Against Adult-Centrism
Children are a different generation; to be with them is to be present as such a generation is born. No one today has a recipe for how to equip children for life in a world that is spiraling out of control—how to better equip them for a future that is completely in the mist. Perhaps today we have no choice but to listen and be influenced by the children themselves. This idea is not new; in fact, it was central to two radical twentieth-century institutional and pedagogical experiments in our region—Janusz Korczak’s children’s home in Warsaw and the postwar Gaudiopolis Republic for war orphans in Budapest. Both of these initiatives also sought the emancipation of children by publishing children’s newspapers, which children themselves contributed to and organized. These publications were a way for children to communicate their own visions, ideas, and attitudes to other children and adults. Giving children a public space to express themselves in whatever way they saw fit was emancipatory for both the children and the adults in these initiatives. These were attempts to challenge the traditional dynamic between adults and children. The following conversation follows in the same spirit. In it, my ten-year-old daughter interviewed her friends, showing how children’s voices can still offer insight into their world today.
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N (age 10): What do you think liberation is for children?
Ni (age 7): First, there would be no school. Second, we wouldn’t have to be ordered around by our parents. Third, we would have everything for free—but only the children, not the adults. Toys would be free, but not for adults. There would be no homework.
N: What school subject do you like the least?
Ni: Czech.
N: What would be instead of school?
Ni: Vacation. And after the vacation, more vacation.
N: And what would you do during your vacation?
Ni: I’d be bored on vacation, I’d be lying down somewhere. And if it wasn’t possible and there had to be some school, at least we should be able to choose the subjects, and there would be no homework. We could take Czech, for example. And there could be a break during the class.
N: And about the toys—what would you do if your parents wanted free stuff too?
Ni: I’d have it all for free and I could give it to them.
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N: J, what would freeing the kids mean to you?
J (age 7): It would be liberation for me if there was no school, no homework. There would be vacation all year round, and we could have the toys we want, the rooms we want—everything for free. Or school would only be on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. And the vacation would be a bit longer, maybe four months—June, July, August, September.
N: And what would you do on your vacation?
J: I would go to my friends’, go on trips, go to castles, museums, the theater, visit my grandmothers, and celebrate my birthday.
N: And what toy would you want if you could have any toy?
J: A parrot doll. I had a bird and its head broke off.
N: And what is your least favorite subject?
J: Math.
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N: L, what do you think children’s liberation would look like?
L (age 8): Everyone would take the children from the orphanage home, and they would get enough money and food. They would belong to families again and have things that would make them happy. The children would be able to learn what they want. The teachers would ask the children, “Children, what do you want to learn today?” And the children would choose for themselves.
N: So you would like to go to school, but you would like to choose your own subjects. And what is your least favorite subject at school?
L: Probably Czech.
N: Does the liberation of children mean anything else for you?
L: The poor would get money. Things that are too expensive would be banned because there are kids who can’t have them, and then they’re too sad. Like, what if you want to go to an amusement park and sleep there, and it would cost a hundred thousand, and some of the poor want to go? Oh, no! I wouldn’t want us to be jealous. I’d also like it if adults had respect for children—they wouldn’t be mean to them. They should be very nice to them. I wish there were no more thieves.
N: What would it look like if your parents treated you better?
L: I like the way they treat me now. They are nice to me, but they are also strict. Kids can’t be spoiled; they should wash the dishes sometimes too. It doesn’t have to be just the parents who do it.
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N: V, what would the liberation of children mean to you?
V (age 8): Outside of school, outside of everything, I hate everything. I don’t like Czech, I don’t even like math. I like gym and breaks—that’s it. I don’t like anything else at school. I would like to travel instead of school.
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N: T, what does the liberation of children mean to you?
T (age 4): I wouldn’t go to kindergarten. That’s probably the worst thing in the world.
N: You don’t enjoy it there?
T: No.
N: What would be instead of kindergarten?
T: The kindergarten would be demolished by a giant concrete ball.
N: And what would you do if you didn’t go to kindergarten?
T: I’d buy a very powerful monster-dragon on my dad’s phone and play it.
N: You’d play monsters on your phone all day?
T: I don’t know. I’ve run out of ideas.
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K (age 14): I wish the adults would start to trust kids. They should stop saying they’re just little kids with too much imagination.
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Ni: N, and for you?
N: I’d like two years of vacation. And I’d like us to have everything for free. So we could buy whatever we want. I’d like to be able to paint on the walls of my room—I’d really like to paint my room.
T (age 43): And what would happen after two years of vacation?
N: Then there would be another vacation.
T: So it would be an endless vacation?
N: Yeah, that would be great.
T: And what would your day look like?
N: I would wake up, brush my teeth, have breakfast, get dressed, and then maybe go out with my friends. We’d go to Gutovka park, where we’d play. Then we’d go home and have lunch…
T: And who would cook it for you?
N: Mom and dad. Then we could go for bubble tea with my parents, and then we could go for a walk.
T: And your parents wouldn’t work then?
N: No, they wouldn’t work because money would be raining down from the sky.
T: Cool. And what would they do?
N: They’d spend more time with us kids. We’d go to the disco in the evening and dance and then go to bed. But we could also go somewhere. We could travel.
T: Where would you like to go?
N: Italy, Germany, Vietnam, or Japan
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The interview was originally published as part of the article “For Adults to Start Trusting Children. Educating Children for Liberation in an Unfree World.” in the online feminist magazine Druhá : směna (www.druhasmena.cz). The text is published with the kind permission of the magazine’s editors.