POST #1: Introduction to YDEV

YDEV 501

 

WEEK 1: YOUTH DEVELOPMENT: WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT?

K

Fred Milson (1972) argues that youth workers properly have several goals and motives, and that a hierarchy of purposes appears. The motive and goal that should be given first priority is for individual personality development – but this has to be fulfilled in social relationships and community involvement. (http://infed.org/mobi/why-am-i-a-youth-worker-an-examination-of-the-goals-and-motives-of-youth-workers/#references)

 

The above article is one of the first articles I stumbled upon when I started researching about youth work and youth workers back in July 2018 when I first heard about the YDEV MA from Ms. Victoria. It gave me a good idea on what is expected for one to be considered "good". But more than that, this reading touched my heart as it made me realize (and forced me to think hard) as to why I wanted to do this kind of work. Fred Milson discussed how as youth workers, we have several motives and goals. But whether our motives are for "selfish" reasons or to serve a "cause", youth work should be centered and focused on the individuals goals and needs. And that reality is, the success of youth work is dependent on many factors such as personal development and relationships, education, community involvement, etc. 

 

In all three reading materials, one fact that I've proven was how in our current time, we already have so many resources explaining and showing us how youth work is supposed to be done and what it is about and yet, we as a society still has a long way to go in achieving those goals. Despite the long history of the successes and failures of youth work, one would assume that we should have learned our mistakes and have corrected everything by now. Alas, there is still so much to do in reaching that goal. As the quote from Walidah Thomas at the beginning of the chapter from our first reading material suggests, EE, a community-based afternoon school program which was once a safe haven for serving predominantly black youth and was successful in doing so because they focused on a person-centered approach -- valuing the opinions and voices of the youth had their focus/ priority and programs, changed with new leadership. How people running the organization (external and internal political forces) with certain views and beliefs on how the youth should be treated, helped and what they should be doing and contributing to society altered the overall direction of the program. As a result, losing the work on addressing the youth (the individuals) and more of catering to the goals and objectives of the adults/ people running the organization.

I must say that this is so true as I have experienced and witnessed this firsthand back in the Philippines when I was growing up. I remember being a freshman in high school and joining our school-based after-school program with my friends. I remember it being my favorite time and place in the entire school year as I got to hang out with my friends and do fun activities and learn new things about people, society and what we call the "outside world". As I entered my junior year, the after-school program had a change in management and I slowly saw a shift in the mood/ aura of the place. What was once a free place to be just ourselves and have different opinions on certain topics slowly became a structured environment wherein we were "taught" on what we should do and how we should feel about certain things. A prime example of this was how with the change of after-school/ youth workers, they introduced a new program schedule wherein we had to have a bible study/ devotion time every session. I am a Christian and my school was a Christian school and so at that time, it was not a big deal to me. However, come senior year, that was the time that I started having doubts about my sexuality -- who/ what I am. At that time, homosexuality was a social and religious taboo that no one dared to speak and argue about. It came to a point wherein given my personal struggles about my identity, going and being at the after-school program became a depressing and scary place for me.  

 

Given my dilemma and concerns, I reached out to my counselor and opened up about what I was going through. After just one session, my counselor arrived to a conclusion that I needed guidance for me to stay on the right path of Christianity. He offered help by telling me to attend the Sunday services, reading the bible, praying, and to continue attending the after-school program because according to him, I was just a kid and I do not fully know what and who I am and I need guidance from the "right" people.

 

L
… Conceptions of Youth and Youthwork

Reading the topic about conceptions of youth and youthwork brought me back so many memories when I was in that stage of my life. How I would always hear the phrases, "you are too young to know what you want" or "you should follow and listen to XYZ because he/she is older than you and therefore they are wiser and know what is right for you". Back then, I didn't know better but to follow what I was taught to be right which caused a life-long battle with my own self and believing at a young age that I'm an abomination to the world and a disappointment to my family.

 

This said, I strongly agree and can relate to the section of the article wherein Dana Fusco discussed how society often sees youth as a temporary holding pen for later adulthood. How many adults see the youth as problematic and maybe why society continues to deny teens real role in society, except as consumers and trendsetters. In some way, I would agree that it is true that being young can be problematic in a sense that it the that stage in one's life that he/she discovers who they are, what they want in life, etc. Yes, at that point in our lives, we can be deemed fragile and vulnerable but this is why it is so crucial for us to have the right support and tools to guide and support us in becoming the best version of ourselves -- how we see ourselves and not how society dictates us to be. This is again relatable to what Dana Fusco stated about how youth work is responsive not inly to the actual behaviors of young people, but also to the social definitions and problematizations of those behaviors by adults, all of which are deeply interwoven within historical, cultural, political, and economic contexts.

 

Another key point I've learned is how youthwork is conceptualized with three general approaches: character building, social education, and radical paradigms. I strongly believe that one best way to help/ support the youth is through character building. It should start from within and this is why we need to cater and prioritize their developmental needs. In my experience, building good character is a hard thing to do but one that will be beneficial to one's success in the long run. One thing that really struck me was the radical paradigm wherein it involves approaches that take into consideration the structural inequalities and social conditions that impact young people. Reality is, not everyone gets the same treatment, benefits, opportunities and chances in life and most of the time, this affects the success of the work that youth workers do, particularly the young people who want to do better in life. 

 

…Deficit Approach --> Resiliency Research --> Youth Development Movement

This topic is easily my most favorite one mainly because reading this material enlightened me on the progress we have made in understanding the youth and how youth work/ youth development should be done. Just like in all social movements, our history has to begin with something that is lacking and/or problematic before we come to our senses and want to make positive change(s) to what is currently been done and practiced.

 

As we veered away from the thinking that young people are problems or potential problems for society, we have realized that trying to fix a singular problem is not always the best solution. There is always an underlying factor and reason(s) to behaviors and working in the field of human services (particularly catering to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities), we are taught to find the root cause of things and to see it from within and not just what is being displayed and shown in front of you.

 

M

Youth development should be about healthy development. Bringing it back to my takeaway in the earlier part of this blog entry, I believe that as youth workers, we need to see youth development as person-centered. It has to revolve around the individual. Each one of us is unique and so we need to see young people as such. At the same time, we also have to keep in mind that in order to be successful in doing this work, we need to be wary about the external factors that play a part in a youth's success as an individual.

 

What I want to  know and learn more about is how to be able to achieve success in this field given all the challenging factors that affect the youth and youth development. I'm curious to learn all the tools that will be helpful for me in the future to do good at my job/ career. I'm eager to know what recent developments and success we've achieved so far and what the future of youth development is shaping up to be.