*Pressure for Children to Think About Their Futures* Firstly, there is a large pressure on children as young as Primary school to think about their future and start planning. Of course, if a child is as young as six these thoughts will not be coming from the child themselves but from the parents/guardians. This puts so much pressure on the child that they are forced to mature at a far younger age as they begin to feel the effects of competition among their peers, and the need to fill schedules with extra-curricular activities. This results in a child not being able to have time or space to be a child and enjoy the innocence that comes with this. The child does not have the time to play make-believe or run around making mud pies. This has serious effects on childhood innocence that can result in the lack of imagination and fun that comes with the innocence of childhood. As an example, when working with children I spoke to an 8 year old who informed me of the activities they were doing in order to improve their C.V. In my opinion a child should not be thinking about this at 8 years old. Additionally, children are queueing for auditions around the country at the age of around 5. Instead they should be given the space and freedom to be a child and the innocence that comes with not having to think about the future at such a young age. *Knowledge of Mature Topics* The New York Times published an article in which a Form 4 teacher from Colorado spoke on their experiences with a student in class. As the teacher reported, ''Kids are a lot freer now. Even in the 10 years I've been at this school, there's been a change. The other day, a very innocent-looking little boy came up to me and casually asked me whether a certain sexual act was 'for real.' He used a crude word for it. I asked him to whisper in my ear what he thought the word meant. Well, he knew more details than I myself knew until about five years ago.” (Winn, 2015). Further, I worked with an 8 year old who began talking about different forms of drugs with knowledge and information around the drugs and how to use them. By having explicit sexual knowledge and knowledge about drugs at such a young age, the innocence of a child is lost. This new knowledge about something a child has learned will just spark further curiosity to find out if this piece of information is true, and to find out more on the topic. I believe the moment children as young as 6-8 yrs start having explicit knowledge on such mature topics, they lose the ability as a child to be innocent of such adult themes that the older you get, you are more equipped to handle. This results in a loss of innocence for children. Resources: Jones, B. (2015). 'The Loss of Childhood Innocence', Science Leadership Academy. Retrieved from: https://scienceleadership.org/blog/the_loss_of_childhood_innocence Mehta, V. (2019). 'Loss of Childhood Innocence: Are we Pressurising out Children too Much?'. Retrieved from: https://thewanderingvegetable.com/loss-of-childhood-innocence/ Winn, M. (2015). 'THE LOSS OF CHILDHOOD.', The New York Times. <http://www.nytimes.com/1983/05/08/magazine/the-loss-of-childhood.html>

Children are not losing their innocence, when considering that children 200 years ago were viewed as workers, children today are more sheltered and protected than ever from harm and mature topics. While children may be introduced to CV working and the world of work at school, this will only benefit them in the long term and prevent it being sprung upon them when they want a job at sixteen. It is not as though children are being forced to work as they were in the past, children are merely being prepared for life to come at school, which is exactly what school is for. A study by sociologist Opie showed that children are not losing their innocence as there is still a great divide between video games targeted towards children and adults, with adult video games showing more explicit content. A great example of just how shielded children’s innocence is in today’s society is The Watershed Ban. Ofcom describes this as protecting children from harmful TV (allowing only sexual and violent imagery on the TV from 9pm). [1] If we did not wish to continue protecting children’s innocence measures like these would not be in place. [1] https://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv-radio-and-on-demand/advice-for-consumers/television/what-is-thewatershed#:~:text=There%20are%20strict%20rules%20about,TV%20before%20the%209pm%20watershed.&text=The%20watershed%20means%20the%20time,for%20children%20can%20be%20broadcast.

I'm sorry, but I have to disagree with you. School plays a vital role because it will determine the path you'll choose in the future. Of course, there are some limits to respect, but I don't think introducing into the children differents options for their futures. In my opinion, I would have preferred to know certain things about different topics, because when I finished High School, I was utterly lost, and I didn't know what to do. I agree with Olivia because if we compare the past decades when children where exploit, or had to leave school at a young age to work, it has nothing to do with the current situation. Of course, they have Internet, videogames and different sources to satisfy their curiosity, but I don't think that is a bad thing. As Olivia has said, the Internet is a safe place for children.