nssr adultism webinar

8/3/2019 NSSR Adultism Webinar

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Schooling Adults on Youth Participation in the

LGBT Safe Schools Movement:

Why It Is Important to Engage Youth in Efforts to

Make Schools Safe


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Theory of AdultismAdultism Explained

Montana Safe Schools Coalition

Adultism

The oppression of and discrimination against people

who are young


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Theory of AdultismAdultism Defined

Adultism is a predisposition towards adults, defined as "behaviors andattitudes based on the assumptions that adults are better than young

people, and entitled to act upon young people without agreement.

Internalized adultism causes youth to "question their own legitimacy,

doubt their ability to make a difference" and perpetuate a "culture ofsilence" among young people.

Cultural adultism is the restriction or exploitation of people because of

their young age, as opposed to their ability, comprehension, or capacity.

Institutional adultism may be apparent in any instance of systemic bias,

where formalized limitations or demands are placed on people simply

because of their young age. School is a key adultist institution.


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Theory of AdultismAdultism Explained

Adultism is a denial of the full humanity of

young people

Adultism places us in the position of being ahope for the future, but not a central part of

the present

When we question adultist practice, we are

not taken seriously


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Adultism is the universal oppression

We all experience adultism

If we reach an age older than any other

person we can perpetuate adultism

Adultism, like other forms of oppression, is

held in place by power, control and economics

Why should we work on Adultism?


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What adultism may look like for young people:

Experiencing adultism shows us that it is possible tooppress other people. It is the thing that informs our abilityto practice racism, sexism, heterosexism, and all other formsof mistreatment.

Young people may feel inferior or act less than fully

intelligent.It may get in the way of young people taking charge; both

in leadership contexts and in their personal lives.

What adultism may look like for adults:

Adults may not trust the competency of young people.Adults may not expect or require reciprocal relationships

with young people.


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A key part of adultism is the lack of control offinancial resource. Young people are mostly not incontrol of their financial situation or resources.However, we are targeted as a commercial class

anyway. This may lead young people to have to ask,beg, or exchange for money. This can lead tohumiliation, feelings of worthlessness, or feelings orhopelessness (feeling like we have to give up what

we want/need because we cant/wont ask, beg orexchange). It also may lead to the feeling that ourvalue is based on the one task or chore we have toexchange for access to financial resource.

Theory of AdultismAdultism and Financial Resources


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Timeline of Adultism

Birth:

People arent paying full attention adults

dont meet gaze, babies stop lookingBirth experiences affect us many babies are

medicated from the very first moments

Babies are shushed


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Early Childhood:Get interrupted a lot, ignored, told to stop asking so

many questions

Retreat into imagination and stop asking questions

Start mistrusting thinkingLearn that adults dont want to know your thinking

Feelings are invalidated Theres nothing to be scaredof or Youre not really sad

Life is completely controlled (adults decide what youwear, eat, where you get to go)

Small children often make fun of other children whoare different-starting to perpetuate adultism and otheroppressions.


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Pre-teen:Have increased knowledge (school), need to process

information plus have strong desire to connect

Receive conflicting messages: your thinking is not

important vs. increased demand to think critically(school)

Pre-teens often feel and express urgency around being

heard and having their thinking validated only to have

those demands met with being told that they are tooyoung or dont know enough

Pre-teens act out adultism through bullying, name-

calling, etc.


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Early Adolescents:

Increased autonomy often w/o necessary skills(stupid for not knowing even though earlier

message was to stop asking)Adults often act afraid of teenagers and backaway from them

thinking is important, but not yours

No one wants to listen, and both stop respondingTeens give up on being heard and feel frustrated(often described as teen angst)


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18:

You are an adult without full legal rights

Made independent without full informationPeople think you should automatically know

things that were withheld up to this point

On your own now.


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20s

Really on your own

Trained to not trust your thinking, but now in thesituation to use and trust your own thinking.

Easy to turn adultism around at younger peopleto help gain sense of authority and importance

Urgent about being successful in the world willdo whatever necessary to get stable footing-leavepeople behind.


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20s cont:

Sometimes we are very forceful (urgency)

sometimes we cant voice our needs (internalizedoppression)

Late 20s:

Repeat cycle. The system (capitalism) requires

that everyone compete with each other to getahead, leaving many people behind and requiringus to replicate the system in younger people.


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Cycle of OppressionHow the cycle plays out in adultism

Cycle of Systematic Oppression

Systematic Mistreatment:

Segregation, Isolation,

Targeting, Devaluing

Institutionalization:

Societal justification,

normalization and

perpetuation of

mistreatment

Internalized Oppression &

Internalized Dominance:

Taking in and acting upon the

stated or implied messagesabout our own groups

Misinformation:

Records, Stereotypes,

No Information

Power

Control

and

Economics


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No one is more affected by school

policy change, staff trainings, and any

other work to make schools safer thanthe youth who attend them.


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Why Should We Care?

Substantive youth

engagement is

crucial to

developing safer

schools

Youth understand

school environments

Decisions directly

affect the lives of

youth

Provide strong,

accurate input aboutwhat does and doesnt

work


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Youth as Experts

Youth know exactly what problems need tobe tackled in their schools and districts

Which classes are targeted, whether bullying isphysical or verbal

Youth can usually determine the moreeffective types of bullying prevention

How well assemblies or staff trainings work

Alternatives to punitive punishments


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We Wantto be Involved

Sometimes, youth may

seem indifferent to

whats going on around

us, but thats usually amisconception.

We dont just want to

file papers or complete

other remedial tasks,

either. We want to plan,prepare, and execute!

We really do want to offer all of our talents and resources, otherwise we

wouldnt be giving this webinar, now would we?


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SoYou want to add youth

The Bring Them to the Table model isprobably the most utilized method of youth

inclusion


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Youth and adults dont

trust each

other, creating tension

Adults dont believe

youth can be leaders

Youth are afraidto speak up during

discussions

Youth input is ignored

Adults see that youth arent

participating, which proves their

point, that youth arent helpful

Youth arent truly involved,

becoming tokens at the table

heres what could

happen if youth come

to the table

because of our societys adultism :


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Then How ShouldYouth

be Incorporated?


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Processes for Youth LeadershipDual ProcessesAlliance Youth Committee Model

Dual Processes allow youth and adults

to work separately but parallel

towards the same or similar goals


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With a dual process, each separate groupchooses the actions and direction theirgroup will take towards the overarching

goal

There are go betweens for each group,ensuring that each group knows what the

other is doing


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Example:

After Illinois passed the Prevent School Violence Act, acomprehensive anti-bullying law, both the Youth PolicyCommittee and the Adult Policy Committee began to work on

implementation.o The Youth Policy Committee decided to focus onorganizing youth across the state to change their owndistrict anti-bullying policies, and to implement thosepolicies in a youth led process. To do this they wrote atoolkit for policy change for youth

o The Adult Policy Committee oversaw a state taskforcethat provided recommendations to schools about amodel policy, programs, and data collection, and youthalso sat on the taskforce


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Pros: Cons:

Youth are able to make decisions, and are

not overrun by the adults

Both groups can suffer from a lack of

communication

There is space for youth to truly grow as

leaders

Youth dont get as many chances to speak

up to adults

The process ensures that perspective and

skills are shared between groups, ie, the

adults cannot discount the youth since

they are taking action, and the youth can

utilize adults knowledge and power

Both groups require a dedicated staff or

volunteer to support the process, hold

people accountable, and ensure

communication

Youth stay in control of their own

direction

One group may move more quickly than

the other

Youth led is more fun, less awkward

Youth are more likely to speak their minds


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Education andTraining

CommitteePolicy Committee

FundraisingCommittee

CommunicationsCommittee

Provides education and training

to GSAs and GSA Advisors-who

then act as advocates for school-

wide PD

Provides training at the Summer

Institute, a 3-day PD session for

school personnel organized by

the youth committee

Worked on changing non-discrimination policy for Chicago PublicSchools.

Wrote a toolkit for youth changing their own anti-bullying policy and

provides training to youth on policy change

Fundraises through summits and

other GSA events

Sells buttons and puts together

silent auction items for the annual

event organized by the adult

fundraising committee

Communicates the mission,

programs and events of the

Alliance to youth

Education andTraining

Committee

PolicyCommittee

FundraisingCommittee

CommunicationsCommittee


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Thank You!

nssr adultism webinar

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