In case it is not obvious, whilst many of these quotations are consistent with Taking Children Seriously, many of them are not. Sometimes it is just interesting that that person said it, or it is interesting for some other reason.
“[L]et him attend to his work, be glad in it, love his wife, be glad in her, bring up his children with joyfulness, love his fellow men, rejoice in life.”
– Søren Kierkegaard, 1850, Training in Christianity
“How do we punish children? Let us count the ways. We incarcerate them: children are sent to their rooms, teenagers are ‘grounded’ and forbidden to leave the house, students are sentenced to ‘detention,’ and all may be forcibly isolated through ‘time-out’ procedures. We use physical violence on them: corporal punishment in public schools is still permitted in most states (though long since abandoned by most of the world’s developed nations) and spanking is still approved (and used) by the overwhelming majority of American parents. We humiliate children by yelling at or criticizing them in public. We withdraw or withhold privileges, deny them food or companionship, deliberately ignore them, prevent them from doing things they enjoy. At school, we subject them to F’s and zeroes, additional assignments, playground citations, trips to the principal’s office, and suspensions—all of which may be threatened in advance or explicitly described on a hierarchical list of ‘consequences,’ the approved euphemism for punishment.”
– Alfie Kohn, 1993, Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A’s, Praise, and Other Bribes, Chapter 9: Bribes for Behaving: Why Behaviorism Doesn’t Help Children Become Good People, p. 165
“The way a child learns how to make decisions is by making decisions, not by following directions.”
– Alfie Kohn, 1993, Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A’s, Praise, and Other Bribes, The Chance To Choose, p. 249
“The basic idea that the child is not now but will become later, does not know anything but will do so, is not capable of doing anything but will learn, makes us live in a perpetual state of expectation.
For the sake of tomorrow we fail to respect what amuses, saddens, amazes, angers, and interests him today. For the sake of tomorrow, we steal many years of his life.”
– Janusz Korczak, 1999, A Voice for the Child: The Inspirational Words of Janusz Korczak
“Children are not the people of tomorrow, but are people of today. They have a right to be taken seriously, and to be treated with tenderness and respect.”
– Janusz Korczak, 2016, Loving Every Child: wisdom for parents
Return to alphabetical index of Quotations pages
Taking Children Seriously, ‘Quotations K’, https://takingchildrenseriously.com/quotations/