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Why Can't Students Say No?

6 Weeks AgoUnderstanding and respecting consent is one of the fundamental necessities for human interaction. And yet, we have a societal tendency to undermine or ignore children's boundaries both inside and outside the classroom. Sometimes, when the child's safety is a concern, an adult must intervene. But how much do we ignore student consent in order to accomplish our goals? My interest in this area is finding out how these actions impact students' ability to learn. Moreover, how to we healthily and helpfully incorporate non-coercive practice into the classroom? How do we balance student comfort and the learning goals?
Of the three topics I've been considering, the role of consent in our lives is something I return to again and again. It seems bizarre to me that something so fundamentally expected in adulthood is so frequently ignored in our interactions with children. My mind buzzes with questions and contradictions. How do we teach our students about consent in a system that doesn't ask them for theirs? Can we give opportunities for choice to students unprepared to make informed decisions? What can we expect of our students if they haven't been given chances to learn about consent before? And honestly, how can we believe that children will understand consent when we constantly undermine it?

 Over the next weeks, I hope to have more opportunities to learn from others. I plan to speak to teachers and parents in different school models, including Windsor House and City School. My goal is to distill this behemoth topic down into something meaningful I can learn about this year.

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