After watching this documentary it was very interesting to
see how students from different cultures felt in schools. Middle and high
school are difficult years for youth because they are trying to find out who
they are and where they fit in and adding being “different” to that mix must be
even more difficult. What I found most shocking was what some of the teachers
said to their students. As a future youth worker I can’t imagine telling the
youth I work with “I’m not here to be your friend”, “because your parents
dropped out of school and had you young, the same thing is going to happen to
you” or not letting a youth wear a head covering because of her religious beliefs.
Comments like those only hurt students’ self-esteem, education and will keep
them guarded.
How this documentary is going to help me work with youths
across cultures is by taking the extra step to learn about the different
cultures of the youths I’ll be working with. I think by understanding where they
come from helps you better understand them which will only help lead to becoming a better youth worker. Also, depending on the type of program I’d be
working in, I would set up a cultural day so that all the youths could explain where
they came from and what about their cultural identity is important to them. I think
by doing activities like this it will show the youths you care and are willing
to go the extra mile to get to know them.
This is an activity I
found to teach about diversity
I also talked about “because your parents dropped out of school and had you young, the same thing is going to happen to you” in my blog. Every person can create their own future and it should not be assumed that they do not have a mind of their own. I love the idea that you brought up on, "I would set up a cultural day so that all the youths could explain where they came from and what about their cultural identity is important to them". I think this is a great idea especially since you added in that they can explain where they came from and how their culture identity is important to them. I feel that many school only have students bring in food and not talk about their cultural background. This would be a great event to add in at events about their cultural identity.
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely something every youth worker should do. When I was in middle school I did a culture project. The only thing is is that it was a group project and we were assigned a culture from around the world that you weren't apart of so you actually learned something. Hen we had a presentation night were parents and others came to learn too.
ReplyDeletei agree it was very saddening to listen to those adolescents tell the stories of their teachers belittling them based on where they came from or who they were. I think that taking a look to recognize people are all different and come from different cultures will be a step in the right direction when working with you like you said. I also enjoy your pictures with quotes they are very true!
ReplyDeleteI think as youth workers we need to try and understand our students. Be able to connect with them at some level, if you don't want to get to know them they will see that and they will react the same way. It makes teaching and learning difficult because everyone has their walls up. Thats why we need to be careful by telling others "Im not here to be your friends" can truly have a bad impact on others. I also love your idea about the culture day, there are so many cultures out them, many we are unaware of, it would be nice to see where they come from, what they believe in and get to know a little bit of who they are.
ReplyDelete