Popular since the beginning of time, this adage was the staple for how children were expected to behave. They weren’t expected to express their beliefs, values, and opinions. They were trapped, metaphorically speaking.
Fast forward to today. It’s 2016, and now children are encouraged to speak their minds as they learn about what’s going on in the world. High school, in my opinion, is the most influential time of someone’s life as they are getting a better—and hopefully deeper—understanding of the events going on today. We learn about past historical events and are challenged to connect it with what’s going on in modern times. Or we talk about today’s happenings and our opinions on them and then are educated on why things are the way they are. We do know what’s going on.
So, why are adults—from teachers, neighbors, family friends, maybe even members of your own family—still giving us, the young adults of the 21st century, the condescending look and then tell us “you don’t know what you’re talking about”?
This is a conflict that we face lately. We are at the point in our lives where we know what’s going on out there in the world although we still are a bit young. The beliefs, morals, and values that we were raised with are being challenged as we begin to think for ourselves and discover “what do I believe?” Yet again, the adults that we have been brought up around are so used to doing much of the talking that they aren’t used to the younger ones having something to say about real world happenings. They also may not understand the breadth and the depth of what we learn in the classroom simply because they aren't there five days out of the week. Some of the lessons we learn are not found in books; they are found far beyond that. This is where the popular adage becomes a problem. Are children still “supposed” to be seen and not heard in the 21st century?
We are the next generation of leaders. We are the next generation of inventors. We are the next generation of people that are going to change the world. How are we supposed to express our ideas and opinions if we aren't being encouraged but rather oppressed by the current people who are in charge?
Out of curiosity, I asked a few of my friends (college students, mind you) if any of their friends or they themselves have encountered the adult that wags their finger at them and says "you don't know what you're talking about". I also asked them the question "do you think young adults in the 21st century are still seen and not heard?" Here's what they had to say:
"I think it's really immature of adults to not listen to people our age. They're very quick to deny that we could possibly have had any worldly experiences, and they maintain the idea that age directly equates to experience. That's a comparison no one can fairly make. If you're 90 years old but have never worked retail, you're absurd if you think you know more than a 25 year old general manager. It's an immature and ignorant attitude to not listen to someone just because of their age, quite frankly, it's a form of discrimination." -PG
"I believe it's easy to be seen or heard but hard to be taken seriously when your opinions go against what the majority of the population believes in or has become used to." -ME
"It is common that there is a newer way of thinking, or doing stuff that isn't accepted by those a bit older." -ND
"Times and eras change. If we still stuck to old ways, without adapting, then we wouldn't live over 30, women would die during birth and we would still believes aids comes from gay people. The older you are doesn't give you knowledge, experience does. I think older people confuse the two a lot. Now, people see or are starting to realize that we can make a movement happen, that young people do have a voice." -MG
To the adults who aren’t used to hearing your young adult son, daughter, niece, nephew, cousin, neighbor(s), or even students have opinions: please, just hear us out. That’s all we really want. We are aware of the world out there, even if you think that we don’t have enough experience to really know that yet. More importantly, we want to help make a difference in the world while we can because that job will be left up to us one day. You don’t have to agree with us, or argue with us about what we have to say. We just want you to listen.
Give us a chance to be heard and not just seen.
