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Lily Ongkiko
Mr. Newman
English 101: Rhetoric
1 December 2014
Green Eggs and Politics
We were all kids once. This specific expression is used timelessly every day in casual
conversation. However, what people fail to realize is the fact that we will all too, be adults
someday. This may seem like a simple, if not caveman-like realization, but it is pushed to the
back of adults minds when parenting and educating young children. Children are treated as such
and adults are treated as such. Should this concept be reconstructed? What is the problem with a
nine-year-old child knowing the difference between a republican and a democrat? Is there an
issue with a third-grader actually being aware of controversial topics and an array of multiple
perspectives? Most might argue that children do not need to be thrust into the cruel world of
politics and controversy; however, this is not what Im arguing. Some might even say the
innocence of child must be preserved for as long as possible; nonetheless, preschoolers should
not be taught the complexity of politics and foreign affairs, but merely the basics of these politics
and other controversial issues. Picture books are the perfect medium for such lessons. Todays
children should be aware of what is happening in the world they live in; children need to know
what is happening as of now to be able to mature into successful citizens who can intelligently
contribute to our future society.
The world is expanding culturally and socially. The world is becoming a more liberal
place and our society is gradually following in this metamorphosis from a cruel, judgmental, and

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ridged civilization to an accepting and open-minded society. In a place where women were once
confined to the four walls of a house and black men were tormented for their skin pigmentation,
women now vote and hold strong political positions of power and a black man is the President of
the United States. Two hundred years ago, nobody, absolutely nobody would have been able to
predict the changes that have transformed American society, and with that said, who can predict
the changes that will become us in the next two hundred or even fifty years? The children of
today live in a world that is gradually opening its mind, and with the world the children will one
day have to follow. Why not make this day sooner rather than later?
If children are able to comprehend the simple story lines we encounter every day such as
those plots that appear in The Magic Treehouse series, they are certainly capable of
understanding the bare fundamentals of todays political system and even the meager abstracts of
controversial issues. Michelle Ann Abate, an associate professor of literature for children and
young adults at The Ohio State University, and the author of "Raising Your Kids Right:
Childrens Literature and American Political Conservatism says, Children do not live in an
apolitical world, in which they are either unaware of political issues or unaffected by their social,
economic and legal impact. Children are born into the world they will grow up in. The more
well-versed a child is, the more successful he or she will be when it comes to schooling and
relationships. To mature into a valuable part of society, adolescents must become aware at a
young age of the world that surrounds them. Abate continues, saying, In the same way that
books for young readers work to develop reading literacy, they should also strive to instill
political literacy, exposing children. Children prepare to write high school level papers by
starting with the basics of spelling. They learn to master the simplest words such as cat and

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apple. Why not prepare our children to deal with the most complex controversial issues they will
face later in life by introducing these issues at a young age?
Whether we realize it or not, human rights and controversial issues are already woven
into many of the stories we read our children before bed and on the story-time rug in elementary
schools today. Dr. Seuss infamous story of an elephant on a mission to save a town of
microscopic Whos who live on a speck of dirt located on a pink clover was recently made into
a major motion picture. Jonathan Todres, a law professor at Georgia State University, and the coauthor of the forthcoming Human Rights in Childrens Literature: The Narrative of Law says,
Each time Horton exclaims a persons a person, no matter how small, children are exposed to
the concepts of human dignity and equality foundational principles of human rights. These
issues are already emerging in childrens books; they can only be made more obvious.
There will always be traditional and, if you willold fashioned, customaries left who
long to hold onto this notion of how the world once was. Shannon Hayes, a farmer, homeschooler, and professional blogger argues that controversial lessons and issues are for grown-ups
only when she says, Children don't need political literature; they naturally understand how to be
kind and accepting. It's the parents who need it. Children may naturally understand how to be
kind and understanding but what happens when they are exposed to our not-so-kind and not-sounderstanding world? The world may be becoming more accepting but it has quite a long way to
go before all judgements are cast aside. Those who might agree with Hayes maintain that
childrens literature must preserve the angelic innocence that every child is born with. There
comes a period in time; however, where we must realize that innocence will never last forever
and at some point, we must face the harsh, controversial realities of the twentieth century. Those

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children who were not taught early-on by their guardians and educators of the cruel truths our
society holds may fall apart in utter shock when they are finally exposed to these actualities.
Worse yet, in my opinion, is a child who reaches high-school with little to no knowledge
of the world they have been living in for over a decade. How can future generations mature into
contributing members of our society if they are raised with parents who filter absolutely
everything that may seem controversial and even the slightest bit political? Raising a child in an
environment that only encourages one way of living and only one way of doing things results in
a judgmental and close-minded adolescent attempting to thrive in a liberal and open-minded
society.
What some people fail to realize, I believe, is that we are constantly making a political
statement; we are constantly communicating our views to those who come into contact with us.
We dont even need to talk to convey some messages and viewpoints. Claudia Mills, a past
president of the Children's Literature Association, and professor emerita of philosophy at the
University of Colorado, Boulder explains it this way: that no childrens book can escape even the
slightest political statements. Illustrating a book in which there are two mommies is a political
statement just as illustrating a book in which there is a perfect nuclear family is also a political
statement.
Children are born innocent, yes, but they are not born into an innocent world. What I
contend is not to catapult our children into the lions den of politics and controversy that is our
world today, but rather to gently integrate these more liberal ideas into their minds. Alexandra
Kennedy, the executive director of the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art perfectly sums up
the argument when she says, Books represent a fascinating window into the values that were
held at the time they were published what we wanted, as a society, to share with our

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children. What do we want to share with our children? A world of short-lived innocence or the
realities of our world? Do we want to prepare our children for the lives of controversy they will
soon face or do we want to shelter them from these issues until they are thrust into them?

Works Cited

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