It was, after all, Teutonic styles of child rearing that were once viewed with disgust-as in “The Sound of Music,” for a long time the most popular of all American movies, with all those over-regimented Trapp kids rescued by wearing the bedroom drapes and singing scales. We know we’ve come to a crossroads when German childhood is being held up as an idealized model for Americans. The result of cramming kids isn’t as predictable as enthusiasts hope or critics fear.
