Socio-educational problems of today’s children and teenagers

Abstract

The article explores different elements that have made possible, in today’s society, that children and teenagers appear in the stages of public life as social actors who demand to be considered in education and culture. Among those elements are the decrease in the amount of children per family, who are much more valued than before; the smaller number of children in a household, and the value they represent for their parents. Children are now “the kings and queens of the house”, dethroning the adults from the central place of authority within the family and even in schools. The massive entrance of women into modern culture and economy has created a new field of action for education, which is now directed to this new segment of the population, that has achieved higher degrees of cultural autonomy, compared to adults, in order to define their ways of learning and socializing. The universalization of Human Rights has also contributed, among other issues, for children and teenagers to be recognized as entitled to rights. The topic is approached in a broad way for the current society, specifically in regard to the situation in Colombia.