Dignity

We believe that all people have an inherit worth and deserve to be valued and respected. No matter who they are or what they do. This includes people below a certain age. We believe young people should not be degraded, dehumanized, instrumentalized, objectified, or humiliated. Unfortunately not everyone agrees with us...

Why do we, as a society, find it okay to treat young people as less-than-humans or yet-to-be-humans? Why do we treat them in a way no adult deserves to be treated?

Why is it acceptable to humiliate a child over "bad" behavior? Or be indifferent to their mental health struggles "because" of their academic achievements? Or deny them services (I'm not even talking about "dangerous" ones)? Or treat them like they are "the cause of all crime"? Or treat them as cohorts and not individuals?

Violations

General

• Claims made by young people are believed less than these made my adults because young people are "manipulative" (even though adults are likely to be more manipulative^{[citation needed]}). When an adult makes a claim, a good-faith attempt at verifying it is often made. When a minor makes such a claim, such attempt isn't made. Why is that?
• We photograph kids without them knowing and/or consenting (kids who are old enough to understand the situation). Why is that acceptable?
• We use cruel and unusual punishment against children. Or when punishing them we don't follow basic due process. Why is that normalized?
• Mental health issues of young people are not taken seriously. When an adult feels overwhelmed, they often can at least take a Friday off in a few weeks. And regardless, they are not expected to regularly work on the weekends at all (and if they work at weekends they get other days off) and they can reasonably expect to know their work schedule for a few following weeks. They can also try to pick up less tasks. When a student feels overwhelmed, however they cannot easily reduce their task load or

At home

• We expect children to act with unnecessary urgency for no apparent reason. Why is that acceptable?

At school

• We tie students' respect to grades and behavior (including behavior that doesn't directly disturb others). Why do we find this acceptable?
• We publicly humiliate students for small mistakes. Why is that justifiable?

By businesses

• Businesses often deny non-dangerous services to young people, because to them it appears they will disturb the business or others, sometimes even on false assumptions (in situations where presence of youths could benefit the business).