Youth Stereotypes

Lesley Bogad and Shirley Steinberg writes about some stereotypes about youth that the world sees. Lesley writes that adults see youth as incomplete, in-transition, inexperienced, finding themselves, hormone driven, and always opposed to adults. These stereotypes come from history and what adults have seen in the past. Kids are younger and have not lived as long as adults have and that is why adults have this misconceptions about youth. In the other reading Steinberg tells us a story about a father calling about the school’s theater program that she was running. At one point in the conversation he says that he does not like that she was giving the students decisions. It sounds like this father thinks that kids should always follow the adult’s rules and shouldn’t have any say in what they do. I think the father wants to control his son’s life because he thinks that his son is not old enough to make the right decision. A lot of parents tell their kids what they should do in life or what degree they should get when they go to college. The youth are going to be the leaders of the future and if youth workers give the leadership skills to the youth they will be great leaders. Lesley also talks about Life Magazine and an article the wrote about young people and it says that teens are self-indulged. They worry about themselves and not worry about things that adults do like work, health, and other things. There are some youth in the world who do worry about those things and do act like adults. There are many stereotypes that are put onto youth and it is not always like that. I was put into a leadership role when I was only 19 and at the time my boss had no idea that I was so young when he offered me the camp director position. I think he saw me for the worker I was and just not another kid who was working for him. Not a lot of people get the chance to be a leader at a young age and because they do not have enough experience or they are inexperienced. I know friends who have applied to work in a leadership position and turned down because they did not have enough work experience. I was lucky to be given the chance to lead and I ran with it.  

Comments

  1. Victoria RestlerSeptember 14, 2017 at 5:16 AM

    Thanks for your post Jacob. What did it feel like to be given that kind of leadership opportunity at 19? How did your boss at the time act towards you and how does/ might that inform your own work with youth? Thanks for sharing your reflections and experiences, Victoria

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