Janusz Korczak: Child Advocate of the 20th Century
Nomi Lewkowicz
Have you ever read King Matt The First, or Kaytek The Wizard? If you answered yes, then chances are that you have heard of Janusz Korczak. Korczak was a well-known pediatrician, psychologist, author and child advocate.
Along with the children's books he also wrote child psychology books such as How To Love A Child and The Child's Right To Respect. Within these books, Korczak wrote what he thought should be worldwide children's rights. He spoke for the need for a
Declaration of Children's Rights long before one was written. All of his ideas were later used to create our modern day Rights of The Child. Some of the rights he wrote were: the child's right to love, respect, education, be him or himself, fail, be taken seriously and have secrets. All of these rights were applied in his orphanage.
For example, one of the rights is "The child has the right to a child's court where he can judge and be judged by his peers". In his orphanage there was a child's court and both children and adults would judge and be judged for their "crimes".
Another example is the right "The child has the right to optional conditions in which to grow and develop". Korczak made sure that the orphanage would provide the things necessary for the children to grow properly. He respected the younger children's need to be together and because of that, he had beds with holes in the sides. That way the young children could reach out and hold hands when scared.