Children, I would argue, have a right to know about the world in which they live. They have a right to be taught about the structures of reality at both cosmic and atomic scales; they have a right to be taught about living creatures on this planet and how they interact with one another; they have a right to be taught about the passing of the seasons, the rise and fall of tides, and the water cycle. They have a right to be taught about humans in the past, what those humans did, and how we today live with the consequences of what happened before we were alive. They have a right to be taught about the kinds of stories humans tell one another, and how humans live in communities that are divided in different ways by wealth, class, gender and race. The world we live in is a complex place but, as a species and as a society, we have come up with powerful tools for making sense of this complexity, and they are the academic disciplines. We most certainly can debate which are the more important academic subjects and we can debate what ought to be taught within each … Continue reading Truth about and knowledge of the world: a fundamental right for children