Today the kids all got a little bookmark about "the rights of the child". Here's a piece of it that I scanned.Read it carefully. What's missing? That's right: Mes droits (my rights) is there, but there's no sign of mes devoirs (my responsibilities). I hate to sound like some Sarkoziste but honestly! (Actually, I think lefties like me should be more concerned about our responsibilities to others since we're supposed to be socialists, but that's another debate)
Now, I'm all for children's rights, and I understand that it's really intended to raise awareness of abuse issues, but this was just given out in the middle of a lesson, with no kind of discussion. I now eagerly await a dozen twelve year olds refusing to do homework or open their book because they have the "right to say NO". Or having to explain to them that the "right to play and dream" means "as opposed to being sent down a mine", and doesn't extend to the classroom.
They could have even just added "And everyone else has the same rights as me" at the bottom. That would have been a start.
Grrrrr!
4 comments:
I agree, this definitely needs to be put into some form of context. A bit like my customers who "know their rights" but get seriously cheesed off when you point them to their tenancy agreement which states their responsibilities, like taking care of their homes.
In the US we have the DARE program in the elementary schools. When my 10 year old son refused to do as I asked, he told me, "Officer Richey told me I had the right to say NO." This was more than 10 years ago and it is STILL continuing.
I am in complete agreement that our kids are not grasping the concept that responsibilities go hand-in-hand with rights (and I believe I taught my son about responsibility and consequences). This whole generation termed the "millenials" seems to have the same delusions of entitlement.
It really isn't that hard to work out that if you have rights which others should respect, it follows that others have rights which you have to respect. Every right therefore implies a responsibility. A ten year old is perfectly capable of grasping that concept.
This is just copied, word for word, from the stuff in my son's school. Why can't they have a bigger one stating parents' rights? :)Something like 'parents have the right to say 'because' to the question 'why?'
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