Teacher here. I would say that the idea of innocence comes from kids being a blank slate. Kids aren’t typically inherently mean but are heavily affected by their surroundings and who they learn from. It’s not always the same for every kid but bad environment is going to produce a kid that is angry and mean that will lash out at others.
I wouldn’t agree with the idea that schools are cesspools and every kid is awful to each other. Every school is so different and I would say that at my school only 5% of kids are actually mean with malicious intent. Some don’t know better and will learn as they grow and most are genuinely good little people.
Because “innocent” and “good” are not synonyms.
I’ve read a really interesting treaty of anthropology on kid a while back. It was written like a « how to parent book ». TL;DR there’s two opposing-ish view to parenting kid 1- kids are inerrantly good, because they come from god and blah blah blah (most westerners countries) 2- kids are inerrantly evil (devil pawn) and parent have to make them learn restraint (IIRC middle eastern countries)
On a purely pedagogic note a Canadian specialist have said : L’enfant n’est pas là pour faire notre affaire, il est là pour solliciter notre intervention en vue de l’aider à être et à devenir ce qu’il veut être. [Kids are not there to do our biding, they’re here to solicit our intervention to help them become what they want to be]
After five kids, I’m convinced it’s the second one. They sure are sweet, but they will lie and cheat to get whatever they want before they can speak the truth.
But I suppose the innocence of youth is not the same as the legal definition of innocence. Its not so much what they do but more that they don’t know any better yet.
Personally I’m more on the [Charles E. Caouette ]specialist side. Kids are not good or bad, they’re asshole because they don’t know better.
Kids are not good or bad, they’re asshole because they don’t know better.
Kinda. They want to do what they want, and need to know where the boundaries are. so they push on the edges of the boundaries.
It’s quite tiring.
They start life as a completely blank state, everything is a learned behavior.
So yes, infants are innocent. As soon as there is learned behavior, that goes out the window.
There are some ingrained behaviors, instincts, emotional reactions, etc. While we’re not fully blank slates, there is definitely a lot of room for influence to shape children into different sorts of adults.
Sure, crying when hungry, talking, trying to crawl and walk… stuff like that.
Beating the shit out of people for fun is most definitely a learned behavior.
Lashing out with violence is definitely ingrained in most people as part of the fight/flight/freeze response, which then gets shaped by experience, etc.
“Beating the shit out of people for fun” is waaaaay further down the line in terms of behavioral development, personal experience, and cultural influence, for sure.
Fight is almost always the last resort as it’s the most energy expensive option.
One has to be taught to prioritize fight over the others: hence soldiers needing training.
Then again, I’m reasonably sure there’s some kind of G21N gene present in at least one country’s population that buggers that up.
There’s being neurodivergent too. My mom said I was a hothead when I was a young kid. I have ADHD btw.
Good point. I thought I was missing something obvious but couldn’t figure out what it was
Children are the epitome of innocence in the meaning of the word for: moral discernment between good and bad. In moral philosophy the reason why someone is culpable is because they understood the negative consequences of their actions but decided to do it nevertheless. This is why, for example, in the law, there is a difference between murder and manslaughter. Children must be taught morals. Another example is in Christian morality. The original sin is the ability to discern between good and evil. Thus the loss of innocence of humankind.
Innocence is thinking your favorite bread will always be stocked in the grocery store.
Are you an alien sent here to study humans?
Yes I am an alien. Its why I have an alien registration number. (sorry dumb joke lol)
But anyways, my childhood experience has been very alienating, always getting bullied.
