Could some please rephrase this paragraph for me please?

Several years ago, an examination for an English course at The College featured the essay topic: "Today's society does not allow children to be children anymore." Unfortunately, this golden age of childhood appears never to have actually existed, as even a superficial study of attitudes towards children throughout history will make it apparent that children have never been allowed to be children. During the nineteenth century child labour was cruelly exploited. Child prostitution increased. Today, children are not immune from poverty, starvation, homelessness and violence as a result of economic, political, social, and ethnic and religion. The educator, Neil Postman argues that childhood has almost been destroyed; that the fact that the secrets of adult life are no longer kept from children. “By studying the history of childhood we can gain an under standing of the personality traits on which our adult society rests, and perhaps even alter those historical group fantasies like war that threaten us most”.