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Adam Fletcher
The U.S. and the Convention on the Rights of the Child
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Young people must be included from birth.
A society that cuts itself off from its youth severs its lifeline.
- Kofi Anan
Today I am reeling from an article written by Paula Reid, a member of The Students Commission in Canada. For more than 25 years the Commission and their magazine, Tiny Giant, has been calling on the Canadian government and society to bring youth voice into the mainstream and to make youth involvement an expectation for all youth. Paula's article, published today in the Toronto Star, is a brash indictment of the Parliament's failure to make any real progress after signing the international Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) more than 18 years ago. Paula pounds away at the government: "It's ironic that just a few weeks ago the federal government was forced to respond to a report condemning its failures toward Canada's young people." Quoting the president of UNICEF Canada: "Canada has the resources to uphold children's rights – but not the will." Wrapping up her indictment: "Young people like me who have grown up with the Convention still have hope. But we need more than that – we need action and change. Canada needs to keep its promises to its children and youth. This change is 18 years overdue." I love it! This is exactly the kind of rhetoric that the pro-youth involvement movement needs to adopt everywhere including Canada. So why am I reeling? For the last 18 years of the Convention's life the United States has refused to be party in it. Only the United States and the collapsed state of Somalia have not ratified it, and worse still, according to Amnesty International, "the United States continues to lead a defensive action against Children's human Rights lobbying against further measures designed to protect children - most recently against efforts to stop the use of child soldiers." There are many reasons for youth voice supporters in the U.S. to support the CRC, the least of which is that children and youth are humans, too, and as young people they have particular rights and society has a particular responsibility. Let's just say that out loud, all together now. My two favorite sections of the Convention are Article 5, which identifies " evolving capacities" as the major determinate in a young person's growth (versus child development theory) and Article 12, which boldly asserts that young people have their own voices (perspectives/ideas/opinions/knowledge) and if that weren't enough it clearly states that children and youth should be " heard" in any official proceeding of any kind, either formal or informal. That is a legal mandate for youth involvement.Now, that said it is no wonder the U.S. hasn't signed off on this. There is a lot of criticism, including: - The CRC is about liberty rights and not about protecting children
- The CRC gives children dangerous freedoms and undermines respect for adults and for parents
- Ideas about their rights could encourage children to be greedy, selfish and irresponsible, and
- The CRC could lead to complacency that treaties alone are enough to improve conditions for children
There has also been a great deal of scholarly and practical responses to these issues and others, many of which George Bush and his predecessors failed to hear. Apparently there is a U.S. Campaign to ratify the CRC, but honestly, after I've been interested in the CRC for more than seven years and working in this field for 16 years, including spending time in Washington DC and now NYC, I have only heard of this campaign online. So I don't know what the hope for this document is. All I know is that something - anything - has to change. Paula Reid, let's hope that's sooner than later.
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| December 27, 2007 | 9:12 AM |
| December 22, 2007 | 1:12 AM |
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Adam Fletcher - The Freechild Project
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Note: I just finished this interview for a community newspaper in New York City, and they gave me permission to repost it here. Enjoy
Adam Fletcher is the founder and coordinator of The Freechild Project, one of the world's largest online repositories for information about social change led by young people. We talked with Adam over hot tea at a shop in Queens.
How did the idea for The Freechild Project come about?
The idea for The Freechild Project came about while I was serving as a "youth ambassador" in Washington State's education agency as part of a program operated by a large national foundation located in Washington, DC. This foundation thought I should be promoting their traditional forms of youth involvement throughout communities, including youth councils, youth forums and youth on boards. I thought all that was cool, but not necessarily relevant to the young people in the types of communities where I grew up. I saw so many amazing examples of youth-led organizing, intergenerational activism and action-oriented service that I just couldn't settle for the "company line" - I had to take it one step further. Rather than just limiting that to the state where I lived at the time, I decided it should be national and international. When did you set up the program?
Set up The Freechild Project in 2001. In 6 years we have gone from zero to over 5,000 listings, 1,500 newsletter subscribers, and released a dozen publications. What do you enjoy most about running Freechild?
What I enjoy most is finding really amazing examples I want to go interact with and then tell other people about. I have traveled across the United States, Canada, to Brazil, the UK and Ireland to work with some of them. My big plan is to take a year out to tour The Freechild Project into low-income communities around North America. Are you involved much in the youth community across the United States?
Not particularly involved in anything here in New York City, yet, although I am looking forward to getting as deep in as possible over the next year. Went to my first school in the Bronx yesterday, the International School for Liberal Arts. They were deeply interested in empowering student voice, and I have trained their principal before. You really get a sense the school - especially the students - want to develop a wonderful learning space as quickly as possible. I will keep working with them through the end of the school year, at least. What did you do last Saturday?
Last Saturday I actually moved into my apartment! I live in Floral Park, and have taken the last week to sink into my place, unpack boxes, and explore the area. It is wonderful to have space to spread out and a place that is peaceful enough to imagine, but still have the vibrant urgency of the city at my fingertips. I spent that night driving around Queens with a friend who helped me move out here, and yeah, it was a good day.
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| December 21, 2007 | 8:12 AM |
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What Do Students Really Know?
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 My first opportunity to work in a NYC school was yesterday. The Kingsbridge neighborhood of The Bronx is home to the Walton High School building, a massive pile of mortar that was built a long time ago. Housing as many as 5,000 students only 20 years ago, over the last several years the school has been broken into small learning communities via the Gates Foundation. Contention there has continued throughout the last 30 years, recently embodied by community organizing efforts led by Sistas and Brothas United in 2005.
Today there are five academies operating at Walton, including the International School for Liberal Arts, or ISLA. Earlier this school year Giselle Martin-Kniep, the founder and president of the organization that now houses SoundOut, started a participatory action research project at ISLA. Focused on students perceptions of respect, yesterday I observed the student researcher team as they began aggregating data from almost 500 surveys, representing 3/4 of ISLA's student body.
I will tell you more about the results as the project progresses; all the same, this was an awesome introduction to a powerful experience. Let me know if you have any thoughts about it.
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| December 20, 2007 | 11:12 AM |
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Hello New York City!
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BIG NEWS! As of today I'm starting a new track here in New York City. I've accepted a position with a great organization and moved across the United States to work for a group called Learner-Centered Initiatives. For the last 15 years they have provided professional development programs for K-12 schools across the state, with great leadership and excellent programs. I am joining their team as the "student engagement" guy, and will be working closely with Communities for Learning and the Cloud Institute.  I WILL CONTINUE to operate SoundOut and Freechild, as well as offer training and technical assistance to schools and youth-serving organizations across the country. I especially want to dig further into the excellent schools and districts across New England and the East Coast who have shown a lot of interest in my work. If you are in the city and want to get together, send me an email or give me a call. Otherwise, wish me luck! It turns out NYC is a pretty big city to a guy used to the Wild West...
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| December 17, 2007 | 10:12 AM |
| December 11, 2007 | 1:12 AM |
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Rethinking Youth-Adult Partnerships
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Last month I received a copy of a new report out from the National 4-H Council called 4-H YIG National Report: Youth-Adult Partnerships in Community Decision Making: What Does it Take to Engage Adults in the Practice? In this summary of stellar new research from Shep Zeldin and Julie Petrokubi from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, along with Carole MacNeil from the UC-Davis, studies continues to answer the research protocol Zeldin's team boldly proposed back in 2000-2001. The report details, in depth, several important points that advocates and practitioners need in order to do this work: - Theory, research and practice behind youth-adult partnerships
- 4-H's model of youth development and the promotion of youth-adult partnerships
- Research questions and methods
- Findings focused on challenges of implementing youth-adult partnerships
- Recommendations for creating the conditions for youth-adult partnerships
However, while the report hits on all the cylinders it needs to, I find it is sorely lacking several important components. Somewhere within the field of youth advocacy there is a blatant lack of critical thinking about one's one work. While this report addresses challenges facing youth-adult partnerships (p 18), it does not mention the challenges of youth-adult partnerships. One of the main challenges is the crisis of social justice inherent within the frameworks of youth-adult partnerships: The reason we need partnerships between young people and adults is because as it stands, society treats young people as less-than human.
If you are black or brown, the situation is worse still. In some communities, if you are a young woman that is worse; in others, for young men it is worse. In schools, it is almost the same straight across the board. Simply put, that treatment and the sentiment behind it must stop. The dilemma of the historical model of youth-adult partnerships examined within this report is that it relies on the continuation of that model, and worse still, it perpetuates it to some extent.
I want to go far as to propose that we adopt Malcolm X's notion that sitting at the lunch counter isn't enough - young people should own it, too. There must be complete investment and parity within the heart and mind of the individual young person in order to ensure the values that we purportedly strive for, which according to Zeldin, et al, is "authentic youth participation", which ultimately is a "fundamental tenant of democracy" (p 3).
Let's rethink youth-adult partnerships and go beyond this simplistic notion that having enough youth in enough activities in enough organizations is enough democracy. That is the problem of American democracy today: people think there is enough. This traditional model of youth-adult is not enough, simply because there is more! There are more young people, more adults, more opportunities and more outcomes we can and should expect from these relationships.
Tomorrow I'll write about what I think that is. In the meantime I would suggest that you check out this report, along with related materials, on the National 4-H website. Also, check out this new article on Wikipedia for a preview of where I'm going with this.
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| December 10, 2007 | 11:12 AM |
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Volvo Adventure Programme
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Worth spreading the news about... Volvo Adventure Programme
Deadline January 31, 2008
Arranged in collaboration with the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) the Volvo Adventure Award rewards young people who run their own environmental projects. We are now looking for the 2008 winners – and the deadline of 31st January 2008 is approaching. If you know of any groups of 13-16 year olds working on an environmental project they only have a few weeks to enter. All they have to do is register and enter your project now by visiting www.volvoadventure.org. By registering, they have the opportunity to win an all-expenses-paid trip to the final in Sweden and the chance of a financial reward that could make it possible to run, improve or enhance your project. For young people it could be an adventure that offers a chance to make new friends all over the world, attract international attention and recognition for their project. We look forward to seeing your network’s projects! Good luck.
If you have any queries please contact Wayne Talbot at wayne@wtaeducationservices.com.
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| December 5, 2007 | 12:12 PM |
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