In 1960s Israel, an extraordinary social experiment was unfolding - children separated from parents within days of birth to be raised communally in kibbutzim. Bruno Bettelheim's six-week immersive fieldwork and extensive interviews with kibbutz educators revealed surprising outcomes of this radical departure from Western nuclear family models. Through analysis of three developmental phases - early childhood, latency, and adolescence - Bettelheim documented how children initially lagged developmentally but ultimately matched or exceeded conventional benchmarks. These collectively-raised children showed markedly lower rates of emotional disturbance, delinquency, and behavioral problems compared to their American counterparts. Yet the system's success at producing responsible, stable community members came with notable tradeoffs: diminished capacity for emotional intimacy and one-to-one relationships, alongside heightened peer group loyalty and consensus-driven morality. While the kibbutz educational model offers promising insights for addressing challenges in disadvantaged populations, Bettelheim argues its effectiveness stems from an ideological uniformity that would prove difficult to replicate in more diverse, pluralistic societies.