INTRODUCTION

In my world of teaching, I carry an invisible knapsack filled with the hopes, aspirations, and goals that I have for each of my pupils. As their classroom teacher, not only do I strive to impart knowledge onto them, I also continuously provide limitless guidance – both from the personal and academic worlds – for all of my pupils. I know that my philosophy will constantly change and evolve as I grow as a teacher and I want to remain receptive to suggestions and open for improvement.

In doing so, I set high expectations in my classroom while providing endless support, such as offering before and after school help to all children who are in need of it. Most importantly, I give my pupils the motivation and confidence that is needed for them to believe that they can succeed.

In view of this, I adapted different theories for me to be used in my teachings and one of the many theories I applied is the “right to an open future” originally coined by Joel Feinberg.

DISCUSSION

What is this “right to an open future”? Do children have rights? If so, do they have all the rights that adults have and do they have rights that adults do not have? If they do not have rights how do we ensure that they are treated in the morally right way?

Children are young human beings. Some children are very young human beings. As human beings children evidently have a certain moral status. There are things that should not be done to them for the simple reason that they are human. At the same time children are different from adult human beings and it seems reasonable to think that there are things children may not do that adults are permitted to do. In the majority of jurisdictions, for instance, children are not allowed to vote, to marry, to buy alcohol, to have sex, or to engage in paid employment. What makes children a special case for philosophical consideration is this combination of their humanity and their youth, or, more exactly, what is thought to be associated with their youth. (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rights-children/)

In ‘The Child’s Right to an Open Future’ Feinberg distinguishes between various types of moral right. Some rights (A-C-rights) are held by both adults and children, such as the right not to be physically assaulted. Other rights (A-rights) are held only by autonomous adults, such as the right to free exercise of one’s religion.

Finally, C-rights are held primarily by children. These include dependency-rights—rights to certain goods that are owed on the basis of the child’s dependence on adults for the necessities of life—and what Feinberg identifies as “rights-in-trust,” which look like adult autonomy rights… except that the child cannot very well exercise his free choice until later when he is more fully formed and capable … [they are therefore] rights that are to be saved for the child until he is an adult, but which can be violated “in advance,” so to speak, before the child is even in a position to exercise them… His right while he is still a child is to have these future options kept open until he is a fully formed self-determining adult capable of deciding among them.

Thus, Feinberg argues, for each autonomy right held by autonomous adults, there exists a corresponding right-in-trust held by children who are not yet autonomous, but are expected to become so. These autonomy rights are, by definition, rights whose exercise depends on the bearer having the capacity for autonomous action, and therefore cannot be exercised by a child.

However, they can be violated before the bearer acquires this capacity. In his discussion of the right-in-trust of freedom of religion Feinberg draws a helpful analogy. He writes: In that general category [of rights-in-trust] it sits side by side with the right to walk freely down the public sidewalk as held by an infant of two months, still incapable of self-locomotion. One would violate that right in trust now, before it can even be exercised, by cutting off the child’s legs. The set of a child’s autonomy rights-in-trust Feinberg labels “the child’s right to an open future.”(http://www.academia.edu/7731612/The_Foundation_of_the_Childs_Right_to_an_Open_Future)

Just like in the classroom, teachers should consider the rights and the corresponding responsibilities of the children. As teachers plan for the activities that help develop the capacity of the child, she weighs first if it suits if whether the child is capable of doing the activity or is her right not violated.
In Feinberg’s rights, A-rights or the Adult rights is being applied greatly in school. There are tasks/activities that children are not allowed to do that’s why schools have policies and rules for them to follow. Examples are: engaging in vices, such as smoking and drinking liquor is strictly prohibited inside the school campus, engaging in premarital sex, participating in rallies, those are some activities that children are not allowed but are being enjoyed by adults.

AC-rights or Adult and Child Rights is being seen largely in schools. This right is being enjoyed both by adults and children. In school, adults and children are free from physical aggression, that’s why public schools are promoting “Child Friendly School”. That’s why schools must be safe from harm for everybody’s sake.

C-rights or Child rights is highly considered in schools. The bright future of children is the ultimate goal why schools are being made. Children are the main characters in schools, as what Dr. Jose P. Rizal said, “The youth is the hope of the fatherland”. That’s why schools are there to help the child become an asset instead of liabilities of the nation and also to exercise there right, and that is the right to be educated.

In addition to C-rights, these are also their rights to be dependent to adults because they are not yet capable of living with their own. Like in schools, they depend on their teachers for their thirst in acquiring knowledge. That’s why we teachers must handle them carefully because they are very fragile, and that their views about surviving in the future depend on us.

CONCLUSION

Teaching young minds is a task that cannot be taken lightly. It is full of challenges, frustrations, and responsibilities. However, it is a task that is also full of excitement, wonder, and joy. I strongly believe that all children are capable of learning, if they have the proper motivation and direction from their teachers. As a teacher I need to be aware of learning, motivation, behavior, and development theories in order to relate to my pupils and push them to reach their full potential. It is my duty to see that all my pupils are being motivated; this is only fair to the pupils. They deserve my time and full attention with regards to their education.

We should let the children enjoy their rights and we must not decide something such as in choosing religion that may affect them for a lifetime. We should only guide them on the things, plans, goals they wanted to pursue/achieve. We must support them all throughout until such time that they can decide on their own.

REFERENCES

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rights-children/

http://www.academia.edu/7731612/The_Foundation_of_the_Childs_Right_to_an_Open_Future http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9833.2006.00356.x/abstract