Binary Ways of Thinking From a Young Age

Kids are taught in binaries constantly. To understand the world they are taught the difference between a cat and a dog, a hot dog and a hamburger, an apple and an orange. To comprehend life children are taught oversimplified versions of experiences and that and way of perceiving surroundings transfers to us later in life.  From a young age most children play some sort of sport whether that be in gym or on a team, and either way they are taught that they either win or lose.  This sort of mentality is drilled into our heads that all situations are in binaries, that there is always a winner or a loser. This is how we are taught to think, to be productive members of society that don’t question the way things are because we are taught to accept simplicity and binaries.

Anyone with a child knows that children learn about the world through binary options: up or down, hot or cold, big or little, inside or outside, wet or dry, good or bad, boy or girl, man or woman.

-Phyllis Schlafly, an American constitutional lawyer, movement conservative, and conservative

Children are also taught in gender binaries, that everyone is either a girl or a boy. When I was a kid we used to sing “boys go to Jupiter to get more stupider, girls go to college to get more knowledge.” This harmful separation and over simplicity from a young age sets us up to not question gender binaries, or any binary that we are shoved into while we are trying to discover ourselves within society’s parameters.