The Child as Citizen

5 big ideas

1. Contemporary Children’s *Culture. • We are studying Culture therefore we are studying Representation vs

Reality

2. *Contemporary Children’s Culture • *Contemporary ideas come from the past

3. Contemporary Children’s Culture • The Child is central to Democracy

4. The Protection & Provision of Democracy is connected to how a society “makes” its citizens (ie/ education)

5. The Protection & Provision of Democracy is connected to the participation of its citizens

Big idea #1 We are studying Culture therefore we are studying Representation vs

Reality

• Reflecting• Shaping• Subverting

How children are talked

about

How children unpack

those stories

The stories children are

told

What is culture?

How does it get made

“real?”

Big Idea #2 Contemporary ideas come from the past

• Contemporary Discourse(s) on Childhood

The child as: innocentPureNaïveA blank slate

The child as:EvilDangerousIn a state of sin

The Puritan

DiscourseThe Romantic Child

The myth of childhood

innocencePeda-phobic

teenagers

Toddlers

The Village

The Fort

A rights based approach!Policy, Civil Society, NGOs, Media

UNCRC

Big Idea #2 Contemporary ideas come from the past

But how did Locke & Rousseau see “the child”?

RepresentationRepresentation

tabula rasa, ungoverned, unknowing, at times wild and selfish (motivated by impulses) and yet rational

Romantic, pure, naive, curious, inquisitive, and yet capable

RealityReality

Big Idea #3 a) The Child is central to Democracy

• All contemporary ideas about children & childhood are rooted in historical discourse & debates about: citizenship & democracy

• Before “childhood” even existed, the period of life when one was a child was used as a metaphor for agency, activism, & social justice.

Both Locke & Rousseau use this metaphor to argue against absolute monarchy & for what we now call democracy

Big Idea #3 a) The Child is central to Democracy

But what is Democracy or/ Who Gets to Graduate?

• Democracy is both economic & political

• Democracy requires Capitalism

• Democracy requires choice & voice (limited)

The Pillars of aDemocratic Society

– Freedom of Press– Freedom of Information– Freedom of

speech/expression– Access to information

Big Idea #4The Protection & Provision of Democracy is connected to how a society “makes” its citizens (ie/ education)

• Locke• Rousseau• Dewey• Marcuseargue that the role of education is to help to make children/students:Active Knowledgeable Critical Participating Citizens

• Here’s the Problem

Primary Space 2nd Space

• For Democracy & Voice we require a) A de-politicization of ed

(Marcuse)b) Third Spaces for participation (the home of CCC)

Big Idea #5The Protection & Provision of Democracy is connected to the participation of its citizens

Here’s the Problem1. Children are Silenced Citizens

2. Denied voice through systemic poverty

THIS IS A RIGHTS BASED APPROACH!

3. Represented as weak, innocent, in need of protection or unable/not capable

4. And kept out of the decision making process when the decisions directly effect their lives

So How do we Fix this?

Recognize children as:

• HEROES IN HISTORY (Davis, 2010)

• CITIZENS IN THEORY & ACTION (O’Neil, 2010)

• WRITERS OF THIER OWN EXPERIENCE (Buckingham, 2010)

Freire, Doctorow & the UNCRC Can help!

• Provide a clear example of the connection between the local & global (building on Marcuse)

• Provide examples of empowered children as activists

• Demonstrate the importance that technology & third spaces can play in this activism

• Provide a vocabulary to explain the marginalization of youth

• Provide a framework for activism to address the inequity

• Highlight why voice (ie/ lowering the voting or naming the word) is essential to protection of freedom & global children’s rights