Let's Respect Children

Children thrive when we move beyond adultism and coercion, and respect them as fully functioning members of society. Education is a good place to begin that process.

In our culture, adults have a special status of control over children. In most families and places, kids are told what to do and when, with little concern for their rights, or even their wants and needs. One of the ways this adultism – ageism against children and young people – manifests itself is our education systems.

Many (most?) people – teachers and parents alike – believe that children and young people must be forced to go to school and must be taught an adult-orchestrated and carefully organized curriculum using specific techniques. That is simply not true, as generations of self-directed learners have proven, motivated by interest, curiosity, and need. But an ingrained lack of trust in humans' innate ability to learn and an entrenched belief that learning can only happen in the presence of teaching continues. That's a shame, because people of all ages have so much more potential when given respect, trust, resources, mentoring, access to their communities, and the freedom to pursue their own paths.

I'll be writing more about adultism and its influence on our larger society in a future post or two based on pieces I've published in the past. For now, I'll say that I think it's high time that we expand our definition of childhood and begin to respect children alongside their adult counterparts as functioning members of society, without the coercion, abuse of power, and basic lack of imagination that now characterizes so much adult/child interaction. That effort to right wrongs is called “childism” and it should stand alongside other “isms” like feminism and environmentalism as a way to improve all of our lives. Maybe education is a good place to begin.