Inheritors of the Earth

Usually, the cheaper the paper, the higher the acid content, and acid content means faster decay of the paper (which is why comic books should never be stored in paper envelopes, but instead in plastic comic covers or the like).

It is interesting to note that most children's artwork involves cheap construction paper and Elmer's Glue, which have very high acidity and thus don't preserve well at all. It's evidence towards how much our culture values the expression of children as not having any value in and of itself aesthetically, but almost strictly for its usefulness in psychoanalysis and as refrigerator nostalgia. From what I can tell, we generally don't see children as inheritors of the Earth (as we like to tote), but as potential inheritors, for we see adulthood as the apex of maturation on which childhood is completely dependent and to which it is solely dedicated. Children are generally seen as pseudo-citizens and unqualified to engage meaningfully in the examination and shaping of our culture.

So we let their artwork decay.

However, what if for whatever reason the acidity of the paper or its gases somehow provide a futuristic means of preserving artwork, though not necessarily in any traditional sense. What if, after hundreds of thousands of years from now and the expiration of humankind some alien race visits Earth and manages to not be able to excavate anything human-made besides the artwork of children. I'd like to think that they would conclude from them that humanity consisted of nothing but geniuses who most unfortunately managed to disappear by some mysteriously extravagant catastrophe no species of a superior intellect could survive. I'd like to think they'd wonder of the majesty and might of our existence like we do of the fabled Atlantis. That, at the end of the day, it really is our children who've inherited the Earth and marvelously so.