Conceptualizations of Children

(Draft)

There are several competing views of children, of which the following are most relevant in the context of Education

• Children as Chattel, the property of parents / state - this was the dominant conceptualisation at the time of the introduction of mass public funded education
• Children as innocent Cherubs, originating in the Enlightenment, influencing the work of "Progressive" educators such as Rousseau
• Children as assets - raw material to be refined to productive future workers, as in modern Human Capital Theory, especially the reductive version
• Children as the Subject of Rights