Anniversary

Launching a new Rotary club…is like…launching a great ship….The sea is said to be a teacher of truth and in sailing we find the salt of reality. Rotarians and likeminded men of goodwill can come to recognize that we are one people around the earth, and that we can do much to bring harmony and understanding between brothers who may dwell across expansive oceans…or perhaps next door.

Wiser, Younger

Should young people be subject to restrictions imposed for their safety by adults, or should they be free to make their own choices, and - inevitably perhaps - suffer as a result?

There are vast differences in the ability of children after puberty to guide their new, more powerful selves through the next few turbulent years. For this reason, the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child requires that young people be entitled to additional, protective rights until the age of 18. The idea of remaining officially a child for almost two decades is a catch-all solution, designed to reduce risks for the most vulnerable. Yet it hardly describes the experiences of many young people.

Indeed, we might choose to see contribution and independence as key indicators of de facto adulthood: the degree to which these describe a child's life indicate the extent to which he or she has assumed an adult role, even if it is not always recognised as such. This leads to a number of conundrums. In the West, the principles of rationality and individualism dictate that offspring are brought up to be independent in thought and deed. Yet, largely thanks to lengthy education, Western children are kept utterly dependent upon their parents long after many of their counterparts in the South. There, the situation can be reversed: older family members may well be dependent upon the child for income or labour; yet children often grow up in patriarchal societies, which attach little importance to their views. In parts of Africa, meanwhile, a grown man may not be acknowledged as fully adult if he cannot provide for others. One might be a 'child' at the age of 40!

Given this huge variety of abilities and experiences, it is almost impossible to reconcile young people's autonomy and protection without reference to the individual concerned. And, notwithstanding the UN's definition of childhood, there are many under-18s whose ability to contribute and take responsibility we should, perhaps, be celebrating.

I suggest that such young people demonstrate that autonomy and protection can actually go hand in hand: Part of protecting children is empowering them. Allowing them to take responsibility for themselves and giving them the confidence to learn what are acceptable risks and to learn to protect themselves. Silencing children is not a way of protecting them.