YDEV Ideology

For this I post I decided that it would be best to start off by describing which YDEV philosophy’s I resonate with. I remember doing an ideology inventory previously but don’t remember my outcome.  I’m curious to see if my ideologies have changed over time with my experience and newfound knowledge.

My inventory was interesting because Positive and Social Justice YDEV were tied as my most dominate with a total of 9. Where my Civic and Risk Prevention YDEV where 19 and 22 respectively and I see that’s a big difference in numbers.  I think its important to know what style suits you and which is an area you need to work on. Although the numbers were surprising, I do agree with the beliefs from both of my ideologies. My reflections will reflect how I feel and connect to the text with both ideologies in mine. The text I have chose to read and reflect on is Principles of Youth Development by Stephen F. Hamilton, Mary Agnes, and Karen Pittman.

Marcus: On Being Good

Marcus: On Being Good by Carla Shalaby was this week’s reading and my favorite so far. It brought to light the reality of a student “Marcus” and his struggles within the classroom. At first glance it would be simple to say that he is a “troublemaker” that interferes with day to day operations of the classroom, but as the reading goes into depth it makes you take a step back and observe rather than judge.

Some of the visible codes of conduct that govern the classroom are the rituals put in place by Mrs. Emily. Things like their morning circle, the take a break table, the buddy room, timeout desk,  and bathroom pass are all examples of the rituals and rules that the class follows. The invisible rule/goal that seems to govern the classroom is independence. As stated in the reading Mrs. Emily’s core principle in teaching was independence.

Trouble making in my after-school space would be in the form of someone talking over me during instruction or being rude to any of the other students. I have had students that have fallen asleep, or just constantly on their phones. One thing I like to do in my youth spaces is create those visible codes of conduct but create them with the students. Making the rules with the group helps them set expectations for themselves and for me so that we all feel heard. In order to keep my group engaged I set up time for a break and leave enough time in the agenda for free time; if we finish everything we get free time, if there are issues that keep us from going the work then we wont have that extra time. When it comes to the students, I would constantly have sleeping in my class it was easy to be upset and make him wake up and expect him to participate at the same level as everyone else. However, what I did was pull him aside and asked him why he was always falling asleep. It turned out that there were some issues at home, had I not taken a step back to understand then I would not have known how to approach the situation. Its tough on teachers when they have a classroom that is typically over the class size average but its important in understanding the students to take a moment and understand.

My experiences vary from youth space to space. Once constant is the similarity that I too want for my youth to be independent. That is not to say that I will not be there to aid them, but I don’t want to be a source of power and fear. I like my students to try on their own or even use each other as aid before coming to me. In addition, I like the idea that there are stages in Mrs. Emily’s class before being “removed”. In many classrooms I have seen a student like Marcus would immediately be removed from the class. Having areas for students to take a step back for a little is very beneficial. This gives them independence and a chance to regulate their own emotions as well. There are many times as an adult that I need to just take a break for 5 minutes.

Stereotypes of Youth

Unfortunately, stereotypes are a part of our society. Stereotypes are mistaken beliefs put upon a group of people. In this week’s readings we explored 3 stereotypes of youth. Youth/ adolescence are a large group to stereotype, from difference in age, race, class, gender and sexuality it's ridiculous to keep them under a single umbrella.

Adolescence are described as being hormonally driven.  Being hormonal is a stereotype in itself. This stereotype keeps people from seeing youth as people that can make responsible choices. This sets up youth to fail. If people do not see these youth as capable then they are only expected to reach a certain point and are not given the space to rise above and beyond. However, that is one single outcome. Another crosses race/sexuality. Young Black females are hypersexualized and considered to be more aggressive than their white and even male counterparts. These stereotypes change how the worlds sees them and acts based on false realities.

Another stereotype is that young adolescents are peer oriented. This means that youth are reliant on peer culture usually as a result of peer pressure. Although this occurs the stereotype dictates that their social standing is more important than their education. This is not the case for all youth which is why stereotypes are so constricting.

Stereotypes are typically based on a white, middle class male perspective. In the video we watched the narrator states that children that come from a good home where they are spoken to often and read to are in a better place when they start school. Unfortunately, this is not how every household is. 

Stereotype; Adults are "more than" youth

This is again based on the white middle class see as the theoretical “norm”. Youth Development is all about working with and along side youth in order to help them become healthy adults. The third stereotype is that adults are for lack of a better term “more than” youth are. Adults are just as susceptible to making mistakes as any age group. I have seen adults scold youth for pointing out a mistake and it scares youth from calling out mistakes or bad behavior in the future. If youth can’t trust and be safe around their adult counterparts how do we make them feel safe?

Unlearn

In our class reading Reclaiming Community: Race and the Uncertain Future of Youth Work [Chapter 1] (Bianca Baldridge), the author states "...youth work in Black spaces has been focused on literacy and learning in ways that will help students unlearn false histories taught in school...". What stood out to me were the final words of "unlearn false histories" which reminded me of this video I watched during a teacher orientation. Tell me what you think!

Understanding YDEV

Know	Learned
Although I have been a youth worker for many years (whether I knew it or not) one thing for sure was that Youth Work is important. These articles reinforced that Youth work is important for the healthy development of young people.  Since it is an important aspect of Youth it should be noted that Youth workers are also an asset to their communities.  Youth Development is about empowering youth and working alongside of them, making sure that their voice is valued.	These articles were great in helping me learn the origins of Youth Development. I have never sat down and thought about where the term came from and how it have evolved over the years. I was also intrigued to learn about the Deficit approach. Looking back at past programs I have worked with or attended as a student it is clear which programs were aimed towards  the “high risk” communities. “High Risk”, “At Risk”, “Low Income” have always been phrases that have bothered me because for a student to see they are recruited for a program based on these categories  sets up a stigma. The chart below from one of the readings was the most impactful. Knowing that certain populations are using the deficit approach to recruit for programs is very different than seeing it on paper. This chart showed the true issues of this approach by neglecting extracurriculars from “high risk” communities and instead trying to “fix” a single targeted  stereotype of the community.
More
One thing  I want to learn more about it the deficit language and how organizations use the language and/ or are changing it to fit the Youth Development approach.  I believe that it is important to know what the history of youth work is in order to take it into the future.