1. CHILDREN’S VALUES AND THE
VALUE OF CHILDREN IN THE
SOCIAL INCLUSION POLICY
AGENDA
Yu Wei NEO
27 November 2012
3rd Annual Crawford PhD Conference
2. But they would always answer, “That’s a hat.” Then
I wouldn’t talk about boa constrictors or jungles or
stars. I would put myself on his level and talk about
bridge and golf and politics and neckties.
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince
7. Children’s Values:
Respect, Fairness, Equality and Trust
Steph: Some talk to you like you’re a baby in school.
Nee: They do!
Steph: The teacher that you trust and get along with treat you like an equal but
then other teachers don’t.
Nee: They’re like, they’re in-charge and you’re just there for the ride.
Dainess: Yeah, it depends. I pretty much think that people treat you the way you
want them to. Like, if you respect yourself, they will respect you.
Nee: That’s so untrue! Like you can be nice to a teacher but she’ll still be a
bitch to you. (Dainess laughs)
Jack: I think some adults exercise their power a bit too much (Nee and Dainess
laugh). They think, because they’re the adults, they can do whatever they
want and that makes them just as immature as the kids they’re
supervising.
8. Children as Social Negotiators
Airmax: The principal’s good if he asks you something,
you’ll try to agree to it. But you’ve got to meet him
halfway. I really like my teachers you know,
because you meet them halfway and they’ll agree
with you. Dumb thing is, you’ve got to meet them
halfway.
Troy: Because if we disagree on something, it’s not
yelling and screaming, it’s discussion. Basically,
like a mini debate. She tells me why she won’t let
me do this and I tell her why I want to do it.
9. The Value of Children
People always say to children, “what are you going to be when
you grow up?” I said, “their lives have no meaning until they’ve
grown up?!” And the value of children and the values they have
and the values they hold are to me, intrinsic to the work that we
do. Children always talk about “world peace” and “equality” but
they have all those values, they’re sort of there and yet we aspire
to them.
But somehow between childhood, adolescence and adulthood,
we don’t value that, we lose touch with that and I think it’s a thing
for children to be valued. It’s a whole shift in focus by society on
the value of those little souls. I think if we listen a little bit more
closely, we’ll probably learn a lot more about the rest of society.
-- (Centre Coordinator, SA)
10. All grown-ups were children first…but only
few remember it.
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince
