Joanne Lu

Period 1
Declaration of the Free-Spirited Child
When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for children around the world
to dissolve the pedagogical bands which have connected them to the prison of school and to
assume among the powers of the teenage mind, the separate and equal station to which the
Laws of Free Reign and the God of Free Reign entitle children, a decent respect to the opinions
of all humankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the freedom
from adult control.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all persons, no matter the age, are created
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these
are Life without parents, Liberty from school, and the pursuit of Happiness(Locke, Hobbes).
That to secure these rights, autonomy is instituted for and among teens, deriving its just powers
from the consent of the young generations(Locke, Rousseau).That whenever any form of
parenting becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the Younger Generation to alter
or abolish it, and to institute a new child sovereign, laying its foundation on such principles and
organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and
Happiness. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
Adults have refused to give children freedom, the most wholesome and necessary for the
wellbeing of the teen majority(Montesquieu).
Adults have forced children to go to a prison called school for five days a week where the young
generation is taught to fill in bubbles on a scantron.
Adults have refused their children the Right to Free Speech which they identify as talking
back(Montesquieu).
Adults have erected a multitude of spies, known as babysitters, and sent hither swarms of
middle-aged lackeys to harass our generation to finish our homework.
Adults have kept among us, in the times of the peaceful weekends, Standing Learning
Institutions without the Consent of our Generations(Montesquieu).
Adults have combined with teachers to subject us to daily academic rants foreign to our
understanding.
We therefore, the Young and Free Spirited Generation of the United States of America,
in the presence of the General Adult Assembly, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of
the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the children
around the world, solemnly publish and declare, That this generation of adolescents are, and of
Right ought to be Free and Independent persons, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to

the adult sovereign(Montesquieu), and that as free and independent persons, they have full
power to stay up all night, never do homework, party everyday, and to do all other Acts and
Things which independent persons may of right do(Locke). And for the support of this
Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to
each other our Lives without school, our Fortune inherited from our parents, and our sacred
Honor in all respect of the laidback adults in the world.