> We should stop telling children that they’re the “experts on their own lives” and repudiate a static model of selfhood as a fait accompli at birth. Sure, some inborn essence is particular to every person, but it’s a spark; it’s not a fire. We could stand to return to the language of forming character and making a life for yourself, while urging teachers to exercise the guidance they’ve been encouraged to forsake.

This resonates. I feel that I was fortunate enough to be raised during a time and in an environment where the adult world was separate, mysterious and alluring from my young perspective. My parents, like many of their peers, had beliefs and values that they held up and lived by. They didn't stoop down to coddle us, and they gave us room to grow. Sure, kids didn't have as much of a voice in such a world - and that wasn't always a good thing. But the polar opposite that we see today just seems absurd.

The mature world was what my young self yearned to be a part of, and it was pretty clear that membership was something to _work_ towards, not to be bestowed.