adultism

As a complement to your thinking about Atwell's notes about adolescence, here are a few resources to consider what has come to be called "adultism." The notion that youth in our country don't have the rights and freedoms that they deserve is one that is being talked about more and more by youth workers and by the youth themselves. Check out some of the links below for insights into the conversation, and consider its implications as you spend time in your middle school site--how are schools and classrooms set up in ways that resist or that enact adultism? Ask yourself, here is the boundary between necessary structure and oppression? How can teachers maintain a safe, efficient and productive classroom while giving students a degree of autonomy and freedom? How can we establish our authority--which is essential--without robbing students of their own? What might this delicate balance look like in your classroom?

Youth Rights Network
The Free Child Project