Abstract
In this article, the author begins by grasping the present crisis through the social anthropological description ofoverheating. She then locates “Generation Z (Gen Z)” as a generation born into an overheated era and distinguishes their socio-political struggle for intergenerational climate justice from preceding generations. Following that, the author presents an analysis of the oppressive adultist dimensions of the challenges confronted by Gen Z activists like Greta Thunberg. She does so by engaging with examples from the German context. The objective of the discussion on adultism faced by Gen Z activists consequently establishes that young activists demonstrate relentless courage and hence their contribution deserves a legitimate place in rethinking socio-political “education.” Her reading reveals that young activists are simultaneously resisting adult opposition and contributing to educating older generations about the intergenerational dimensions of the climate crisis. Therefrom, the author proposes that one may re-think the matter at hand from a childist standpoint which implies a re-cognition of pupils' agency within education i.e., intergenerational relating, as something that adults can also learn from. She suggests that an integral dimension of reflexivity in further developing childist educational theory and praxis, entails a conscious commitment tolettingchildren and youth teach adult educators too.
Highlights
There seems to be a mainstream tendency in educational theory and praxis to take for granted that “education for change” or “changing education” implies adults educating children and youth differently
Educational scholars and practitioners tend to assume that children are default addressees of pedagogy and must invariably be taught by adults, but such an assumption misses out on the contributions that children and youth can and do make to the development of adult lifespans and adult-led communities
I locate Generation Z (Gen Z) as a generation born into an overheated era and distinguish their socio-political struggle for intergenerational climate justice from preceding generations
Summary
There seems to be a mainstream tendency in educational theory and praxis to take for granted that “education for change” or “changing education” implies adults educating children and youth differently. Learning from how Gen Z protesters turn adultist discourses around by refusing to be addressed in a subordinate position, I appraise school strikes for climate as a call for childist thinking in how adult educators may comprehend the scope of socio-political education. Especially given the overheated cusp of socio-political and environmental change that we as a global community are standing at, we seem to rely on the adult epistemological authority where it can no longer stand because most adults (at least privileged/middle/upper class urban dwellers) do not know how to live, invest and govern in ways that enable future life on the planet itself How shall they be expected to “teach” for a “future?” I write this because one of the central questions asked by the most privileged young protestors on the planet is “Why study for a Future if there is no Future?” At the same time, as I have presented, the young protestors are playing a significant role in educating older generations about the crisis as well as changing lifestyle and socio-political sens-ability so that future generations can enjoy the “right to life” itself. Childism necessarily implies a pluralistic stance in the overlapping realms of education and democratic participation that is sensitively sensible
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