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Adult society is way ahead of kid society at making injustice socially unacceptable. Kid society can become civilized in the same way as adult society: law and
by extension 16y ago
Adult society is way ahead of kid society at making injustice socially unacceptable. Kid society can become civilized in the same way as adult society: law and order (doink doink).
Children need a justice system that they can respect, which will only happen if the system respects them back -- treats them like first class citizens with a voice and control over their world. The adult system can't do that, so they probably need one of their own. As their educators, adults need to help them build it.
Children want civility as much as adults do, but as long as they have no control over their world, they will not feel any responsibility for it.
- sausagefeet 16y agoI think this is new-age-feel-good bologna. Children do not have a voice and control over the world, to pretend they do would be disingenuous and I'm not sure what value there is in pretend they do or giving them control. Most adults don't even have a voice and control over the world. I'm not a strong supporter of violence but I think it is unreasonable to think you can "Hey buddy, let's be friends" your way out of every situation.
- extension 16y agoControl over their world, as in their own lives. We could afford to give them a lot more of that than we do now.
- noonespecial 16y agoI'm pretty sure that if you give children "control over their world" you get Lord of the Flies. Children aren't mini adults. They're half done adults. There's some scary and important stuff missing.
- extension 16y agoLord of the Flies is what we have now. The adults take what they need and otherwise leave children to make a fairly brutal society for themselves. They are just a natural resource, after all. Not being little monsters should be a part of their education. Instead, they have to grow up and live in the adult world for several years before they actually learn to act like adults.