The Future of Children

April 4th, Children's Day, seems like a joyous and hopeful holiday, but the reality is quite the opposite. The problem lies not with children, but with the adult world. Perhaps the greatest crisis and tragedy for children is that while their future is full of possibilities, their present is determined entirely by adults. Thus, we see parents who have lost the will to live taking their own children with them in suicide, euphemistically claiming they do not wish to leave the children behind to suffer alone, but in reality denying them even the right to choose survival. Such tragedies, stemming from viewing children as "property" and believing that a parent's list of rights includes disposing of life and death, happen far beyond Children's Day.

Shifting the scene to education, a commercial enterprise grandly exhibited protected animals, including Formosan black bears, using the signboard of "educating children" to attract customers. In the images, women in swimwear hold little black bears while others bottle-feed them. Everyone appears merry and harmonious, completely forgetting that doing so forces these protected animals down a path of no return and accelerates their alienation from nature. Thus, educating children becomes ironic; the true intent is obviously to collect admission fees and make money, yet innocent children are thus turned into the most effective cash cows. Parents in such a rush to find "edutainment" for their children casually use the most negative teaching materials for education.

These examples merely illustrate that the difficulties and crises faced by children actually originate from adult society. Their survival is decided by adults; their education is decided by adults. To put it bluntly, the so-called hopeful future of children is likewise within the sovereign domain of adults. Facing these unformed young creatures, adults use every ounce of energy to shape and fabricate them, expecting to mold them into whatever form the adult mind has decided upon. The only thing forgotten is: What do the children themselves think? In an adult world that fundamentally doubts children's capacity for thought and decision-making, this question is never acknowledged—right up until the emergence of the Huan-Pen Education Foundation, which reminded us of the simple fact that "children are also human beings." All adults can only "help" them grow, but cannot "replace" them in growing. And how should we help? By asking what they think!

It is not yet too late for us to realize this, because we still have many children on the road to growing up. Facing us, who have already grown up willy-nilly, they give us a chance to start over. Only this time, we must be much more cautious and stop acting as self-righteously as adults of the past. Remember that this time, it is they who need to grow. We should be able to do better; after all, we were all once children...

※ Published in: Taiwan Daily