18 is Artitrary

On the Internet I go by Renaissance Kid or Josiah Power.

I taught myself to draw, use computers, film and more at an early age. I was learning languages but our family had some hard times, so I had to stop and there was no other school I could attend.  At age 11, one of my videos beat out the adults and was featured at an International Women’s Rights Forum. My videos have also been featured on YouTube. 

Places like Orlando Tech and Full Sail still kept telling me I was too young.  They said I had to wait ‘til I am 18 to be part of their program, even though my parents told them they would chaperone me to the classes. 

Yet every day I hear how young people in America are behind in education; how other kids in other nations are ahead of us. These kids do not have to wait ‘til they are 18. There are many young people in America who are talented, but if they are not playing basketball, football, singing, acting, or dancing, they are not recognized for their talents. There is nothing wrong with those talents, but those are not my talents. 

See me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/RenaissanceKiDD and on YOUTUBE at http://www.youtube.com/user/xwushux

Youth Rights Day

In honor of the second annual Youth Rights Day today (chosen because it was John Holt's birthday, a man well worth knowing about in regards to youth empowerment), I reread a couple articles about lowering the drinking age at the National Youth Rights Association (NYRA) website. Their strongest argument is based on the phenomenon of "forbidden fruit;" that is, anything that's prohibited only makes it more attractive. Their next argument goes like this: with the emphasis on alcohol prohibition for people under 21, dialoguing about it in any rational way is not emphasized.

Funny the NYRA folks should bring that up! We (adults) don't want to engage in rational dialogue with youth, probably because they would make us confront our own irrational behavior, not only about alcohol, but with drugs, sex, and other "bad" stuff that humans so love to do.

I would get really upset about the craziness of our alcohol policy, except that all our major social policies are just as screwy, irrational, illogical, and need I say, counterproductive? Take your pick: policies about drugs, abortion, taxes, the death penalty, the right to die; compulsory education, all are based on fear, tradition, and one group (highly conservative, mostly fundamentalist Christian people) lording it over those of us that are ready for some major paradigm shifting.

Can't we get real and acknowledge our seemingly inbuilt tendency to want to alter our consciousness from time to time, probably so we can feel less afraid? Can't we acknowledge that simultaneous with wanting to alter our consciousness, we are ashamed of that impulse, so we pretend we don't want to, and officially prohibit young people from doing it as well? After all, we're not kidding anyone, especially youth.

In contrast, consider what the NYRA says in their article, titled "Solutions," about lowering the alcohol age: "It is time we as a nation implement a smarter alcohol policy; an alcohol policy based on education, toleration, and a message of responsible, moderate use." Whew...like a cool breeze billowing the curtains on a perfect spring day, eh?

Please check out the NYRA and their highly rational policy statements on drinking, voting, and curfew. And, next year, think about organizing for National Youth Rights Day (April 14), to stir up some dialogue about our crazy laws based on age.

Invading the Personal Space of Young People

The following was submitted to my website by Jessica M. from Ireland. I have a space there for people to share their stories of adultism. (please visit it at: margaretpevec.com/adultism)

An example of adultism I experienced and still feel strongly about is physical touch. As a child I remember adults seemed to think it was okay to openly touch me, hug me, or play with my hair, even if I didn't know them. I think the assumption was that if you're young, you don't understand boundaries, so they don't have to worry about overstepping boundaries with a young person. I have mild Asperger's symptoms and one of them is a strong aversion to touch. Being a child at the time, I didn't really know how to handle the behaviour except by recoiling or saying loudly and defiantly "I don't like being touched!" I was called "rude" and told they were just being friendly; that the appropriate response was to smile politely. I find that ironic, since if anyone behaved like that to an adult, it would be the person doing the touching who would be called rude and the adult would be quite within their rights to refuse the unwanted touch. Yet because I was a child I was expected to tolerate the behaviour and smile about it. My mother, to her credit, explained that it was okay to refuse physical touch but that I should do it in a calm and polite way, such as "Excuse me but I don't like being touched unless it's by someone I know well."

I also had teachers at school behave in this overly familiar way. They would casually take hold of my arm or even mess with my hair, and would act very shocked and concerned when I refused their touching. At one school there was actually a list of students' rights, one of them being "to refuse unwanted touches." Yet they didn't like it if I said I didn't like being touched and acted as if I were being rude just for asserting basic boundaries.

I still feel angry when recalling these incidents. They were the adults, I was the child, yet I was the one expected to tolerate their inappropriate behaviour, because they were adults therefore it was okay.

"Ageism" is not "Adultism"

I think it's really interesting that the word “ageism” is thought to mean any oppression based on age, and indeed, that may be the official definition of the term. I recently heard this perspective in a workshop I attended as we were brainstorming all the oppressions we knew. As usual, none of the adults present had ever heard the word “adultism” and thought “ageism” addressed all age-based oppressions. When I was doing research for my thesis in Family Studies in 2005, I checked through much of the “ageism” literature and found only a few cases where the word was used to include youth oppression. Doing a Google search on “ageism” also results in lots of articles about elder oppression. I’m glad we acknowledge that elders are disrespected, ignored, patronized…that is certainly true. However, we fail to acknowledge that young people are treated like this as well, and that a separate word has been coined and is being widely used to connote youth oppression.

My initial take on this is that all adults are anticipating ageism because we’re all aging and will reach a point in time where we too will be its victim. So, perhaps we are more sensitive to an oppression that we know is coming. However, our time as children and adolescents and our experience of adultism, since has not been named, may get buried as we get on with our lives.

I had a recent correspondence with a high school student who shared a personal story of adultism with me. When he asked some friends if they felt oppressed by adults, they said no. I suggested to him that talking about his recent experience and giving the oppression a name might change that. Once something is named, it is so much easier to talk about. Think about the term “sexism.” I’m quite sure I didn’t hear that word until I was well out of high school. Now, however, it is widely understood to mean the oppression of women by men. If I say, “that was a sexist remark,” most people would immediately understand what I mean. I think the word “adultism” needs to gain wide usage, so young people can use it to point out to each other and to the adults they interact with, their own experiences of oppression.

Why do you think adultism is such a well-kept secret?