{"id":78852,"date":"2021-09-07T11:48:25","date_gmt":"2021-09-07T15:48:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=78852"},"modified":"2025-08-19T09:37:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T13:37:12","slug":"childrens-concerns-school-planning","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/childrens-concerns-school-planning\/","title":{"rendered":"Children’s concerns and feelings are ignored in back-to-school planning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Children's concerns and feelings are ignored in back-to-school planning\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

This article is republished<\/a> from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. All photos provided by The Conversation<\/a> from various sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Is the pandemic affecting children? We can only speculate because we are not asking them how the pandemic is affecting them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are choosing to view the pandemic-derived challenges surrounding childhood through an adult lens. In other words, we are re-inscribing western colonialist ideology on children<\/a>, in the way we choose to understand their struggles and their need for education and socialization. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How we make decisions affecting children\u2019s lives today is shaped by our social legacies. Can we change this narrative to consider the agency of children during the pandemic?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the huge shuffle of lock downs, stay-at-home orders and travel bans, one constant issue has been the reopening of schools. Perhaps this could be considered a diligent consideration of children\u2019s mental and physical well-being<\/a> due to the lack of socialization and the relentless number of hours spent behind a screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have been observing and writing about the social construction of childhood through my fieldwork with children, where I study their motivation to learn languages other than English<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prioritizing education<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Since when has the education and socialization of a child been given so much emphasis that it has been placed above the mental health of that very child<\/a>? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a moment let us take the child back to their safe space, their homes, and assess how we have shifted their meaning of safety and comfort to virtual interaction and forced listening. Take a look at young children \u2014 and not their parents<\/a> \u2014 required to attend six hours of schooling through a screen. We hear from parents about how hard it is for their families<\/a> to balance school and working from home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But have we thought about the child \u2014 their agency and choice when it comes to learning? As adults, we understand six hours of online school learning is way more challenging than in school learning, yet we have enforced this transition on children without hearing from them. Despite knowing the challenges<\/a> and despite the resistance from children, we have revisited \u2014 or rather, reinforced \u2014 the historical construction of children and their actual needs<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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