Works in Theory

Elysha, Nate and Tom discuss:

The Origin and Ideals of the Modern School: Chapter IX (Francisco Ferrer, 1913)

Francisco Ferrer and the Modern School (Emma Goldman, 1917)

Experience & Education (John Dewey, 1938)

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We're trying something new this month! Today's episode is about youth liberation, and Elysha, Nate, and Tom discuss Emma Goldman's The Child and Its Enemies.

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Come by and say hello!

Twitter: @workstheorypod

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Produced & edited by Allyson https://www.forestfreeter.com

Theme song by http://woulg.com/

Transcript:

Works in Theory - Theory Bites - The Child And Its Enemies

[00:00:00] ELYSHA: Hello, and welcome back to Works In Theory Podcast, we've got a new section that we're trying out on the show this week. We're calling Theory Bites because it bites, but they're also small. We're going to be doing shorter essays and articles rather than entire books to try and give you a little bit more variety and us a little bit more variety in the show that we're putting on.

So, we're hoping that these theory bites can be enjoyed on their own or as part of a well-rounded meal with some of the longer Works In Theory episodes. As usual, I'm Elysha and I'm here with Nate and with Tom.

TOM: Hello!

ELYSHA: And today our first Theory Bite is on an essay by Emma Goldman called The Child And Its Enemies.

TOM: Yeah, this is written in 1906. And I thought it was really good. It had a lot of really just well-written like the language that Goldman uses. You can tell that Goldman writes, [00:01:00] right? It's not It's not a strictly, in service of getting a point across, but it's done really well.

NATE: Yeah, definitely. I don't know if it's just people wrote better back in like the 19th century or something, or if she's in particular a good writer, but yeah, it was really a joy to read. It makes me look forward to reading more Emma Goldman stuff.

ELYSHA: I think there are plenty of writers who wouldn't be looked at with such praise by at least me from the early 1900s. So I think Emma Goldman is a great writer.

NATE: So the piece again is called The Child And Its Enemies. This is going to be the first of a couple of pieces we're going to read on the general topic of youth liberation and very early on, she's got a quote that sort of like sums up her thesis in this she says:

"Is the child to be considered as an individuality or as an object to be molded, according to the whims and fancies of those around This seems to me to be the most important question to be answered by parents and educators."

And so that's sort of, where she's going to be going with [00:02:00] this. The idea is she's obviously going to come down on the side that like children are human beings. They have, you know, their own intrinsic drives. They have their own personhood and autonomy and a lot of the institutions of our society, especially the school try to. Turn the child into an object don't they don't treat the child as a person, but as a commodity or again, an object.

ELYSHA: And not just any object, but one who needs to fit within the restraints and respectability of that social era and society.

NATE: That's right. She says,

"Every institution of our day, the family, the state, or moral codes sees in every strong, beautiful, uncompromising personality, a deadly enemy."

ELYSHA: Yeah, that's a powerful line for sure. Bringing back the idea that education isn't benign. It's not just about teaching basic skills like reading or math or whatever else you [00:03:00] learn in school. It's a very critical piece of our like formation as young people and our experiences in school. The way that these skills are presented, the way that like our aptitudes or whatever are measured or like the way that we're treated in school makes a big difference. Probably in how the rest of our life goes.

TOM: Yeah, there's a lot of you know, talk from people about children and their future. And like, this is when people are molded and when they're most like when people get their most I guess are instilled with ideas. Right? But we don't really talk about that we structure things in a way that really puts people in a certain directio...

Ep 9 - Theory Bites 2: Youth Liberation & The First Prison

We’ve got another short Theory Bites! First we discuss Youth Liberation - (I)An-ok Ta Chai, 2004, and then First Prison - William Gillis, 2018

Case Closed / Detective Conan (video)

Flanders’ Parents (video)

Dead Poets Society Dad (video - was that last episode?)

Rutger Bregman Real Life Lord of the Flies (article)

Angelica’s Last Stand (paywalled video)

When schools become The Lord of the Rings (tweet)

https://www.worksintheorypodcast.com

Twitter: @workstheorypod

Instagram: works.in.theory

Produced, edited, and transcribed by Allyson https://www.forestfreeter.com

Theme song by http://woulg.com/

Transcript:

Works in Theory

Theory Bites: Youth Liberation and The First Prison

Elysha: [00:00:00] Hello, and welcome to another Works In Theory - Theory Bites. I am Elysha here from Works In Theory Podcast, and I am here with Tom-

Tom: Tom!

Elysha: And Nate.

Nate: I'm Nate.

Elysha: Yes. I don't know why we wanted folks to say their own names, but I did. And they did it. And I love that. So thank you.

Nate: Yeah.

Elysha: We're going to try and smush two articles together today for this one bite. So this is big bite or two small bites. Both of these articles came from the anarchist library dot org. Which is sort of a loosely moderated library, archive of different anarchist texts. And I wanted to mention that because they're a great resource. If you're interested in browsing around for yourself,

Tom: But you shouldn't have to, our podcast is all you need. So don't worry too much [00:01:00] about that.

Elysha: Yeah, but just, just so that, you know, the tool is out there, you don't need it. You don't need you. Didn't, it's fine. But like it's, anarchist library dot org, and I just really wanted to mention it for these two texts because, the authors of these, you may not have heard of in the same way that you've heard of Emma Goldman.

So we've got two pieces here. I'm really not sure what order we're going to do them in, but we've got one by William Gillis, which is called The First Prison and one by (I)An-ok Ta Chai, which is called Youth Liberation.

Nate: So I say, let's start with the youth liberation piece. Both because it's written earlier it's from 2004 versus the other one is from 2018. And because it's a little shorter.

Tom: Yeah. So the the premise of this one, the kind of question that I think I took out of it was we treat adults as infallible and self-sufficient children are incapable. But like, is that true? And are we just conditioning children for subservience to the state capitalism, other forms of control? Or [00:02:00] should we treat them with mutual respect and treat it like any other issue, any other anarchist position?

And it's similar to the Goldman piece, but I think it's it's got some distinctions. For one thing, I think it's a little more extreme.

Nate: Yeah, for sure. Yeah. In fact, you keep saying children, but the author actually would prefer that we say kids.

Tom: Oh, you're right!

Nate: Yeah, they bring up the fact that children ...

Elysha, Nate and Tom discuss Mutual Aid Amongst Ourselves, chapters 7 & 8 of Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution by Peter Kropotkin

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Elysha, Nate and Tom discuss chapters 3 & 4 of Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution by Peter Kropotkin.

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