Understanding Democracy: A Children’s Guide to Protests and Political Participation

“When the first demonstrations began and calls were made, we quickly realized that children had questions about democracy: Why are we demonstrating? What does it all actually mean?” Katja Meinecke-Meurer, managing director of the Nuremberg Tessloff Verlag, felt it was a great need to give children something to help them better understand the current events surrounding the wave of protests “against right-wing extremism”.

Her team had been working on a book on the subject of democracy for the “What is what” series for some time. The book was originally planned for August, but the publisher decided at short notice to publish a shortened version of the manuscript in advance as a brochure.

Available free of charge on the Internet since last week, the information material has already been downloaded more than ten thousand times. A huge success for the 16-page brochure about co-determination, freedom of expression and human rights. “We expected that we would have good demand, but not that we would be overwhelmed,” says Meinecke-Meurer. They would receive a lot of encouragement, especially from parents.

Democracy in the classroom

“We made signs beforehand with the slogan ‘Dachau is colorful’ and talked a bit about what it was all about,” says Julia from Dachau, who has also demonstrated for democracy and against right-wing extremism with her family in recent weeks.

Because it’s not that easy for daughter Eva to understand what is being talked about at the demos. Democracy, constitution, green and blue parties: all of this sounds abstract to the fifth grader. Julia thinks it’s important right now that her daughter gets a feeling for what a privilege it is to grow up in a democracy.

Tessloff Verlag also tries to use a few easy examples to show children that democratic values ​​already play a role in their world: Is the school trip to the swimming pool or to the playground? This is how the majority principle is quickly explained. What a constitution is or how our party system works are more difficult for children to understand. Nevertheless, “What is what” boss Meinecke-Meurer found it important to show children how different opinions and attitudes arise.

The party system as a rabbit and a penguin

In the brochure, when it comes to the subject of the party system, it’s not people who have their say, but rather animals: “Why is it important to me now, when I’m a rabbit, that I have good meadows and why is it important to me as a penguin that I have ice cream? There “You can use a lot to explain that you have to look at things from all sides,” says Meinecke-Meurer. “And you can also cautiously suggest that some things are extreme.”

Media educator Maya Götz believes that the transfer of knowledge is always successful when the “What is what” brochure uses impressive images. Elsewhere, however, it sometimes lacks depth: “They looked for ways so that most adults would say: ‘Yes, the information is okay’. Of course, that also creates certain weaknesses in the content,” says Götz. “So exactly where it gets to the edges, where it actually gets exciting, it is dealt with very shallowly,” says Götz. Because the brochure is – in all likelihood – not intended directly for children, but rather is conveyed through adults.

2024-02-10 09:42:08
#children #learn #understand #democracy