How modernity’s futurism puts children in the front line

Jessop, Sharon

doi:10.1177/0907568218778753

Cited by 3 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Moral education need not assume the moral rectitude of the teacher. Nor does it need to look to children to save us from ourselves (Jessop, 2018) and an imagined future. Through ethical inquiry, praxis emerges that promotes a consideration of ideas and positions this consideration in such a way that it provokes action.…”

Section: The Teachermentioning

confidence: 99%

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Philosophy with Children as and for Moral Education

Cassidy

2021

Kindheit – Bildung – Erziehung. Philosophische Perspektiven

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With his leer of sympathy he [Mr. Forbes, the teacher] contemplated the small, smiling, incommunicable, deprived morsel of humanity beside him. Curdie's smile was notorious: other teachers called it sly and insolent; it was, they said, the smile of the certified delinquent, of misanthropy in bud, of future criminality, of inevitable degradation. Forbes refused to accept it as such; to him it indicated that this slum child, born so intelligent, was not only acknowledging the contempt and ridicule which his dress and his whole economic situation must incur, but was also making his own assessment of those who contemned and ridiculed. The result was not a vicious snarl, but this haunting and courageous smile. It was possible, it was likely, that the boy would ultimately become debased. Who would not, born and bred in Donaldson's Court, one of the worst slums in one of the worst slum districts in Europe? There rats drank at kitchen sinks, drunkards jabbed at each other's faces with broken bottles, prostitutes carried on their business on stairheads, and policemen dreaded to enter. Most children brought up there were either depraved or protected by impenetrable stupidity (Jenkins, 1989, p.2).Here, in the beginning of Robin Jenkins' book The Changeling, we see various versions of 'the child'.The child, latent with badness, ordained to be worthless. The child with intelligence, stymied by circumstance. The child, as observer, as cynic, looking at the world with wisdom beyond his years; the puer senex (Cunningham, 2006). The child both as victim and not. The child, with potential; potential to overcome the context in which he finds himself. And it is the adult, Mr. Forbes, the boy's teacher, who sees this potential, who sees an opportunity to rescue the boy Tom Curdie from his surroundings and to preserve a childhood innocence he thinks is there. Mr. Forbes, in the remainder of the book, sets out to do just that. He seeks to lift Curdie from the sanctuary of what he knows by taking him on holiday with his middle-class family to the countryside where innocence and childhood can blossom. As Forbes sadly discovers, any innocence that was once there cannot be recovered and is ultimately lost in the final and tragic scenes where Curdie, recognising his own lack of childhood innocence or that what awaits him in adulthood is far from desirable, takes extreme action to avoid fulfilling the potential Forbes may have recognised in and for him. This sense of the child as potential is one that pervades the academic literature in the field of childhood studies and philosophy of childhood (Jenks, 1996; Hallett & Prout, 2003;James & James, 2004;Cook, 2009;Alderson, 2013;Murris, 2013). Stables (2008) draws our attention to this sense of potential, or becoming, as one of the three ways in which we think about childhood. He suggests we define children biologically, or by their age, such as in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (United Nations, 1989), where one is considered a child if under the age of eighteen. The th...

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Section: The Teachermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They are, as Jessop (2018) argues, on the 'ideological front line. As signifiers of a specific version of the future, they become child-soldiers for that vision ' (p.453).…”

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confidence: 99%

Philosophy with Children as and for Moral Education

Cassidy

2021

Kindheit – Bildung – Erziehung. Philosophische Perspektiven

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“…This mischievous notion upturns the Aristotelian ontological priority of substance, the relata, over relation making, in this case, both children and adults conceptually subordinate to the relation between them. Neither humancentredness nor child-centredness is without significant dangers (Jessop, 2018), so this relational move opens up a space to consider alternative orientations in our thinking about ourselves and the world. It also reinstates matter (human and non-human bodies) as worthy of consideration for understanding agency.…”

Section: The Agentic Childmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…3. I explore Surrealist thought in relation to understandings of childhood elsewhere (Jessop, 2018). 4.…”

Section: Consequencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Agency and Sovereignty: Georges Bataille's Anti-Humanist Conception of Child

Hunter¹

2020

Journal of Philosophy of Education

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Georges Bataille (1887-1962) is one of the most significant thinkers of the 20th century, whose anti-humanist anthropology influenced subsequent existentialist and post-structuralist philosophy. His wide-ranging writings (across philosophy, archaeology, economics, sociology, poetry, erotica and history of art) frequently mention children, childhood and childishness, and yet there has hitherto been little to no attention paid to this aspect of his work. This article opens up a neglected theme in Bataille studies, and also explores the consequences of Bataille's presentation of the human condition for our understanding of the pedagogical relationship. Of particular interest is the idea of the agentic child, which occupies such an important place in childhood studies, educational theory and public policy. In the light of Bataille's anthropology, I shall explore the idea that the pursuit of children's agency is the victim of its vaunting ambition.

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“…Kennedy is correct to suggest that as adults we can only imagine a possible future, but that we perhaps have a responsibility to do so. Jessop (2018), though, cautions us against putting children on the "ideological front line. As signifiers of a specific version of the future, they become child-soldiers for that vision" (p.453).…”

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confidence: 99%

The present and future of doing Philosophy with Children: Practical philosophy and addressing children and young people’s status in a complex world.

Cassidy

2023

childphilo

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This article considers children’s status in society and how this may be elevated with a view to imagining a possible future. Children’s status is such that the structures and systems under which they live diminish their agency. In so doing, their opportunity to contribute to the shaping of what appears to be an uncertain future is limited. The article proposes that looking towards children as saviours of our tomorrows is misguided and that a healthier view is to recognise the networked nature of children, which recognises children’s humanity and sees them as connected to the world in which and of which they are a part. By accepting the networked nature of children, adults may come to think and behave differently towards children, beginning to see themselves and children as ‘one among many’. This perspective allows for compassion, a notion that supports our living together. This article proposes that Philosophy with Children may offer an approach to engaging in community and dialogue that allows us to think our way to a future that is epistemically inclusive. Ultimately, engaging with children as potential knowers demands that we are more overtly political in the ways in which we engage with Philosophy with Children.

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How modernity’s futurism puts children in the front line

Cited by 3 publications

References 29 publications

Philosophy with Children as and for Moral Education

Philosophy with Children as and for Moral Education

Agency and Sovereignty: Georges Bataille's Anti-Humanist Conception of Child

The present and future of doing Philosophy with Children: Practical philosophy and addressing children and young people’s status in a complex world.

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