I came across something I thought was really interesting today and wanted to see what you all thought of it. It ties in with our class perfectly.
Phillip Nel released a children's book titled, "Tales for Little Rebels: A Collection of Radical Children's Literature," which encourages children to question authority. It caught my attention first of all because you normally don't see the words "children" and "radical" together. One of the reasons he wrote the book is because you read childhood stories before you've figured out who you are. This was interesting to me because it's like planting somewhat rebellious ideas in kids. And you know how kids are, they hold on to things for a long time. So my question or questions are: Should we teach our children to question authority from a young age? Do you think this book will encourage children to "rebel" against authority? If you had kids now would you allow them to read this book? Are there reasons why we should teach our children to obey rather than question? Along these same lines, if you did encourage your child to question authority, is there such a thing as taking it too far? For instance, if your child is continually acting out against his teacher at school, what would you say if he/she tried to justify it by saying they were just "questioning authority?" I'm interested to see what you all have to say!
16 comments:
Children should be taught to question the authority of tyrannical governments and the like, but should not be taught that all authority is wrong. My father always told me this when i questioned his rules, "Eric, I know things may not make sense to you now, but can you trust that my 50+ years of experience, which greatly exceeds your 17 years, makes me wise and that I only want the best for you". Authority is a necessary part of growth and development into a functioning society and should not be ruined. I do believe the school system as it is does a pretty healthy job of instilling questioning authority by teaching of the revolution and of rebellions which took place for a good cause. As children grow with knowledge, they can better be taught things such as dissent because they have a better mental capacity to understand and be empathetic towards the situation. I do not believe this book to be bad as long as it is taught in the right light and does not make all authority out to be a monstrous thing.
I completely agree with Eric. It is good for children to be able to distinguish between what is right and wrong, but it is also important for them to respect the authority that is imposed for their own good.
I have two young sisters and they are the perfect example of where the line needs to be drawn when children question authority. My middle sister is 12 years old, two days ago she asked for permission to go to her friends house after school. That day my mom was very busy so she could not have picked her up later so she said no. My sister however decided that she did not agree with my mothers' decision and went to her friend's house anyway. My mom, me and people we know spent about three or four hours looking for her frantically because no one knew where she was. She came home later,very happy because she did what she wanted. My mom was not pleased.
I have a smaller sister, she is seven years old. However, she has a better balance when it comes to questioning authority than my 12 year old sister. This weekend it was pretty hot so we all pulled out our pretty dresses. I put a skirt on that was pretty short. My little sister wanted to do the same but my mom said no because she likes to climb all over the place and tends to scrape her knees. She argued for about 30 minutes because she claimed that she was not going to change if I did not change. She said it was not fair. To some extent she was right because I was not setting the example. In the end she happily obliged and said "when I am not playing I will wear a skirt too"
I think that as long as that book does not call for acts of rebellion that lead to dangerous situations for the children its important for them to understand the difference between following blindly and being respectful.
Interesting find! I think it's important to for kids to be taught the difference between right and wrong, as long as it is pretty moderate. That being said, while you grow up, you tweak what you are taught at a young age and make your own adjustments to your morals. Obviously, young kids should obey their parents, but as they grow, they should be more aware that not all adults do the right things, and they should question their authority. This is a tough balance, and like Mariana said, the book is ok, as long as it doesn't call for violence or anything like that.
I agree with Eric and Mariana to some extent, but based on the title of the children's book, I think it goes a little too far. I don't think that children need to be taught "radical" ideas. Children should be taught to respect their parents and other authority figures, and I think the whole "little rebels" idea discourages obedience. (The spy children from 1984 come to mind.)
I definitely think that children should learn to think for themselves, but I for one would not let my children read this book. Obedience is not necessarily a bad thing.
I like what Mariana said at the end that kids need to understand the difference between following blindly and being respectful. I definitely think that kids shouldn't be taught that you need to follow authority just because it says so because there is reasoning behind the rules, and I think that kids should be able to hear these reasons. However, it is also important that they know that even if they disagree with the reasons or don't know them, they still need to respect the authority. I don't think it is a good idea to encourage or teach children to question authority. I think they can have trouble separating concepts, and, since there is no cut and dry line, it can be hard to understand when and how it is appropriate to question authority and when it is not. Additionally, I think that children (or, well, maybe it comes with adolescence) naturally learn to question authority on their own, and I think that this should be allowed by parents to a certain extent (I think that giving a child the reasons for your decision when they ask is a good thing to do, but they should know that, unless you say otherwise, those are the boundaries, period).
I think that children should be taught to think for themselves and question authority in a respectful manner. I also agree that children should be taught to distinguish between right and wrong and should learn to question those thing that they see as wrong.
As for the reasons why people tend to teach their children to obey rather than question, I think it is because for the first part of a child's life, the parents are the main authority figures. I think most parents want their kids to grow up to be free thinking adults, and it makes sense to start those ideas off in childhood, but parents don't want to undermine their own authority by telling their kids to question authority. It's hard for a parent to say "question authority, but do what I say because I'm in charge." To a degree, they're conflicting ideas. The bottom line is that either extreme is bad. Parents don't want their kids to blindly follow everything, but they also don't want them to be disobedient or unruly children. I think more so than teaching children to be "little rebels," children should be taught to think for themselves and question respectfully.
Children should be encouraged to question authority- in my opinion the ability to question authority is to get us to think for ourselves and determine whether or not we should or shouldn't follow said authority. It would not be good for a child to grow up following an authority around mindlessly. In cases where they should respect authority (such as that of the parent themselves, or a teacher) they should understand why it is to their benefit to obey the authority. In this way they will not only learn to question, but also to determine when it is necessary/appropriate to obey. It would not be good for them to obey a person when such obedience would bring them no good, such as peer pressure for drinking or other stuff.
I think that children should be taught respect for their elders/superiors before they are taught to question authority. I do think that this book will lead to children rebelling against authority, but not is a very major way. Kids go along with what they read in stories, but after reading it a few times, they will likely move onto something else. I think that most kids tend to go through a rebellious stage anyway, so it just depends on how the parents handle the situation. There are some things that parents should censor, but I don't think this is one of them. These stories would probably be an excellent tool for the parents to use to explain to their children what is right and wrong in society. Kids are going to question authority, so you might as well let them read this book and then discuss the stories with the child to teach him or her about our world.
I do not think that children should be taught to question authority at a young age because children are so easily molded and swayed. I think they should be taught their basic principles and grow up with a strong moral base before they are being taught "radical" ideas and how to question authority. From my experience, children naturally have a tendency to disobey at a young age to some extent; therefore, I do not think that they need to be taught or given reinforcement on how to go about it. I do not think this book could contain too heavy of material that would strongly influence a child though. If I had kids now, I would probably let them read it if they came across it on thier own.... but I would read through it to get a feel for the extent that the stories were encouraging questioning authority.
If I was a parent, I probably would definitely not give this book to my children and tell them to read it, however if they discovered it on their own I would not oppose it.
I think to be fully functioning, children should learn obedience for rules and authority figures.
As with most things growing up, for me at least, questioning authority was a process of trial and error. As a kid, I learned and accepted obedience right away. As I grew older I started thinking for myself and questioning many things I had previously taken for truth. Learning something like this needs time and a child's personal growth is the best way for one to learn to question authority.
I think we should teach children to stand up for themselves and try to make the right decisions. "Rebelling" against authority should be a part of that, particularly as an option to create something better. However, it should be within reason; a child should not be encouraged to challenge authority for the sake of it. They are too young to know better and unlikely to make a distinction between challenging an authority and putting up a fuss. Teaching them to challenge authority is necessary, but so is teaching them to obey. They need to understand both and, more importantly, they need to be able to practice both.
If I had children I would certainly let them read this book but there is definitely a line to draw and a comparison to be made between questioning authority for good reason and questioning it for personal gain. He makes a good point and the fact that we are taught to obey society from a young age is certainly conflicting because it doesnt allow us to think for ourselves.
Along this topic, I read a book called the Roots of Evil: Origins of Genocide and Mass Violence. One of the psychological things he mentioned that leads to genocide is how integrated the notion of obeying authority is within the culture. The stronger it is, the less likely people are to speak out against violence even unrighteous violence from their own government against innocence. This leads to the role of the bystander and continues the violence until it turns into mass killings.
Honestly, I think that children learn to question authority well enough without these books. Anyone that has babysat or raised a toddler or was a teenager understands this. It is in our very human nature to question authority. I don't think that children should be encouraged to question their parents, especially since most will do it anyway!
A certain amount of social organization and stability is needed to maintain a healthy civilization. Unfortunately, kids take things literally so a subtle message will not come across well. These books are likely to either have no effect or will cause anarchy. In fact, this reminds me of that show that was on TV for awhile called "The Nanny" or something like that. These children were running the house! In one particularly bad case, the toddlers were using the floor as a toilet, eating stuff off the chairs, and hit their parents to get what they wanted. The parents had completely lost their influence and were terrified. Complete anarchy in family and world is NOT good.
I think authority is a necessity. Without authority and order, the world would be chaos, but like everything else in this world, there are limits to everything. People should question the authority that jeopardizes their lives or long-term health. This being said, I think we should teach our children to think for themselves, but I also think that it's important to teach them the importance of authority in society. If I had the book, I'd read it first before giving it to my child, but I don't think I'd have a problem having them read it. And, of course there are limits to how much you encourage your child to question authority. If my child is acting up in class, I'd have a swift talking to with them about respect in the classroom. Teachers jobs are to teach children/students, and the students are their to learn, their should be a mutual cooperation and respect between the two.
Post a Comment