How We See Youth
We see youth like we see race, as a whole as opposed to the individual. Youth are characterized as words like, defiant, awkward, and immature. There are stereotypes of how they dress, act and think. But now more than ever youth are diverse group of humans. While there are still many of youth who fit this stereotype we see so many who come from a variety of families. Youth who live with and take care of their grandparents, youth who live in a single parent household and help take care of the kids, and ones who grew up in foster care. These youth and many others have other things to worry about than sex or drugs. And while this group of youth hold jobs, take care of the family and still try and get an education they are still put into this box of stereotypes and not respected by adults.
My questions is how do adults not understand youth if they were once youth themselves? Why do we put a name and to this widely diverse group and then assume things about them if not too long ago we were them? At what age do we determine that we are better than everyone else and lose sight of our "adolescent" years?
Youth today have so much power and such a large voice in their community but is anyone teaching them how to use it or do we not value them as humans yet?
My questions is how do adults not understand youth if they were once youth themselves? Why do we put a name and to this widely diverse group and then assume things about them if not too long ago we were them? At what age do we determine that we are better than everyone else and lose sight of our "adolescent" years?
Youth today have so much power and such a large voice in their community but is anyone teaching them how to use it or do we not value them as humans yet?
I think that it is great that you connected the article to how some teens may play different roles, such as care takers. I also love that you stated how some may be growing up in difficult situations, which will have an affect on how they behave. I believe adults over time forget what it was like being a teen and sometimes they cannot relate to a teen that is undergoing radically different circumstances. For example if a teen strongly feels that he or she is gay, and their family is heterosexual, this will in turn effect how they behave and their parents will not be able to relate to how they are feeling.
ReplyDeleteGREAT first sentence. It really resonated with me. You're right that most of the time teenagers are grouped into one box, and not looked at as individuals.
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