Blog Post #2 by Cabrera, Roberto

 

                                                                Adultification Bias

    After watching End Adultification Bias, I learned how black girls were being oppressed from their teachers, peers and other professional adults. Instead of being seen as a member living in the same community with people of different backgrounds, they were being seen as suspects or disrespectful people for being a Black-American. Three stereotypes the author(Georgetown Law) mentions in the video that describes how "Adults describe them as are loud, aggressive, and angry" which not only makes black girls feel discriminated, but also threatened by other people. Not all Black-American girls feel this way and there are Black-American girls in the community who are innocent and deserve to be respected and supported. They make mistakes just like everyone else and in social circumstances where they hurt someone by accident or any mistake they make which makes them feel depressed, they should be forgiven and not threatened. According to the video, "All kids make mistakes, but in similar situations black girls are treated differently. A white girl's mistake might be met with sympathy and understanding, but time after time, black girls are punished instead because they are held to a more adult standard of behavior" which shows that if White-American girls make mistakes, people would tell them that it is OK or they would help them fix their issue, but if they saw black girls make mistakes, they would have negative reactions and say things like you could've done better, you are not good at this, or get out. This is a way to show how most people view Black-Americans as "Loud, aggressive, disrespectful", and it also impacts not only their race, but also their class and sexuality". A majority of them are more likely to be punished or go to prison than people of different race. Not being able to succeed is another huge impact because every person of different who tries their best receives sympathy from others, which I think Black-Americans should also receives sympathy because they work just as hard as people of different race. Also, when it comes to people asking either Black females about having sex, some of them do not even know much about sex and never attempted to have sex with anyone. People make assumptions that Black people have sex a lot or do things that are inappropriate, which shows they are wrong about them and do not understand the feelings and aspects of black people and how living in the same society with them is hard. Overall, it is time that all of us help Black members in our community feel welcomed in our society and not make them feel threatened because many of them are innocent and need our support to become better people. The way I have seen black people, they do not look "Loud, aggressive, or disrespectful" and not all of them have similar problems. 

What's Wrong With You

    This article mentions a teacher whose name is Ms. Steinberg who works hard to strengthen their students to become successful. While teaching, she sees that Jeremy is doing a magnificent job and likes playing the role as "Kenickie". He also gains experience while playing as Kenickie and it makes him a better actor as well as not only impressing Ms. Steinberg, but also himself. Later, his father Reverend Erb stops by to tell him how seeing his son playing as Kenickie is a bad role for him and wants him to be removed from having that role. This is a way to show hate and aggressiveness over his son doing what he thinks is best for himself as he expresses to Ms. Steinberg he does not like to see his son playing that role. He tells her, "I don't like the part Jeremy is playing, I think it sends the wrong message".  This shows that Reverend wants Ms Steinberg to remove Jeremy from playing as "Kenickie", but she tells Reverend she will not do that because as she sees Jeremy working, she knows Jeremy is a hard worker and deserves this position. Ms. Steinberg's goal is to make Jeremy feel great about himself, which is also a job Reverend as well, but Reverend does not like the act of his own son playing teenage roles.  Reverend is portraying Jeremy as someone who should be strong and acting his own age and not act like a teenager. In this section, Jeremy does a great job while playing his role which can lead him to even greater things Ms. Steinberg which includes "going out for dinner" or even having better roles in plays. Jeremy is doing what he thinks will make him look good and not letting anyone tell him what to do. Nonetheless, Reverend was right about one thing which was "Most people (grownups) don't like teenagers, they don't trust them, and certainly wanting to be around them is suspect", but it seemed like Jeremy liked the attention of working with teenagers and Reverend did not like it. It takes courage from someone unique to support you by telling you hw great you are, the skills and talents you bring to the extra curricular space, and that you are being yourself. Nobody would you appreciate you the same way as someone else would. We all have different mindsets. After reading this section, I learned from my pasts that I do not have a mindset or a preference for working with anyone no matter how different they are whether they are teenagers. Anyone that supports you best is person that will always have your back and show leadership.  

Only a Beginning

    The last section of the article discusses about the different styles/needs youth have. It also tells me how youth need a space that not only makes them comfortable, but to also give us strategies on helping them find their path to become "leaders" in their community or educational journey. Before working with youth, something I learned from the passage was that we must understand their abilities and learning needs and see what could help them best to become better people instead of just having us find useful resources they may not want to acquire. Youth are here to be flexible and as a team, "We do not create a defined leader but a flexible view of one who leads; some will be tacit leaders, some will be overt, some will share leadership, and some will support it" (Steinberg, p.274) which will help our learning economy grow, especially for youth. Steinberg discusses youth in this section as passionate, knowledgeable, educated, and ready to become leaders. Not only are they people of different learning styles, they are also people of different ethnicities and are positive on becoming the people they want to be. Although this does not impact race, gender, class, etc., it shows that "Youth leaders are necessary to nurture in order to create a healthy and optimistic environment" (p.274) which changes leadership into empowerment, failure into success, and from being young learners to high achievers in their goals/plans. Looking back to my past, I realized how beginning my educational journey as a youth was not only starting school, but to also learn the concepts that could be happening in school such as how hard tests/papers will be, keeping track of my time, and finding the best people for support. As a youth myself, it is important for me to show people my struggles and with support from all other adults, that is what will help me be able to succeed and find my path as a Youth Development major. At times, it is hard for me to find help for my struggles, especially seeking advice from my peers. As a youth, it is important to express to people what support you need and how not only it will the change you as a learner, it can help people feel great about supporting you and can benefit from it as well.

From My Experience

    As a young person, I experienced prejudice in many areas of school, but one I remember in particular was in my Algebra One course. My teacher would ask every student to present a problem on the board. When my turn came up, I was scared to present my answer because I did not think my answer was correct. Also, I was afraid my classmates would make fun of me for getting an answer wrong. I told the teacher I was not ready today and she asked in front of the whole class why I did not feel ready to present in front of the class. As I told her that my answer may not be right, "She thought I was just making an assumption", but I was not. I was being serious and as I presented, she went over my mistake and told me what I had to do better. Some classmates were looking at me as someone who was not prepared and it started bothering me. When it came to the next day and so on, the people who had answers correct were getting most of their attention by the teacher, as for those who needed help like me, we were ignored and told to keep working harder. It felt as the teacher wanted to every student to get answers right the first time, which was the setting I was prejudiced and not feeling as a member of the class. By the time I presented and got the answer right, I was able to express how I was able to solve my problem, and only the teacher appreciated my skills. Most of my classmates ignored because I made mistakes and not talking a lot in class, but until then, someone came to me and said "Great job on the assignment" and I said to her "Thank you". She was someone who struggled like me and we became study peers. In college, I do not experience prejudice a lot, but I do fear of how I am performing and how I must succeed as well as finding ways to help me overcome my fears.