Anti-Adultist Authors and Schools

One of the institutions most in need of raised awareness about adultism is our traditional public school system. And one of my favorite writers in that arena is John Taylor Gatto, teacher of the year in NYC and author of “Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling” (1992). I remember how grateful I was when I first read his book many years ago for his clear articulation of how public schools fail our kids from his very personal, insider perspective. In his essay, “The Seven Lesson Schoolteacher,” he talks about how he was forced to teach confusion, class position, indifference, emotional dependency, intellectual dependency, provisional self-esteem, and that one can’t hide (children are always watched)…all aspects of adultism.

Another writer who changed my life and my thinking profoundly around the same time as Gatto was Grace Llewellyn, who wrote “The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How To Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education.” Llewellyn’s book is written for teenagers to help them discover what they want to learn and how they can go about learning it away from school. She, standing on the shoulders of John Holt of the Unschooling movement, inspired me to find a way to stop supporting a system that was so damaging to my children (I was raising four teenagers at the time), and get behind them to help them pursue their own, unique and authentic vision for their lives.

If I could choose a school to propagate everywhere in the world, it would be Summerhill, established in 1921. Recently, Adam Fletcher wrote about this school on his blog. Summerhill has recently released a movie dramatization of how the students, teachers and staff took the British government to court to save their unique brand of education and won! You can watch all 12 episodes on YouTube. At Summerhill, children are allowed to choose what they learn, when they learn it and how they define success. The school is run democratically by thrice weekly meetings in which all participants, adults and children, have an equal voice. Their website is terrific, so go check it out.

I see change in our public school system, but the change is coming way too slowly for my taste. This morning at the gym I heard an excited young mom tell another that her child had learned to speak in sentences by her 2nd birthday! I shudder when I remember that as soon as that child goes to school, she will be forced to focus her attention where adults have decided she should. Her natural curiosity, though resilient, will be dimmed, as she tries to fit into the arbitary and abstract world we call school. She will be taught how to regurgitate information for tests, how to be still and quiet; subduing all that comes easily, and struggling with what comes hard. I look forward to the day when we can look back in horror at our current school system, and breathe a sigh of relief that we finally found the will to change it.

New Connections On Adultism

Well, so much for making my blog writing a regular part of every week! It’s not like I haven’t been busy thinking about adultism, however. And I’ve made some really important connections.

First, I encountered Adam Fletcher, who “observes, critiques and shares information about the role of young people in society and students in schools.” Actually, Adam encountered my blog and wrote a comment about a month ago. In a follow-up email, he said about his work empowering young people: “Additionally, I am the coordinator of The Freechild Project and SoundOut, both of which explore the roles of young people throughout society, particularly in relationship to adults. I have written more than 100 articles about youth on Wikipedia, including the entry on adultism. I have written a lot about adultism on my blog. My research on adultism has identified its earliest usage in research (1933), its earliest usage in our parlance (1978), and has helped grow the increasing popularity of the term today.” I can’t tell you how exciting it is to connect with Adam and read his blog entries on adultism and youth empowerment! And to know he’s done so much work in this area.

Another name that’s crossed my path recently is David Kaplan, past president of the International Association of Marriage and Family Counselors. While doing internet research, a writing colleague, Andrea Meyer (http://www.workingknowledge.com/) came across his name and this quote from an interview in FastCompany.com from 1999 in which Kaplan is explaining how he works with families on conflict resolution:

Interviewer: Do you find this process especially challenging when parents feel they have seniority and, therefore, should not have to compromise?

Kaplan: Sure, that can certainly happen. Some people say, "I'm the parent; I should get my way simply because I'm the parent." At that point, we have a discussion of mutual respect. In my experience, the biggest single problem that causes youths today to act out is a lack of respect for adolescents and children by their elders, parents, and schools.

It's understandable in many cases, but most teachers do not feel a need to respect their students as much as they themselves want to be respected by their students. So the students in turn say, "Why should I respect this teacher when they don't respect me?" One way that we can show respect in the family is to value all people's needs, and to realize that children's needs count too. I tell parents one of the ways they can show respect for their children is to compromise. I also tell them not to give up so much that they feel they are not being a good parent or are compromising their parenting. I ask them, "What are you willing to give up that would still maintain the integrity of your parenting?" Once kids begin to see that, "Gee, Mom and Dad are willing to give up something," then the kids start to show some flexibility, too.

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Finally, a young person made a submission on my website page about adultism, letting me know that she considered my article for young people adultist. She felt that I was talking down to young people and that my article intended for adults was more respecting of everyone’s intelligence. I had gotten that comment previously from someone and agreed. I’ve finally rewritten the article for a general audience and it will be up again soon on my website. I urge anyone who’s interested in youth oppression to submit a story of 500 words or less on my website as a contribution to my hoped-for book on adultism.

I am recommitting myself (again) to more blog entries for 2008!