Why Do We Do What We Do?

YDEV Ideology Horoscopes: Social Justice Youth Development

I remember I took the YDEV ideology horoscope as an 

undergrad in YDEV, and my outcome stayed the same. I did not 

realize that my philosophy of Social Justice Youth Development 

was strong. I am a strong believer that the youth are agents in our 

community, and let them lead. 

         

         Quotes

  I Know What I Believe: Using Theory to Prepare Youth Workers (McKamey, Bogad, Clemons, Restler)

✊"Power is distributed, with coaches modeling and teaching the sport while also facilitating contexts where peers practice and coach each other." (McKamey, Bogad, Clemons, Restler, 5)

- I have taught a folklore dance group for over 13 years and the dancer's ages range from 3 to 21. For the past 13 years I have seen girls come and go and have watched them grow up. I do my best to instill my values of youth development in my dancers. Although this group isn't considered a sport, it is run similarly as one. I remind the dancers they are a team and to work as one. This quote resonates with me because I teach my dancers to be agents in the space. I teach the girls the dance and they also teach each other. I give the opportunity for each girl to teach the dance moves. 

YouthInActionRI.org

✊"Here at YIA, our model works to unpack and undo these internalizations while highlighting and celebrating their values, voices and intersecting identities." (YouthInActionRI.org)

- This quote comes from YIA. Youth In Action has been one of my favorite programs that is youth-led. The keywords for me are highlighting and celebrating their values, voices, and intersecting identities. I value my student voices and encourage them to speak out about what is affecting them and their community. Our youth is the next generation, they are citizens and agents. 

I Know What I Believe: Using Theory to Prepare Youth Workers (McKamey, Bogad, Clemons, Restler)

✊"Through investigating social issues from an intersectional perspective, young people, alongside adults, work to transform themselves and society by developing critical consciousness and engaging in social action." (McKamey, Bogad, Clemons, Restler, 2)

- Being exposed to new knowledge can come in different ways, some of the ways can be exploring, asking questions, and investigating. I work with high school students and I enjoy challenging them even if they feel out of their comfort zone. They begin to think and do research about different subjects. This gives them the ability to learn about new things and become agents in their space. 

 What is Youth Work? 

As I read Decolonizing Youth Development Re-imagining Youthwork for Indigenous Youth Futures, I wasn't sure how to react, I believe I was more WOWed than anything. In a sense like "this makes sense" of why certain programs are run certain ways. The author speaks upon the idea of the parallel development of youth. This same idea is still installed in this organization. I worked for the Boys Scouts of America for 4 years over the summer camps, and their system was run more like the belief of the White colonial system. even though there were females who participated in the summer program and did the same activities they were treated the same way as the boys. However, chiefs and Indian games are still played but songs, activities such as bow and arrows, and cub names are being adopted by Indian tribes.

Besides the idea of "playing Indian" the idea of schools changing and erasing students' identity, is information I did not find surprising however made me sick to think that teachers would limit students' cultural identity, "School attendance resulted in a loss of identity and trauma. Staff sheared children’s hair, changed their names, banned traditional clothing and customs, and coerced conversion to Christianity." (Johnston-Goodstar, 379) This is traumatizing for students and families. I personally have experienced this with my language in elementary school. My first language was not celebrated or encouraged I felt that I was being stripped of who I was.

On the other hand, reading Community Based Youth Work in Uncertain Times, I can relate to this article. I felt a sense of warmth and understanding of what it is like being a youth worker and the barriers that non-profit organizations have to deal with. I have worked in many after-school programs and researched other after-school programs, I have noticed that each program offers different services based on its mission and vision. Also, they face various challenges to work with the youth.

When the other mentions of name-calling youth as "at risk" and youth workers being known as heroes or saviors, I have had the opportunity to work at a summer program that shared the pedagogy as EE. This program was known as Building Educated Leaders for Life (BELL), the youth that attended this program were called scholars. Part of our training was to ensure that we valued our scholars and reminded them that they were leaders. BELL models help parents become more engaged in their child’s education. Scholar success and parent engagement lead to improved school attendance, higher grades and test scores, and increased graduation rates. Staff members were recognized as mentors instead of teachers. Unfortunately, this program did not continue to be funded due to the political lack of support.

The reading speaking about the importance of school and community-based organizations joining forces is something that I have experienced. Last year, Providence Public School District attempted to bring all its community-based programs together in one room. the reason for this union was to bring awareness of certain schools' transformation. This was a great idea to bring everyone together, bringing awareness to whom works in each school and creating networking opportunities. however this only lasted for 3 months, but within the 3 months we connected this brought great opportunities for positive development for youth. this helped vocalize what each organization does within and outside of the schools. I believe if this continues at least having meetings once a month with school districts I believe will help the organization to keep running and develop positive enforcement for the youth. 

Lastly, I can heavily agree that "after-school programs can be restorative spaces for students who are disconnected from schools and can facilitate the development of social capital for young people and a deeper understanding of the social context in which they live and learn." (Baldridge, 10) I have worked with After Zone at the middle school level. Middle school is a challenging era, they are transitioning emotionally and navigating being teenagers; having After Zone in these settings brings great opportunity to youth positive confidence, and the creation of great leaders. After Zone offers a variety of after-school activities that can enhance and develop new skills. this is a space where youth are allowed to be themselves and explore their identity. 

“Young people should be at the forefront of global change and innovation. Empowered, they can be key agents for development and peace.”

— Kofi Annan

These readings I would bring them into my classroom space because of the information they contain.  Decolonizing Youth Development Re-imagining Youthwork for Indigenous Youth Futures shares facts on how youth were decolonized, and the history of certain activities were birthed. The reading on  Community Based Youth Work in Uncertain Times is an article that I believe organizations and youth workers can relate to, we have all encountered similar roadblocks and continue to do so.

 

• "To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment." -Ralph Waldo Emerson 

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• Being in school felt more like being trained and educated to be like everyone else. We were taught to behave and act like the norm. We were constantly told to lower our voices raise our hands if we wanted to speak, walk in a straight line, walk silently in the hallways, and be kind to others. We were never taught to embrace our true selves and find ourselves. In the last class, I told my story of my identity crisis, my first language is part of my identity. In elementary school, my first which is Spanish was looked at as a problem that needed to be fixed. I sat in a class filled with my white peers and white teachers. I felt like the outcast; a cheetah filled with a room of zebras. I was always pulled out of class to perfect my English, and when students were put into groups, I worked with the teacher. It was clear that I was not part of my peers as my education journey continued. I began to speak less and less Spanish in school and hid my Dominican self. When high school came, I distanced myself from my Spanish friends and when speaking to them I did it in secret.

  
  While I was reading the article of Zora, I laughed because I can just picture  a beautiful full of energy little girl that is ready to be part of the community. She is not like her peers. She wants to be part of something and because her personality is so outgoing and energetic she is having trouble trying to fit in. Her teacher is constantly telling her the rules, and how to behave. The teacher is so focused on how Zora is just out of control and acting impulsive because she’s not following the norm; not raising her hand, not standing in line, and interrupting class. But this child is filled with fearlessness. She is outspoken. She is creative. She’s living in her own world. I love that her family at home gives her space to be herself and discover herself. I love how fearless she is, always outspoken. She always defended herself even though she knew the consequences. She stood by her actions and stood on what she believed. I think that’s what makes someone so powerful and unique.

  💭I wonder, If our school system stripping away our differences, viewing them as weaknesses instead of strengthening them? 

  
  I always love watching the documentary Crip Camp, it is just a fresh reminder that it is ok to be different and to speak up for yourself. These young folks created a camp where they wanted to feel a sense of belonging to a community. One of the campers spoke and said it was utopia and it was like an outside world. I can see that they didn’t feel they were different. They all fit in with each other, they had things in common and they were acting like teenagers. Because they created this camp, it empowered them to do more and put their words into action. They went back to the real world and stood on their grounds to make disability equality to receive the same education as regular and students are having to install handicap railings and places. They stood on what they believed in, vocalized, and fought for their rights. 
  
  
  
  
  
  Both of these articles speak to each other because we live in a world where we have to follow the norms and follow rules of how to be. Embracing everyone’s differences and utilizing that to challenge and build each other can create a strong community.

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 Who are Youth? What is Childhood?

  

In my adolescent years, I remember the adults (family members, teachers, community members) would say, “This generation is crazy with their slang words, style, and bad habits there's no future here”. This was when low-waisted bell-bottom jeans and tiny crop tops were the trend, and blasting hip-hop/ rap music such as Hot in Herre by Nelly. As the oldest by a year, I was supposed to be setting an example to my younger brothers but instead, I was introducing them to hood music as my parents would call it. Back then Instagram was not a thing, we had MTV and fashion magazines, and the youth would captivate the latest trends from these artifacts. The adults around us would judge us and assume we would end up to no good. 

    "If you think about it, you will realize that except for prisoners and a few other institutionalized groups, young people are more controlled than any other group in society."

                                                                                        - John Bell

 

As the years and generations progress, the point of view of adolescence/youth changes. the following readings and podcasts, exhibit the three beliefs about young people. The reading Denaturalizing Adolescence The Politics of Contemporary Representations illustrates the birth of adolescence, in the 1800s. This was the time when America was evolving democratically. Through the lens of the 1800s scientifically adolescence was constructed through psychology, anthropology, and pedagogy. The reading discusses age, age plays a role in adolescents, come of age into adulthood. The second characterization the author mentions is women hormones. These affect adolescents in different manners in woman/girls there is an aging period where the body begins to transition, and lastly women's cultures and pressure. The idea of a teenager trying to fit in a social club, they tends to search for companionship. In Understanding Adultism believe that adultism marginalizes our youth. Adults suppress and downsize women and the youth and downsize and, their ability, such as not giving them a voice; their opinions or ideas do not matter because they are young. In school settings students do not have a say or are reprimanded unfairly. Adults think and act for the youth instead of having them lead. The podcast shares similar beliefs, the youth should have a voice, should be able to lead, and should be restrained to do things because of their age. This podcast puts into words what I witness on a daily basis in my job. I have students that go home and take care of siblings and other family members because the adults in the home are working or out doing errands. I have a student who daily would tell me he needed to obey his household rules just like he obeys the school rules. 

Various ideas shape stereotypes within our youth. The first one is social media, TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube are the biggest platforms that the youth are consistently using. Whenever I am around my dance girls, they are huddled together in the corner creating TikTok videos or discussing the latest trend. The second idea is the fashion trends, they use social media to adopt the latest trends. Based on these fashion trends they are targeted and judged negatively. (Gen Z’s need to stop bringing back the 2000s). Another idea is career and education, as a college advisor in a high school I have noticed that many of my high school students want to make quick and easy cash or cut through their education journey. I have noticed the high percentage rate of students going into the work field straight after high school or attending community college for a two-year degree. Lastly, I also believe that generational differences have an effect on youth stereotypes.

When I was a youth the boomers would call us lazy because millennials did not work as hard as them such as maintaining 3 jobs at a time. Now millennials are complaining about Gen Z being lazy. ( this reminds me of the TikTok videos of Gen Z vs Millennials at work) 

These stereotypes can impact race, class, gender, abilities, and sexuality in different ways. They marginalize our young people by devaluing their ability and skills. Which can affect their self-confidence and sense of belonging in this world. An example I would like to point out is sexuality. I have noticed that this generation has been more open about their sexuality and has created an evolution of new ways to express ourselves and showcase our identity. 

I work in a high school where student diversity outweighs the staff. Most of the staff in the school are white and stuck in the old-fashioned education mindset. Every day I encounter teachers complaining about a student's fashion style, the music they listen to, and how they talk. I have sat in class and witnessed teachers telling their students they are not going to make it because they listen to Lil Baby or Bad Bunny and how they turn in their assignments. Teachers need to do better instead of telling students no don't do that; conform to their likes and their work ethic. This generation is filled with creativity and new ideas!