Throughout our society are treated differently because of their age. While that is not always wrong, when that treatment prevents children and youth from taking responsibility for what they can do and for what society needs for them to do, that is a problem.

Discrimination against youth happens in a variety of ways, including language, personal interactions, organizational culture, government policies and laws, and community climate.

This webpage features information and links to other Freechild webpages about some of the forms of discrimination young people face today.

Adultism - Anytime adults are favored over adults is adultism.

Ephebiphobia - The fear of youth. Pedophobia is the fear of children.

Racism - Anytime one race is favored over other races.

Homophobia - The fear of or discrimination against homosexuals.

Youth rights issues - Curfews, censorship, criminalization and ageism that denies the ability and responsibilities of young people.

Student rights - Search and seizure, internet censorship, school uniforms, freedom of speech, zero tolerance, corporal punishment and privacy issues in schools that deny the abilities and responsibilities of young people in schools.

Grading - Using letter grades and disallowing students to graduate because of test scores discriminates against young people.

Youth-Adult Partnerships - Relationships created between young people and adults that are intentionally designed to defeat discrimination against youth.

Intergenerational Equity - Fair treatment, including behaviors, rules and cultures that supports mutually beneficial interactions between young people and adults.

Ladder of Youth Participation - Sociologist Roger Hart's tool for measuring how substantial youth participation is.