"Kids lives" don't matter in an ageist society

“Kids Lives Matter.”

Says the owner of the Newtown Athletic Club, who has recently started a volunteer group with that name.

Obviously the phrase is a spin-off of Black Lives Matter (#BLM), the motto of a movement that has in the past couple of months seen a new uprising for change.

We all know that Black lives matter. Even if you chant, “all lives matter” or even “blue lives matter,” you know at heart that Black lives matter. You just might not be acting so – you might not know, or are just pretending to not know, what it means to show that Black lives matter.

So what does it mean that “kids lives matter”?

According to the Kids Lives Matter Facebook page, “Kid’s Lives Matter is a group dedicated to the safety and health of kids of all ages and backgrounds. We cannot allow children to be marginalized during this time. We advocate for their well being at every level of community, society, & government.”

Sounds pretty good – on the surface. Do “kids lives” actually matter though?

If “kids lives matter,” then why do you turn the other way when youth are targeted with racism, homophobia, xenophobia, transphobia, etc. by classmates or even teachers at school, to the extent that they fear for their safety?

If “kids lives matter,” then why do you ignore the root cause of the depression, anxiety, even suicidality and other mental health problems that plague so many students at traditional public schools and instead plead with chronically stressed young people to just “hang in there” in a system that kills if not their lives then their spirit?

If “kids lives matter,” then why do you enforce school curricula that make classes on life skills like cooking and caring for yourself and family middle school “specials” and high school “electives” and instead spend the bulk of the school day on material that however tangentially “useful” (and however fascinating to those who are inclined) don’t actually teach young people how to live healthy lives in community?

If “kids lives matter,” then why have you made such elaborate plans for attempting to adapt a fundamentally maladaptive school system to the constraints of the pandemic without involving students as a whole in the planning process?

If “kids lives matter,” then why don’t you create actual seats on the School Board for students, instead of just waiting for an enthusiastic few to show up occasionally at meetings so to be generously applauded by you but rarely listened to and engaged with as true partners in change?

If “kids lives matter,” then why do you even send young people to brick-and-mortar schools (or their virtual surrogates) that either squash their natural curiosity and creativity or limit its expression to cute little classroom exercises isolated from the rest of the world?

If “kids lives matter,” then why don’t you allow youth to take their education in their own hands, whether within the public school system or separate from it, and be driven to learning by their own aspiration to be the person they want to be and contribute in their special way to society?

If “kids lives matter,” then why don’t you empower young people to take on new freedoms and responsibilities as they are ready rather than only when they have reached a certain age?

If “kids lives matter,” then why don’t you give youth the right to vote and take a stand on what matters to them?

If “kids lives matter,” then why don’t you (the voting adults – this includes me - and the elected officials) take decisive action against the climate crisis, which endangers the physical and mental health and even the lives of today’s young people (especially those with other marginalized identities) as well as of future generations?

If “kids lives matter,” then listen to the kids. They know their lives best.

Margin Zheng is a 2019 graduate of Council Rock North and a rising sophomore at Haverford College. They are the president of National Youth Rights Association, an organization advocating for agency and liberation for all young people in the United States (youthrights.org).