Dignity

We believe that all people deserve to be valued and respected. No matter who they are or what they do. This includes people below a certain age. Unfortunately not everyone agrees with us...

We believe young people should not be:

• degraded,
• dehumanized,
• instrumentalized or objectified,
• humiliated.

Why do we, as a society, find it okey 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?

Violation

Generally

• Claims made by young people are believed less than these made my adults because young people are "manipulative" (even though adults are 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 claim, such attempt isn't made. Why is that?
• We photograph kids without them knowing or consenting (I'm talking about kids old enough to understand that). Why is that acceptable?
• We use cruel and unusual punishment against the children. Or when punishing them we don't make sure they know what they are punished for and make the punishment fair. We don't allow any form of appeal either. Why is that normalized?

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?