Principles of Youth Development- Quotes/Reflections
We
denigrate as a “social butterfly” a person
who cares too much about
superficial
connections, especially when that person seems to sacrifice character,
adopting
whatever opinions or behaviors are popular. When confidence outruns
competence,
danger looms. (page 1)
Reflection #1: Unfortunately, this
happens every day with our youth. In their eyes, fitting in with the “popular
crowd” means everything to them. I see it in my after-school program. Some of
my introverted youth tend to be become a different version of themselves just
to gain attention from their peers. Most of the time, they gain this attention
by being rude to the after-school staff.
Young
people gain competence and character by being connected with others; especially
caring adults, and their competence and character in turn help them form new
connections. (page 1)
Reflection #2: I firmly believe
that if after school programs and youth led organizations were to shut their
doors tomorrow, our youth would lose the very few people that have not given up
on them. Nowadays, our kids are ostracized, labeled, and ignored by some of
their teachers, administrators, and parents. They find the support and care
they need from after school organizations/programs. We treat our youth as
equals. Their voice, opinions, and concerns matter in our space.
When youth
are selected to participate in a program because they are at risk or enmeshed
in problem behavior, selection confirms their identity as trouble. Furthermore,
being thrown together with others who are also stigmatized may unintentionally
reinforce undesirable behavior. (page 5)
Reflection #3: When I came across this
quote, I automatically thought of one student groups that is ostracized in my
school. The “Behavioral Defiant (BD) Youth”. To be honest, I could not tell you
where the BD classroom is. All I can tell you is that the kids come down to the
cafeteria 10 minutes before the lunch period starts to get their food and they
go back to their classroom. Why they have this routine, I do not know. But it
makes me curious. Why the separation? The “BD kids” are in their classroom from
7:45 am until 2:30pm.
The fact
that all youth are developing and their development can be either enhanced or
impeded by the opportunities available to
hem in
their families, schools, and communities definitely does not mean that all
youth need the same thing. (page 5)
Reflection #4: We cannot assume
that all of our youth need the same things. I work at Roger Williams Middle School
in South Providence. Most of my kids’ families are on the poverty line.
However, my kids have different needs. One of kids needed a “safe place” to
hang out after school. One of my kids needed a winter coat for herself and her
sister. One of my kids needed an outlet for her anger towards her teachers. Never
assume that all the kids in your youth space/classroom have the same needs.
We have to
be able to recognize and accommodate gender differences while recognizing that
sometimes gender is less important than that of race or class or age or simply
interests and aspirations. (page 6)
Reflection #5:
I disagree with this statement.
Gender is just as important as race or class. Race, Gender, and Class all correlate
with one another. A black woman living in poverty is treated differently than a
white woman living in the suburbs.
Great examples!!! Our students constantly are struggling in our urban schools. Sometimes they need to look up at the adult when they speak or have silent lunch, or hold themselves until a specific time/bell to go to the bathroom. They are in very uncomfortable situations during the school day, what is the message we are sending? the students are less likely to be able to listen, focus, understand and learn from communications that are literally above them; than if we simply get down at their level.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your post Essence. I like the way you connect each quote to your school/ after school space.
ReplyDeleteHi Essence,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the points you made about youth being individuals & needed different things despite having such similar backgrounds. It is difficult to understand how people can just lump certain youth together based on things such as race, gender, or class but again that could just be the societal reinforcement of believing our stereotypes.
Additionally, I wanted to bring some attention to another point you made about "BD" classrooms & their separation to the rest of the school community. I honestly completely forgot about the term "BD" until I read your post. Being in the "BD" room was almost like wearing a scarlet letter on your shirt growing up. I completely forgot it existed mainly because they were excommunicated from the rest of the students in school. For someone like me, who was considered one of the "role models" in high school, the term "BD" doesn't mean much because it was just a classroom that I never got to see, filled with kids I never got to talk to. But I wonder how those kids are today as adults. Are they struggling with their identities as a functional member of society? Did those kids grow into dysfunctional individuals because that's all that they were taught to believe they were?