www.YoungerWorld.org

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

What Everyday Adultism Looks Like

When we talk about adultism we usually focus on big, gigantic topics like taxation without representation and youth segregation from mainstream society. However, adultism also has an "everyday" face that we must learn to recognize and address. Following are some ways adultism happens throughout our society everyday. Remember that adultism is anytime the perspectives of adults are favored just because they are adults. I am not saying adultism is always wrong; I am just saying it always exists. We need to be realistic about this, and this list helps illustrate exactly how adultism affects young people right now.

Just because they are not adults, children and youth can be:

...listened to, read, or viewed without permission in all their private communications.
...restricted in their communications.
...sent to their rooms.
...made to take time outs.
...cut off from their money and credit cards without their permission.
...limited in their ability to drive.
...forced to drive.
...kept from their personal property.
...robbed of their personal property or have it damaged without compensation.
...prevented from leaving.
...searched at anytime, either through their belongings or their rooms searched.
...violated and have their privacy taken away.
...restricted in their Internet use.
...restricted in their television use.
...restricted in their access to videos, CDs, books, or other media.
...prevented from getting a tattoo or piercing.
...forced to get a tattoo or piercing.
...made to cut their hair.
...forced to wear their hair a certain way.
...prevented from wearing makeup.
...made to wear makeup or wear it a certain way.
...stopped from using perfumes or colognes.
...made to use perfumes or colognes.
...prevented from wearing certain clothing.
...forced to wear certain clothing.
...stopped from contacting or associating with certain people.
...forced to contact or associate with certain people.
...spanked, paddled, or hit you (other than in play).
...forced to lower the volume of your music or stop making noise.
...restricted in their social activities.
...made to participate in certain social events.
...made to have an abortion.
...prevented from having an abortion.
...prevented from smoking.
...made to smoke.
...prevented from drinking alcohol.
...prevented from using drugs.
...prevented from taking medication.
...made to drink alcohol.
...made to use drugs.
...made to take medication.
...prevented from eating.
...made to eat.
...made to travel.
...prevented from traveling.
...made to work.
...prevented from working.
...made to get a job.
...made to quit a job.
...made to shower or bathe.
...prevented from showering or bathing.
...made to cook.
...prevented from cooking.
...made to clean.
...prevented from cleaning.
...made to do household chores.
...kept from doing household chores.
...made to be silent.
...made to speak.
...subjected to a curfew.
...made to do yardwork.
...prevented from doing yardwork.
...made to go to bed.
...kept from sleep.
...restricted in their dating activities.
...made to date someone.
...made to attend school.
...made to stop attending school.
...made to quit school.
...made to get certain grades.
...made to take certain courses.
...made to enter a certain profession.
...prevented from entering a certain profession.
...made to see a therapist.
...prevented from seeing a therapist.
...forced to see a medical doctor.
...prevented from seeing a medical doctor.
...made to have surgery
...prevented from having surgery.
...forced to undergo an extreme medical treatment.
...forced to enter a treatment facility.
...prevented from entering a treatment facility.
...threatened with arrest.
...violated by having the contents of their computer or other electronic device examined.
...made to participate in religious activities.
...stopped from participating in religious activities.
...forced to join a particular religion.
...prevented from joining a particular religion.
...made to exercise or play certain sports.
...prevented from exercising or playing certain sports.
...prevented from getting into certain areas of their homes.
...restricted in their hobbies.
...shouted at.
...insulted.
...pushed.
...blocked physically.
...physically restrained.
...restricted in their diets.
...kicked out of their bedrooms.
...kicked out of their homes.
...made to live somewhere they don't want to live.
...robbed of their money legally by parents or guardians.
...told how to spend their time.
...hurt physically.
...shouted at with orders.
...threatened.
...made to commit a crime.
...made to join or quit a gang
...stopped from joining or quitting a gang.
...made to join or quit a group or organization.
...prevented from joining or quitting a group or organization.
...forced to harm others.
...bribed to do things.
..."checked-in" on without permission
...forced to be in contact.
...spied on with electronic devices and Internet applications.
...forced to hurt themselves.
...prevented from helping others.
...forced to help people they don't want to help?
...forced to marry someone.
...prevented from marrying someone.
...humiliated in front of other people.
...ignored when they speak.
...blamed for things that weren’t their fault.
...subjected to decisions made for them without them every moment of everyday.
...forced to move a certain way.
...made to feel inferior.
...subjected to rumors spread about them.
...corrected.
...manipulated
...criticized.
...forced to feel guilty.

These are just some of the ways adultism happens everyday throughout the lives of all young people everywhere. Again, I'm not saying these are all wrong or "bad." However, it is worth noting that everyone of these actions can be done against children and youth just because they're young.

What do these behaviors sound like? The following gives us some examples:

"You’re so smart for fifteen!"
"When are you going to grow up?"
"Don’t touch that, you’ll break it!"
"As long as you are in my house, you’ll do it!"
"You’re being childish."
"You’re so stupid (or clumsy, inconsiderate, etc.)!"
"Go to your room!"
"Don’t ever yell at your mother like that!" (yelling)
"She doesn’t understand anything."
"You are too old for that!" or "You’re not old enough!"
"Oh, it’s only puppy love."
"What do you know? You haven’t experienced anything!"
"It’s just a stage. You’ll outgrow it."
"Act your age."
"Children should be seen and not heard."
"What do you know, you’re just a kid!"
"Do as I say, not as I do."
"You’ll understand it someday, just you wait."

This gives us a place to start to challenge adultism. Where next? Learn more from The Freechild Project's Youth Voice Toolkit at www.freechild.org/YouthVoice/discrimination.htm

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Questions about Youth and Politics

A student wrote today to ask the following:

Since you are involve in youth orgs I would like to ask you how traditional politics affect them?

Your question could have two kinds of answers: One about youth orgs in general, and one about young people specifically.

Politics affect youth organizations in a lot of different ways. Here in the U.S. politics are currently tearing at the fabric of a lot of youth orgs, as local, state, and federal governments are cutting budgets to a variety of programs, and often making choices not based on constituents' desires or research, but rather on the delicate game of political roulette they so often play.

Politics affect young people directly in a variety of ways. As the objects of political decision-making, the entirety of all young peoples' lives are affected from birth to death. Birthing, early childhood education and childcare, schooling, after school programs, social service programs... all of these are determined by politics... Politics is endemic throughout the lives of all young people, any age, any social class or economic state, or educational background.

What values do you see they acquire from traditional politics and how does participation affect their political leanings?

Traditional politics, meaning the government structures and political climates that predominate our societies, have demonstrated to many young people the ineptitude and inability of government decision-makers to affect positive social change. In my experience working with young people of color and low-income youth in the U.S. and Canada, a growing number of young people are feeling disenfranchised with those inabilities. There are positive lessons in politics, at the core of the process: democratic participation can positively shape the core value of every person living in a society. However, the lessons many young people learn through their routine exclusion from voting and holding elected positions is that the government does not care about their voices. Worse still, by defunding and eliminating many programs for young people, the government is showing young people that they do not care about them personally. This will arch the curve of young peoples' "political leanings" for generations, and the outcomes still have to be shown.

Thanks for writing with your questions - please feel free to ask me any others!

Monday, February 22, 2010

Engaging Different Youth

I'm sitting in the cold steel and glass of another city hall somewhere out here in America. There have been dozens of these types of visits for me over the last decade, working and participating in meetings, forums, panels, and workshops held by well-meaning government workers. I have cringed at many of these; enjoyed a few; scoffed at a couple.

There are people for whom these environments are perfectly suited. They may be list-makers or note-takers; policians and wheeler-dealers; doers of all stripes. They may be career government workers, or movement-driven activistas. These are the folks occupying a lot of goverment positions, as elected, appointed, and hired employees.

Admittedly, at this point in my life I know I'm not so well-suited for government work. For all the time I've spent working in and with the system, I've come to understand that I find the machinations of government to be restrictive and confining of the energy I have.

All that said, this is how I've come to understand youth involvement over the last ten years: there are some young people for whom the rigamorol of traditional youth involvement is perfectly suited. The youth advisory committee meetings and youth forums work well for these youth; service learning programs and youth philanthropy activities just make sense.

But just like me as a government worker, for a large group of youth these activities just don't work. They are too restrictive and binding. Does that mean they should simply be excluded from youth engagement outreach activities? I'd suggest otherwise. Instead, these youth should be appealed to even more so than their cooperative peers. It's their voices that are routinely excluded or repressed, and their actions that could make all the difference in our community-building efforts.

Rachel Jackson, an organizer with the Ella Baker Center in California, once said, "Our youth are not failing the system; the system is failing our youth. Ironically, the very youth who are being treated the worst are the young people who are going to lead us out of this nightmare." She was right. Let's bring them in now, and let them lead. Our world cannot wait any longer.

-- This is Adam Fletcher's blog originally posted at http://www.YoungerWorld.org. For more see http://www.bicyclingfish.com

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Questions to Connect

Since 1979, Roger Holdsworth has published a bi-monthly magazine in Victoria, Australia, called Connect. Connect aims to support active student participation in school leadership and throughout classes in primary and secondary schools throughout Australia. The stories throughout the magazine are excellent, and regularly provide me inspiration for continuing on in this hard journey we are traveling on this side of the Pacific. Roger has even been so kind to include an article I wrote and to promote several of the publications I've written.

Today I received my February 2010 edition, and as usual my imagination is alighted with all the great stories throughout it. (I usually read each issue twice, devouring it when it first arrives and then picking through it until the next one arrives.) However, of all the articles it was the cover this month that caught my eye. The following questions that can help educators connect with students, from Connect.

How would you do things differently?
What do you think engages and disengages students?
What level of choice do students have in classes?
How can students be more involved in planning learning experiences?
Who are the experts on disengagement where you are?
How would you measure the engagement of students?
How could you encourage others to learn more about engagement?
What other ways could you change engagement?
How would you run a research project looking at engagement in your school?
Are there engagement patterns in your school and classes?
Do students have a voice in the structure of the school?

These are all questions answered by Connect's booklet called "Switched On to Learning: Student Initiatives in School Engagement." Written by students in primary schools in Australia, the book uses cartoons to teach readers about what engagement is, how it can be measured, and why it is important.

All this is to say that these efforts are truly global. In my own research I've found work focused on student voice and student engagement from more than two dozens countries. Want to learn more? Send an email to adam@soundout.org - and watch this blog - more coming soon!

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Preparing Youth for Youth Involvement

In the last few years I've been asking a lot of young people what it is they want in order to be ready for youth involvement activities. Following are some of the points I've drawn out from my notes to share how to prepare youth for youth involvement.

Discuss youth involvement with youth
Discuss what youth need and want to work on
Review information with youth to identify actions, goals and outcomes
Discuss modifications, accomodations and supports youth need with youth
Prepare youth for what will happen during the activities
Mutually decide the level of involvement with the youth
Role play youth involvement with youth, and provide practice as needed (individually or in a group)
Give explicit instruction on youth involvement activities (Individually or in a small group)
Teach skills such as communication and presentation, leadership and management, marketing, training, project and time management, active listening, team building, and personal development
Plan together for when involved youth become adults
Support youth with a scaffold for involvement, and as appropriate remove supports for individual students.

These are steps young people have identified for themselves. What do you think needs to be added?

www.YoungerWorld.org

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

What Everyday Adultism Looks Like

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Questions about Youth and Politics

Monday, February 22, 2010

Engaging Different Youth

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Questions to Connect

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Preparing Youth for Youth Involvement

Adam Fletcher

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