  1. Shah Jahan is famous for

A. Spreading Islam throughout Eurasia, 7th century B. Inventing the NBA slam-dunk contest C. Conquering Iraq in the 12th century D. Building the Taj Mahal Olmec

  1. What was a Janissary?

A. A Jesuit priest in the Congo B. Ottoman soldier C. Morgue for victims of the Black Plague

  1. Olmec

A. The drink that killed Socrates B. 18th-century diamond mines of South Africa C. A complex civilization in the Oaxaca valley, 1,000 BCE

  1. Who are Bo Juyi, Wang Wei, Du Fu and Li Bo?

A. The Gang of Four, 20th-century China B. Student leaders of the Tiananmen Square revolt C. Poets of the Tang dynasty

  1. Who said, ‘Woman has always been man’s dependent, It not his slave; the two sexes have never shared the world In equality”?

A. Olaudah Equiano, 18th-century African author B. Katherine Zell, Protestant writer, 16th century C. Simone de Beauvoir, 20th century French feminist