AUTHORITATIVE HOMES

The child should learn "to appreciate the curbs that the sovereign's law places on what would otherwise have been their fathers' complete power over them and to anticipate the day they are freed from their fathers to be subject only to a distant and largely non-interfering master." Government policies in many countries have sought to use popular schooling to inculcate loyalty to the nation, and to overcome divisions that might arise from community traditions, religious convictions, and other differences among the population. Laurence Steinberg, in his study of how peer influence affects school achievement, Beyond the Classroom (1997), argues that "growing up in an authoritative home makes youngsters more psychologically mature, especially when it comes to their willingness to work hard and to take pleasure in doing something well."