How does a school present the adult world to children? Is the school not in itself a creation of the adult world? If young people were asked to create a place to learn everything, chances are that it would be organized rather differently. As for work, which takes up so much of their parents' time, children recognize its significance and value the autonomy and freedom it appears to provide today, namely the ability to choose one's own activities, which isn't exactly what they get at school.
School textbooks reveal what the educational system wishes to convey. Sexist textbooks have changed a lot but can still be distorted in different ways: the continuous exploitation of a sick planet, dangers everywhere, learned helplessness, avoidance of controversial topics because of the risk of displeasing the electorate... What they see in the world is often unrelated to what they see on the internet, such as uncontrollable passions and devious traps. There is a reason to be concerned about this. The ogres in children's stories have an actual rivalry.
While few children today have been directly exposed to the horrors of war, famine, or other calamities that threaten the entire society, they are aware of their existence through the media, both historically and in real-time. The threats of the cold war, the Hydrogen bomb, or imperialism have not disappeared, and we can add to this all kinds of extremism and above all the planetary environmental fever, which is diffused and unavoidable. They are exposed to adult annoyance early on, which bores them.
Children form their own perceptions of the world. We did not explain everything in detail, especially what we do not understand very well ourselves, but at least, it is what makes us examine our actions. The best thing is not to lie to them.
Denys Lamontagne - [email protected]
