Comment by crawfordcomeaux | Hacker News Reader

Comment by crawfordcomeaux | Hacker News Reader

crawfordcomeaux

For all those who don't understand how this could happen, there's an important word nobody says and it explains everything:

Adultism.

There's clearly racial components to this story and others like it, but let's be very clear: this is the result of a society that doesn't value children, treats them largely like objects, and for sure doesn't care for their needs.

How can I make these claims?

There's a pandemic and yet school is still in session and in person. Did we reorganize society to protect the children? Temporarily, but when the economy started getting shaky, it was back to school for everyone so the parents could get back to work. Even if the claim of "not letting the children fall behind in school" is genuine, it's to enforce standards cultivated by adults for the sake of creating a certain type of person.

Are the systems deciding the fate of those people under the age of 18 AT ALL informed by those people under the age of 18? They are explicitly not. People under the age of 18 are there for the systems to do with as they choose. There is no solidarity with children or respect for their individual autonomy/consent.

And it's very easy to prove the systems don't care about the childrens' needs:

Humans have a finite set of needs. What are they? If you don't know, you weren't taught them. By systems designed to do something other than care for you and meet your needs. Any system dealing with children that can't produce a list of human needs is responsible for carrying a culture of adultism.

> There's a pandemic and yet school is still in session and in person.

I thought the risk to children is super low though?

And if it is, wouldn't switching to a remote setting be way worse, because school at the lower levels isn't about teaching topics but about learning how to interact with people?

One or two years go by quickly as a working adult, but it's an incredibly long time for a child, having only online contact with people for such a long time will surely be worse for them, no?

Maybe, but coming out with a chronic condition like an autoimmune disease is maybe not so comparable to emotional trauma that can be healed from. Also, why is school still in session? There are other ways to meet needs besides school and they're way healthier than how we do school anyway. That's why I advocate for large pandemic bubbles designed to be as self-sustaining as possible, and not isolation or remote learning.

The adult world's perspective is super skewed. The options most people consider are isolating, bubbling small, or denying the risks. There's more we can do.

>There's a pandemic and yet school is still in session and in person. Did we reorganize society to protect the children?

I don't think it's fair not to point out that covid is drastically less dangerous for children.

You can think that.

We don't understand the long-term effects because we haven't gotten there in time, yet. Pretending to know these things is dangerous for children.

I think your point ignores the fact that none of this is up to the children, regardless of risk, and they are also an infection vector which allows the virus to continue spreading and evolving. The virus is less dangerous for children, so it makes sense to let them get it and spread it? Is this the point you're trying to make?

The virus is less dangerous for children, so it's not fair to say that schools were opened just so parents could work. Schools were opened, in part, because policy makers know that in person contact poses unequal danger to children and adults.

Oh. Ok. Noted. Fairness achieved and that changes nothing about my points.

The decisions are economically driven, instead of wellbeing/needs based. This is the point. Even if I noted all things weighed and considered, the issue would be that we effectively went back to the same ways of life. Policy makers are carrying on with persisting adultist systems and making decisions without deep consideration of human needs or direct input from the youngest among us.

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