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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