Blog Post #4: Ullucci

The claims Ullucci makes about the impact of poverty on youth today is that today’s youth are struggling more than ever in school because of their socioeconomic status. By having a lower socioeconomic status affects many things in youth’s lives, like their parents having low paying jobs and living in rundown homes because it’s the best they can afford. These run down homes are typically located in rundown communities that usually have a high crime rate.

Not only is their home environment struggling, their schools are as well because they are located in the same communities. Poverty does not just affect youth’s home environment but also their well-being. Youth’s from low income backgrounds are less likely to receive medical care, which leads to many untreated illnesses that affects youth’s school performance.  

How poverty might impact a youth development space is that youth may not be interested in an after school program because they do not enjoy their regular school day. Also they might not be enough money to support a program in a low socioeconomic community. The type of community I imagine myself working in is an urban community because I have done practicums in two Providence schools and one school in Newport and I really enjoyed being in that kind of environment.  However, I am not opposed to working in any kind of community and feel no matter the community every youth would benefit from a youth development space!

This is a video of how poverty impacts youth

Blog Post #3: "Schools" ~ Costello 2001

After reading the introduction and my assigned section, Schools, in the Costello article it made me realize that there is a disconnect between our students and the schools they attend. Like spoken about in the introduction, in this country the bulk of funding that goes towards youth welfare is focused on preventive or ameliorative programs. These programs are very important but it does not target the needs of all the youth in the community.

The key ideas in the ‘Schools’ section of the article is that youths spend more time in school than any other organization. However there is a conflict between the needs of youth and what schools provide. Similar to the Prensky article, educators need to change with the needs of students they are educating. This may seem like an easy task but educators have many people they have to answer too and must also follow rules.

In each case study they spoke about how a certain school overcame a certain category they had against them for example school size. Public schools are usually large in size because it is cheaper to run and you need less administers. But because of the large student populations it makes for a less personal experience between students, teachers, the principle and administers. Even though this may be true in some cases it is not true for all.

At the John F. Kennedy High School in the Bronx has a student population of over 5,000 students. Out of the 5,000 students, 2,000 have an hour long commute, by choice, and attendance rates are high. The principle of John F. Kennedy developed a sense of community and belonging despite the size. This school is the perfect example of overcoming the obstacle of school size and having a personal relationship with students and meeting their needs.

What the case studies have taught me is that even when the odds are against us they is always a way to overcome and push through those odds. 

Blog Post #2: "Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants" & "Do They Really Think Differently?"

I feel my relationship with technology is a pretty strong one, however I would not say I am a ‘Digital Native’. I know my way around my computer and IPhone but there are still some things I struggle with like making Excel pages or using Microsoft publisher, so in some ways I am also a ‘Digital Immigrant’.  Like many others without technology I would be lost. In today’s world you can look something up in seconds, can never get lost because we all have GPS’s and we can listen to our favorite songs all by using our phones. Also when it comes to research for writing papers we do not have to leave the comforts of our own homes to go the library, we simply just have to type our topic into Google and the information we need pops up. We are very lucky to have all this technology at our fingertips unlike the generations before us. Even with all this technology I sometimes prefer the ‘Digital Immigrants’ way of doing things. Like written in the Prensky article, digital immigrants print out articles that are written on a word document to edit instead of editing it in the document. I also like doing this when I have to edit a paper or when reading an article for class. I learn better when I have a hard copy in hand rather than reading it on the computer.  

I believe technology can help me in many ways as a youth worker. I feel this way because it will help grab the attention of the youth I will be working with. I remember when I was in school and my teachers would play School House Rock when we were learning about certain lessons. After watching the different episodes I could always remember the songs which had the learning message behind it. Those types of videos made learning fun for me and my classmates. Clearly with today’s youth School House Rock would not cut it but learning video games, like Prensky wrote about would definitely grab their attention. Not only is it about grabbing the youth’s attention but it would also show them that you want to connect with them in the way they are accustomed to doing things as ‘Digital Natives’.

Blog Post #1: "In a World Where Youth Hold the Power"

After reading the article ‘A World Where Youth Hold the Power’ by Adeola Oredola with members of Youth in Action, it made me have a new outlook on how the youth in our country are being educated and understood. Some of the main ideas in the article are bringing out the “youth’s capacity to lead, their natural ability to innovate, and their desire for positive change.”  To put it simply, the Youth in Action organization gives the youth in this program the power to run and help make all the decision in the organization. By learning these skills they can apply it to their own life experiences.

The YIA model does not resonate with me because I was not lucky enough to experience being  part of a program that helps the growth of youth’s natural abilities. But after reading the article and the stories of the members of the YIA organization I could relate to the issues they faced in the school system. The Learning and Speaking Truth section in the article written by Bukky Olugemi was a section I could really relate to and understand. I remember being in high school and reading books that I could not relate too, similar to Bukky. If we reading books that we could actually relate to and had open discussions on how we felt about each book we read (using the plus/delta model) it would be a completely different experience. Also I believe that if those discussion were to happen we would all have a better meaning and understanding of the books we read.

I agree with all points that were made in this article. If we started giving youth more power in all different areas of their lives it will only help them as they got older. That was the common theme of all the stories in the article. All the members of YIA said that the skills they learned from being in this organization only helped in their futures. I hope that the YIA model one day will be in all schools across the country so that all youths can gain the type of confidence and skills the youth’s in YIA have. 

About Me!

Hello :)

My name is Raquel and am a Youth Development major! I am in my final year at RIC and I couldn't be more excited and nervous at the same time. I was an Education major before switching to YDEV and I couldn't be happier about my decision to switch.

In my free time I enjoy being with my family and friends and I love going to concerts and spending countless hours at the beach!