A Declaration of Youth Rights
Posted: Friday, December 16, 2011
by Michael Eza
Since The Constitution and The Bill of Rights do not define the rights of people younger than seventeen The Constitution should have an addendum or set of amendments that addresses the rights of those people younger than seventeen because these people currently do not have many options available to them when they are abused or taken advantage of. Citizenship in America begins at seventeen, the age at which voting is allowed, but unfortunately until then a person has no rights. They can be hit and it is called corporal punishment, they can be illiterate and the school systems will be blamed, and they can even suffer from medical ailments caused by their treatment at home and they may gain the option to leave. If an adult is hit the other person can be arrested and the victim has the opportunity to receive some of the aggressor’s monetary assets in civil court. If an adult is illiterate they are entitled to services to help them read and often times find a job. If an adult suffers from medical ailments caused by treatment to them they are entitled to medical care and possibly other monetary funds they would be likely to receive in court. In some cases children do have the right to sue their caretakers when they become adults, but while they are children the avenues available to them are limited, legally.
It is possible for a set of rights to be created with the best intentions, but instead of providing a benefit to society it ends up creating a detriment. This could easily happen with an attempted creation of a constitution for children. Children could take the rights given and use them to begin millions of pointless lawsuits. The rights created might not match the beliefs of the children they represent. The rights created might violate some parents’ beliefs regarding child rearing. Despite the many foreseeable problems this concept may have the fact that children have practically no defined rights at the moment has already caused problems. However, these foreseeable problems do have some implications. If the rights of children are defined they cannot allow children the freedom to abuse these rights, the must reflect the beliefs of the children and not just the perception of those creating the laws and they must incorporate the feelings of the parents of the children as well. Already this is a complicated task, but not an impossible one.
Before the document can be drafted, an outline of why it should be created, such as this, needs to be made by those who it represents and those who would write it into law. The reason for this would be to identify any immediate impasses or foreseeable problems. If there are obvious conflicting issues, party representatives from those representing the children and those representing the lawmakers should be chosen to come forward to meet in order to develop an overall agreement regarding the rights of children. Once an agreement as to why it should be created is formed both sides should form committees to investigate possible rights to be incorporated into the document. Each right should cite specific theory or evidence that shows why there is a need to have the right.
After these lists have been created they should be consolidated. The reason for requiring the lawmakers to also seek out and define the rights of children is to provide these younger more inexperienced people the benefit that comes with wisdom. Once a single list is created it should be published and a public comment period should be allowed for. This will give parents and anyone else the opportunity to voice their opinions on the impending law. Then the children should be required to vote on the action. These rights should be voted on and amended until a majority of children who vote for it agree with it. Once a declaration of rights has been agreed on the children should choose delegates from each state to represent the work in Washington where Congress will have the opportunity to make it into law. If Congress chooses to veto the first version of the declaration the delegates should be able to amend and then ratify the declaration if necessary. Once a final declaration is passed into law some provisions should be created to allow for the enforcement and enactment of this law. This law would affect more people than just children and parents. Nearly every person in America would be affected by a change of this magnitude and because of that some programs would need to be created to educate the public and provide children with resources to protect the rights they’ve been given.
This declaration would have a number of effects on society. But to attempt to imagine these effects it is necessary to have a sample declaration for which to work from. The following is a basic set of rights to be used for the purposes of defining what could happen if children were given specific rights. Those rights should include:
We the people under the age of seventeen of the United States of America find these rights to be self-evident. First, we are all, equal and have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness equally. [This right mirrors that of the beginning of the Bill of Rights because children should be considered equals when it comes to the respect of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Too often children are considered adequately taken care of if they attend school and are fed. These children need more than that and if it is denied to them they should have a means of attaining it such as through a court of law. This is not to say that a timeout would violate a pursuit of happiness, but if a child (without Internet access) was never brought to a library, museum or bookstore then there may be some issue regarding the pursuit of happiness at hand.]
Second we have a right to learn the predominant literacy of the geographic area we live in. [This needs to be a right of children so they are able to interact and engage with the world. While this right does not guarantee an education it does guarantee that the children of this country learn to read the language of where ever they are living. There are many teachers who restrict students from speaking Spanish in their classes, while Connecticut has seen a Supreme Court case over a student who graduated high school without the ability to read. There is no reason this shouldn’t be a right for adults as well.]
Third children have a right to be in a safe and calm environment. [The reason for this right is to protect children from being yelled at or humiliated on a continuous basis. Many parents and teachers often get away with yelling for long periods in order to get the people they are communicating with to listen. This often times causes so much emotional harm it can be considered abuse, but there is little in the way of reparations for actions like these as there has never been a defined principal against it.]
Considering just these three rights the world we live in would be turned around. If children were unequivocally declared equal despite income or achievement levels, there would be programs in place to see this sort equivocation occur. Beyond that the concept that people under seventeen deserve the capability to find happiness could cause schools, sports programs and other activities children often experience to have some sort of quality evaluation by the children. This has never been done and it is not in any state or federal standard, but simply put if a child can’t read is it because they are unable or unwilling? If it is because they are unwilling, which is most often the case, they won’t learn. You can’t sell what people won’t buy.
While the second right doesn’t guarantee an education it does guarantee that all those who are or are becoming citizens of America will be able to read. It is currently impossible to interact in America without the ability to read or write some language. There are few if any jobs for this sort of person and the logistic complications involved in achieving basic tasks are surmounting. All citizens of America deserve to read and this basic guarantee will cause the schools to be held accountable for their teaching efforts. While it is assumed people who graduate can read there is no national test for this.
The third right should be implicit, but since many children are brought, raised in or forced to go to unsafe locations and disruptive situations this right may be necessary. By having a right like this children would better understand and learn through socialization what a calm and safe environment is and they would question whether their house or school is this. If it ever becomes clear that they are not in a calm and safe environment they would have a clear reason to turn their problem into a legal trial.
Of course it would be difficult for children to be able to afford a case in a court of law, but most cases, just as for adults, should be able to be settled through mediation. This process can be tied into electing representatives of the declaration and voting on the overall rights. Most schools already have in place a system to elect a government body of student representatives. These representatives could take on the duty of becoming members of an electoral college and some of these members could be chosen to represent whole districts or states at state or federal hearings. Within the schools the students should also expand the uses of the student government to include mediation of children’s rights violations. The federal government should initially provide some funding to allow a case or two from each state to be presented to a federal court. If these cases win some of the judgment of damages should include additional funding to support this system. By doing this students would be able to learn more about a process that affects their everyday lives, the justice system, and they may be able to solve many problems currently occurring within their community. Furthermore, these problems would be solved with little or no additional funding since the systems to accomplish these tasks are mostly in place already, they are just not being used for these purposes. If funding did become an issue members of the children’s electoral college could receive a civics credit for each year of participation. Considering the additional civic responsibilities with these positions, the credit would not be given without merit and this would allow the students additional guidance and resources needed to properly engage in these governmental activities.
This proposal could increase the overall knowledge, wellbeing and motivation of children in regard to their studies, their civic and social obligations and their interactions in their homes. If these goals were met then school resources could go into helping students in other ways, rather than focusing on motivating students and especially teaching them how to read. If there were additional funds and resources available at the schools: class sizes could be reduced and the towns and states would ultimately have to spend less on funding these facilities. Beyond this many frivolous court cases, which often tie up an already crowded system could be avoided due to an additional mediation system. This could save the state and federal government an untold amount of additional resources. This program has the ability to fund itself; through the court cases children win or achieve settlement through mediation. Because of this although it is a non-profit system it is designed with the ability to grow and as it does additional jobs, mostly in the field of education would begin to be created.
Currently children have very few outlined rights and they have nothing, which they themselves have agreed to that outlines what they are or are not allowed to do. Because of this they also lack a voice in the American government system, yet they are forced to abide by this system. Many people have used this problem to treat children in inappropriate ways and many children have silenced their disapprovals because there is nowhere for them to go to use their opinions to affect significant and lasting changes. Children are sentient beings; they may be naïve, physically and mentally growing and reliant upon caregivers for survival, but they still deserve the same respect any other sentient being receives. There is nothing in the current set of American laws, which guarantees them that respect and this proposal is an example of how the lives of children and adults could be improved if the definition of what that respect should encompass was outlined. Children have rights and they have voices, but just as the Americans needed to declare this to England so to do the these children need to declare this to the citizens of America.
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