I have wrote before about the trouble America is in today because as a nation we've apparently lost hope in children and youth. A country where "children are the future" and "youth are the leaders of tomorrow" is apparently seeing its chickens come home to roost: Without feeling like they are alive right now society thinks young people have little reason to invest a notion of a future they aren't creating.

The breakthrough in thought I'm experiencing today has to do with the reality that opposes that disparaging thought. We all have to oppose that idea. After years of hearing they needed to do something to make the world a better place, youth activated and formed the nucleus of a movement that is still growing. When the press came on to push youth volunteering throughout the communities they live, youth answered the call, spending more time serving than anyone expected. As progressive political candidates are increasingly validating the power of the youth vote more validity is given to their vote. American history is replete with these calls-to-action, including those from the Civil Rights Movement, during the Great Depression, throughout the Harlem Renaissance, back to the Civil War and earlier into the American Revolution. This shows us that youth have always answered the calls of their country.

I want to recreate the Freechild Project and SoundOut websites as one massive and blatant youth-boosting tool, supporting the real perspective that society doesn't realize the value of young people and that there are exceptional examples from around the world, where children and youth are working throughout their world to create a new reality for everyone to share.

I would love to hear any suggestions for what such a tool could look like.

Think about it:

First thing in the morning mom's saying, "In MY house you will follow MY rules," enforcing your sense of displacement in the world.

On the way to school on the subway you glimpse at the headline of a magazine that says, "Look 20 years younger!" with a newspaper headline on the other side that says, "Study shows kids are out of control."

When you get to school all self-control stripped away by matter of routine, with messaging reinforced through curriculum: No youth are mentioned in history, the classic literature was apparently written by old dead white guys, math seems like its from outer space, and the elective courses are from a 1947 curriculum guide. And when you ask why you're learning all this, you are told, "Its for your own good," "Its for your future," or "You have to."

When you leave school for the day, more than ever your life is driven by adults: filled with this activity or that, this job or that, there are few - if any - spaces where authentic youth culture is allowed to exist. Instead we've injected adults' notion of what youth culture should be into every available crevasse of a young person's life: Marketers are adults, youth program workers are adults, media-makers are adults, band managers and sports coaches and choir leaders and McDonald's managers and so on and so forth...

The youth who apparently "succeed" most in our society are generally those who learn to accept these social norms; those who don't accept them generally "fail," particularly into early adulthood, where their economic/social/moral outcomes are apparently "questionable" at best - the history of any longtime surfer/punk/hip hop fan would demonstrate that quickly.

In response to this climate, the question becomes how to most successfully equip youth for this reality, particularly when any youth program is generally limited to 2-4 hours per week out of everything else. Is it responsible to actually tell youth they can do anything they want to, be anything they want to, or go anywhere they want to when they face the permeating reality that shows them otherwise for every other waking hour of their days? Or is there a middle ground, a compromise? I am not sure about that - I'm just not sure.

Imagine being 3 or 4 years old and invited to adult dances, singing and dancing with them through the night. When you're 4 you dance in adult ballets - and even though you're not particularly graceful or talented, you are still welcomed and applauded for your performances.

At 5 years old you practice archery everyday, playing cards and charades with your adult uncles and aunts, and family friends who are adults, too. The adults around you love fairies and fairy stories, and you do to, often listening to storytellers share tales until late at night. In crazy, large group games with those same adults, and others, you run crazy playing hide-and-seek, blindman's bluff, and other games.

Sure, you do stuff that only kids do, like play with dolls and race your toys around the place. And you get disciplined, too, for refusing to eat dinner. But generally adults let you participate in all the adult activities going on around you - not as an oddity or a plaything, but as a person.

Around the age of 7 you are encouraged to give up your toys and act more mature. You learn to gamble, ride horses, and hunt... and by 8 you become the king of France. This was the life of Louis the 13th, who took full control over his country when he was 15.

We don't often hear the stories of historical figures whose lives seem so different than ours. But I think there are lessons buried inside these tales, lessons that we can and should learn from. Let's consider some of the points in Louis' story: He was allowed to be a child when he was a child. He was encouraged to take responsibility as he grew up - albeit, at the age of 8, but that works for some people. He fully interacted with adults as a peer, and not just as a puppet or puppy. He was afforded opportunities for self-realization within his social circles. Not to say it was all roses, or anything near that, but again, there are lessons in there.

I'm going to be writing about the history of children and youth for a little while, so bear with me. This Wednesday I'm going to beautiful Wenatchee, Washington, to work with a group of teachers, and I'm sure I'll have something to say about that, too. But in the meantime, if you're interested, I'm working from the following books about the history of young people:

• Childhood in America by Paula Fass and Mary Ann Mason. Explores popular and not-so-popular conceptions of how and why young people are treated the ways they are. This book summarizes what the ideas have been and examines where we're headed.
  
• The Case Against Adolescence by Robert Epstein. A scientific study of how the notion of adolescence damns youth, challenging conceptions about the limitations and inabilities of young people by showing a different reality.
• Teenagers: An American history by Grace Palladino. This is a great history that focuses on how marketers created the concept of "youth" to sell crap to young people and adults.
• Consumed: How markets corrupt children, infantalize adults and swallow citizens whole by Benjamin Barber. An intense book that says we're still getting sold.
• Childhood by Chris Jenks. An academic treatise that pulls together diverse thought to forward a comprehensive notion of what the phenomenon of childhood means today.
• Generations: The history of America's future, 1584 to 2069 by William Strauss and Neil Howe. This book shows the long view of how children and youth have been treated, and why they are seen the ways they have been.
• The Rise and Fall of the American Teenager by Thomas Hine. Another thorough examination of how young people got to where they are in our society, and why our society sees them as so valuable to everything around us.

As you can see, I'm concerned about two things here: What the collective histories of children and youth are, and why those histories have come to be what they are. Unfortunately they are very American-centric - but its a start. In my work with Freechild and SoundOut over the last 8 years I have made a lot of assumptions about the inherent goodness and "evil"ness of society's treatment of children and youth; now I want to break those myths in my mind, because they aren't true. Come on - let's see what's out there!

There is no such thing as a "free child." This myth has been carefully spread over the last forty years by authors and speakers and all kinds of people that I have admired for a lot of reasons - but not this one. The ideal of the "free child" seems to be the ultimately anarchistic young person, able to reason and reckon on their own without influence or guidance from adults, from society and from all other people. While that seems like a radical vision, its nothing less than what Ivan Illich proposed in Deschooling Society, or even John Holt in Escape from Childhood. Apparently frustrated by The Freechild Project's usage of the word, an author named Rue Kreame wrote a book in 2005 called Parenting a Free Child in which she laid out the pathway that parents could follow for raising so-called "free" children.

There is no simple reality involved here. Part of the issue was captured in the 1600s by a poet named John Donne that wrote, "No man is an island, entire of itself. Every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main... any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind... (Meditation XXVII.) The basic premise of that idea is that we're all interdependent, tied together in a convenient reality that allows us to coexist on this small planet. That same idea was built on by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose 1963 book Strength to Love expanded on the idea:

We are everlasting debtors to known and unknown men and women.... When we arise in the morning, we go into the bathroom where we reach for a sponge provided for us by a Pacific Islander. We reach for soap that is created for us by a Frenchman. The towel is provided by a Turk. Then at the table we drink coffee which is provided for us by a South American, or tea by a Chinese, or cocoa by a West African. Before we leave for our jobs, we are beholden to more than half the world.

That a child or youth could grow up devoid of influence from even the most "evil" source (which is the implication in a lot of this literature), including television, marketing, and governmental "control," is simply unrealistic. We are all influenced by everything around us. Even by refusing to partake in popular society or mass consumption or any other form of personal/social/moral protest, we are reacting to those influences, thereby allowing them to influence us.

I can't entertain the idea of the "free child" in a serious way because I don't see it as a serious undertaking. I am a member of an extremely large and intertwined global community who cannot disconnect from that community. Sure, I can go climb in the Olympics and "get away from it all," but even then I'm still in touch with my society. In that same way students attending alternative schools are still affected by mainstream schooling; youth enjoined in forums and councils where their voices are heard are still affected by youth discrimination, and; adults who want to ally with youth are still practicing adultism. Its the derelict truth of the world we live in, whether we like it or not.

That said, we do have opportunities to resist consumerism and challenge militarization and combat ignorance. We can work with young people to struggle for social justice and against youth segregation and for community. My ideal is more closely related to King's vision of interdependence and connectivity, as the folks involved in the sustainability movement often pronounce. I know that we have to work together for that reality, rather than an escapist vision of an alternate reality in which humanity is displaced by individualistic selfishness, which is inherently bound up in anarchism and disconnection.

By the way, as many of you know, this isn't just empty rhetoric for me. I have honestly sacrificed some potentially interesting connections throughout my work, even alienating friends at times because of my insistence on staying ingrained in the communities to which I belong. This is more important than ever for me, as my daughter is getting close to school age, and where this pathway of decision-making becomes life-altering for her, as well. We all have to make sacrifices, and this is the right reason to.

More than 30 years ago there was a growing national effort to promote youth empowerment, youth participation and youth rights. For some reason we've forgot about that movement, like it never existed - or failed so miserably we don't mention it, like an ugly stepchild. Here are several books from the 1970s that I recommend for anyone interested in gleaning some wisdom from "back in the day"...

Student Power, Participation and Revolution (1970) John and Susan Erlich - This book is a collection of essays by 1960s student activists from high schools and colleges across the U.S. These are the words that inspired youth action across the country.

Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970) Paulo Freire - A complex examination of education by a man whose process of teaching rural Brazilians revolutionized that country forever. Freire went on to explore these concepts in a lot of different concepts, often challenging this book - but never was he as powerful, assertive and direct as he was in this book.

Conspiracy of the Young (1971) Paul Lauter and Florence Howe - Looking back on their experience working with young people throughout the 1960s, Lauter and Howe propose several powerful, logical and meaningful ways society can treat youth differently.

The Geranium on the Windowsill Just Died but the Teacher You Went Right On (1971) Albert Cullum - I have avoided adding the fiction books that continue to inspire me from back then - except this one. The author's dedication says it all: "Dedicated to all those grownups who, as children, died in the arms of compulsory education." Is anyone out there strong enough to say this today?

Will the Real Teacher Please Stand Up? A Primer in Humanistic Education (1972) Mary Greer and Bonnie Rubinstein - A nice collection of essays and drawings by children and youth along with activities adults can use in classes, programs and other settings. Everything in here challenges the historic relationship between youth and adults, and almost all what is in here inspires me.

Escape from Childhood (1974) John Holt - Holt's rhetoric continues to inspire new generations of youth rights activists as he expounds on alternatives to the belittling, demeaning and degrading treatment of children and youth throughout American society. Awesome if you are looking for inspiration.

Student Power: Practice and Promise (1975) Glorianne Wittes, Joan Chesler and Dale Crawford - The authors of this book examine and compare six schools to each other. From radical private schools to public alternatives to inner-city megaschools, they offer powerful reflections and share important lessons that seem to have been lost.

I Am Not a Short Adult! Getting Good at Being a Kid (1977) Marilyn Burns - I am leery of books where adults tell young people how to act. This one is almost 100% different. In a revelatory way the author pulls the curtain back on adult society and tells the truth about childhood - to children themselves. Good call.

There are several other books, too, as well as many written before the 70s. Compulsory Mis-Education and the Community of Scholars was published in 1964, and still tells truths about the education system that are powerful. That's just one of many. Feel free to share your favorite book from back then...

In 2000 I was working as the Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction's Youth Ambassador position where I was responsible for coordinating the statewide essay contest for K-12 students focused on the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I also met Sasha Rabkin, who has worked for the Institute for Community Leadership for a long time. Between the contest and Sasha's influence I became acutely aware of the power Dr. King had over the lifeblood of this nation, as well as people around the world. Beyond the mythologizing of King's work, there is a deep power inside of his words and actions, and they resonated deeply in me.

The other thing that happened that year is that after spending a few years previous reading John Holt, Grace Llewellyn and Billy Upski, among others, I decided to become involved in the youth rights movement. That year I submitted a poem to be included on the National Youth Rights Association's website, and I named it after Dr. King's 1963 book called Why We Can't Wait.

Following is that poem, with a few revisions. There are strands about adultism, systemic oppression and alienation throughout. Another NYRA supporter felt moved enough to make a song from it a few years later. Let me know what you think of either one!

I've been concerned lately about why people are trying to do the youth voice activities they do. Too often their activities actually work against their stated intentions, actually defeating their goals and objectives. I have seen pattern emerge again and again in the programs I have learned about, either through my consulting, training, or research.

Following is a form I've developed I have developed to assess the logic behind youth voice programs. You are invited to use it - please cite me when you do.

1. The main purpose of this youth voice activity is... State as accurately as possible the planner's purpose for the activity
2. The key issue addressed by the program is... Figure out the key issue in the mind of the planner when s/he developed the activity
3. The most important parts of this activity are... Figure out the experiences, information, and skills the planner is assuming participants have in order to participate in the activity
4. The main outcomes of this activity are... Identify the main outcomes the planner intends from the different parts and the whole of this activity
5. The main assumption(s) behind the planner's thinking is/are... Figure out what the planner is taking for granted that might be questioned.
6. The implications of this activity are... What consequences are likely to happen because of the activity?