Every society feels the need to have a group of second-class citizens to keep down. For hundreds of years the rulers of societies looked down upon people of a different caste, or a different skin color. Yet the oppressed have stood up and demanded better treatment, their rights and their dignity. Now it is the children and youth who serve as second class citizens, solely because of their age.
Youth have no right to decide where they live or who they live with, what religion to practice.
They do not even have control over their own bodies. They are chattels that can be abused, often with impunity. They cannot decide what form their education will take, Their lives are at the whim of their parents and the justice system. Driven to anger by these injustices , youth even oppress amongst themselves, through violence, ostracism, and cliquishness. Children and Youth are society's cheap labor force, toiling in sweatshops and demeaning jobs, receiving little for their labors.