Category Archives: adults

The Cultural Effects of Adultism


For a while, I’ll be writing about different ways adultism effects people for my forthcoming book on discrimination against children and youth. I have studied a number of ways adultism effects young people, adults, and whole communities. This is a summary of what I’ve found.The Cultural Effects of Adultism on Organizations

Every nonprofit, government agency, and community group that wants to serve young people needs teamwork and cooperation to get things done. The use of adultist language and the culture of adultism spread throughout this work is a demoralizing force. When adultist language condescends a young person in a program, all children and youth in that program can feel devalued and not part of the team. That demoralization will in turn lessen their response to programs, the output of the program, and young peoples’ commitment to the program, it’s mission, and the vision behind it.

In my years of work, interviews with thousands of young people and adults, and observations as an international consultant, I have seen adultism create environments where young people unconsciously fear that their genuine feelings, words, actions, and ideas will confirm the stereotypes against them that are believed by adults. This fear can cause young people to either act like adults in order to gain their approval, or act in other non-age appropriate ways. As a consequence, all young people suffer from having too-high expectations thrust upon them, or too-low responsibilities.

Learn more about adultism on The Freechild Project website.

Let me know what you think in the comments section! If you’re interested, you can read the complete paper this is taken from called Adultism Kills: The Effects of Discrimination Against Children and Youth on Nonprofits at http://bit.ly/14Aiibd.

 

10 Signs You’re Experiencing Adultism

Here’s the new “10 Signs You’re Experiencing Adultism” poster I made for The Freechild Project. Following are the 10 signs:

  1. “You’ll understand when you get older” is your middle name.
  2. You’re forced to go to school.
  3. You aren’t allowed to choose your clothes, the people you hang out with, or the places you spend your time.
  4. You can’t make decisions about your own body without parental consent.
  5. You do the same work for less pay than adults.
  6. Adults say, “Because I said so,” to you.
  7. You have to take standardized tests in underfunded schools.
  8. Marketers sell you cool things instead of useful things.
  9. You can’t vote because you’re under a certain age.
  10. The sign says, “No two people under 18 without adult supervision.”

Other signs: Arbitrary punishments, Driving While Young, School-to-Prison Pipeline, School choice, Forced medical care, No access to banking, Access to healthcare, Standardized curriculum, Age of candidacy, Commercialization of youth culture… And So Much More!

You Might Like…

Order FACING ADULTISM by Freechild founder Adam Fletcher at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1517641233/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1517641233&linkCode=as2&tag=thefreechildp-20&linkId=43XBKODOPHWZ46XW
Order FACING ADULTISM by Freechild founder Adam Fletcher!

Coming May 2013: "Inconvenient Youth" by Adam Fletcher

CommonAction is proud to announce
Coming May 2013
“Inconvenient Youth: A Guide to Discrimination Against Young People” 
by Adam Fletcher, founder of The Freechild Project.

Contact us for information, including author booking and appearances, orders, and more.
Phone (360) 489-9680
Written by Adam Fletcher, this article was originally posted to http://commonaction.blogspot.com. Learn more at adamfletcher.net!

Elements of Successful Community Engagement

The nature of community programs continues to evolve.

More than ever, nonprofits, government agencies, and other programs are being challenged to transform their goals, activities, assessments, and resources in order to motivate, educate, and engage people beyond simple participation. In a time when many communities are stuck in a malaise, community programs require a realignment to grow beyond what they’ve done.

Appearances Matter

People appear to have more options with what to do with their time, making it ironic they need community programs more than ever. However, the technology, recreation, sports, faith-based activities, and opportunities to earn income that were present just a decade ago simply aren’t in many communities anymore.

Considering these dual realities of increased need and decreased opportunities, it is absolutely vital that nonprofit and government program providers get earnest about successfully engaging all people in their programming.

After more than a decade promoting community engagement across the US and Canada, I have found what works and doesn’t work for engaging all sorts of people. These lessons have to be deconstructed and reapplied in each community, because all communities are different.

I have read the research, worked directly with people, and struggled through many projects focused on community engagement. Following are some elements I consider essential to successfully engaging all kinds of people in community programs.

Elements of Successful Community Engagement

  • Focused – Instead of meandering through purposeless activities and focus-less personal activities, every program session is designed to be a concise, deliberative engagement of multiple intelligences, broad perspectives, and varying experiences. Successfully engaging people remains the central goal of all activities, and is the focus of every program.
  • Supportive – Youth and adults alike are committed to working together without fear of retribution or alienation. All people are partners with each other in community programs, and everyone works together for the common cause of engaging more people throughout the community.
  • Engaging – The experiences, knowledge, ideas, and opinions of people are validated and substantiated with meaningful learning experiences that infuse everyone with a new capacity to visualize, analyze, create, and engage themselves.
  • Critical – As co-learners within a community of learners, all people provide vital insight in the learning and teaching process for their peers and facilitators in community programs. These democratic interactions are actively encouraged and supported by all members.
  • Transparent – There should be no mysteries about what the purpose of the community program is, or what the outcomes of the activities will be. Community programs should offer numerous ways to make goals, outcomes, and activities fully understandable to people.

These are not simply the keys to successful community programs, nor to successfully engaging people. They are the elements of successfully engaging people throughout their communities all all sorts of programs. Its important to consider that these programs and their organizations are unique and different, and these elements are recognized for paying attention to that.

With these in mind, you can go forth and make a difference in the lives of the people you serve through your activities.

Want to talk about me doing a workshop for your organization or community? Get in touch!

 

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