POST #4: Ideology Double Journal - YDEV

 YDEV 501

WEEK 4: IDEOLOGY DOUBLE JOURNAL

Introduction

This week's reading materials gave me a better understanding of the field of Youth Development. Given that I don't have an educational background in the said field, reading and learning the framework of youth development and it's different ideologies was really eye-opening for me. It further established what I already know and introduced me to new concepts at the same time. Here are the 5 quotes I've picked from the readings that resonated with me:

 

1. We argue that an effective approach for working with urban youth is through a social justice framework, which accounts for the multiple forms of oppression youth encounter and highlights the strategies they use to address inequities plaguing their communities.

 

This quote really made a strong impact on me as this is one of the main reasons I chose youth development as my master's program. I want to gain the skills and expertise on how to effectively work with young people with the goal of helping those who are underserved, oppressed and discriminated. Also, to educate the youth in the reality we are facing in a world wherein oppression, discrimination and neglect exist in so many forms and. whether or not you are affected and targeted by it, we should all be aware of it and have a voice and choice to take a stand and challenge what we deem is not right and just both for ourselves and for others.

 

In addition, most of the knowledge and experience I have working with the youth is through the Risk, Resilience and Prevention and Positive Youth Development approaches. I may be wrong as I do not have the means to prove this but I feel like majority of the available programs for young people are geared toward these ideologies. Although it helps and caters to a lot of individuals, I do believe that our approach should include making the youth aware and critique the different social problems that exist that impact their lives and communities. To equip them with different strategies to address these inequities and at the same time, giving them an avenue to have their own take, voice, and action on such matters.

 

2. Young people’s choices are bound up by complex relationships between peers, family, school, work, and the political and economic resources available to them (Wyn and White, 1997). As a result, the positive youth development model has been limited in two ways. First, the strategy to promote youth assets runs the risk of dismissing serious social, economic, and political influences in the lives of urban youth. Consequently, we are left with an over romanticized, problem-free view of youth.

 

This quote further strengthened my views on why I think the social justice framework is an effective approach in educating and supporting the youth. Not that I'm dismissing and diminishing the importance and contribution of having a positive youth development model; I'm just trying to get across my point [this quote shows] that the growth and development of a child is dependent on so many external factors aside from the person's own strengths and abilities. I feel like the positive youth development model works best to those young people who have it "good". And by good I mean belonging to a good/ stable family and community. Those families who are financially stable and are not socially marginalized. With this approach, I see a couple of problems. Firstly, these kids grow up focusing on themselves and becoming oblivious to the problems and hardships other people face. Since they are not fully educated on such problems, they can either choose to learn, empathize and become part of the solution or they choose to not care and instead, become part of the problem. Secondly, the kids who are in these programs who don't have the same life and privileges as their peers would feel left out and come out of the program confused and dissatisfied.

 

3. We argue, therefore, that social action and critical consciousness are a necessary couplet; that is, acting upon the conditions influencing one’s social experience leads to an awareness of the contingent quality of life. This interdependence between critical consciousness and social action is what Freire calls “praxis: reflection and action upon the world in order to transform it”.

Seeing all the recent events that have been happening in the world (particularly in the U.S.) and how society's views and practices have been changing due to our current political structures and influences,  reading and learning about this particular praxis gave me this urge to just shout this out to the world, especially to young people. I feel strongly about this quote as I believe that this is what we need to do right now. In one of my previous blogs, I've discussed how in our current world/society, the adults who (we thought) are supposed to know what is right and wrong seem to be the perpetrators of spreading hate, disgust and inequity.  

 

It is infuriating and frustrating that they're the ones who have the power and are "running the show". This being said,  now is the opportune time for us to be educating the youth -- making them aware of the social problems and giving them the strategies and support they need to take actions and matters into their own hands. On the same blog entry, I posted a video of some youth activists who are educating people (adults) on gun violence and giving advice on what we should do as a nation. It brings me joy and hope that there are young people out there who are taking a stand, doing what they can to be heard, and making a difference. This is what we're supposed to be imparting on our young people and why such ideology is crucial for us to be able (or at least try) to make some good changes in the world.

 

4. A social justice model contributes three key contributions to the field of youth development. First, by shifting our attention from individual and psychological frameworks, we gain a richer understanding of the everyday needs and problems confronting young people. As a result, our second contribution to the field is that young people must have opportunities to heal from the impact of hostile environmental forces. Third, through critical consciousness and social action (praxis), our model encourages young people to explore the causes of community and social issues and act toward addressing social problems.

 

This quote summarizes the 3 important contributions of the social justice model and I completely agree with it.  One major practice that draws me to this approach is that it teaches and encourages us to undergo these 3 levels of awareness.

 

The first one is self-awareness, which for me is the most crucial one as this focuses on self-evaluation and self-exploration that can and will help us achieve a positive sense of self, social and cultural identity. I am a strong believer that for us to be able to love, care and respect other people, we need to learn how to love, respect and take care of ourselves first.

 

The second stage is social awareness wherein it encourages the youth to think critically about issues in their own communities and at the same time, promote investigation, analysis and problem solving. By being self-aware and having critical consciousness of the social problems young people face and encounter, the social justice model also  gives an avenue to heal from the impact of such inequities plaguing their lives and communities.

 

Lastly, we have global awareness that teaches the youth to become familiar with various historical forms of oppression and look into the larger processes and systems that have caused suffering to many people around the globe. It allows us to connect and empathize with other people's sufferings and resistance to oppression.

 

This model uses a holistic approach in a youth's development and helps spread awareness of various social problems and encourages young people to take action in addressing such problems. It doesn't only help the current generation of young people to have better lives but also for the other young generations to come. 

 

5. Youth development is complex, multifaceted and challenging work.

 

I picked this one as my last/ ending quote for the assignment as this pretty much sums up what I feel and have realized so far in this program. Being a youth worker is a hard job as our work requires an in-depth understanding and awareness of all the external factors that affect and impact a kid's growth and development. I would say that the most challenging (and frustrating) part of our role is that the success of the work and effort we put in is not solely dependent on how good we are or how hard we work. How we support individuals require getting to know not only them but also the relationships they have in their lives. It entails maneuvering into all these interconnected factors (personal relationships and their communities) and finding the best way to support, interact, communicate, inform, and educate them.

 

We're only a few weeks in to this master's program and yet we are already confronted and made aware of the several problems and shortcomings of the current youth development programs and practices. This is not to say that we haven't made any progress over the year as we have come far compared to the previous teachings and perceptions on youth development. One prime example I can give, which I already stated earlier in this blog post, is how young people nowadays are the ones fighting against injustice, bigotry, etc. They are the ones who are saying the right things (at least in my opinion) and are demanding for change and action. Now, despite everything bad/ wrong that is happening, young people are finding their own platform and ways to be heard and seen. This gives me hope for a better and an exciting future ahead in the field of youth development.