Since I started the youth development program I have learned so much about my identity and the racial identity of others. In my social work class we would talk about privilege, and it was interesting to see everyones prospective. I sort of understood what privilege meant when I entered the classroom but it was hard for me. I had gone through a tough childhood that had many obstacles and was a little offended that people would assume I had privilege. I soon realized that I confused the word privilege with experience. Even though my childhood was intense i still got certain privileges just because my skin was white. It was hard for certain people in my class to understand this and many reacted out of emotion, feeling as if there struggles weren't real or accounted for but, eventually the class had a great discussion and listened to everything everyone had to say. We treated everyone with respect and listened to their words and responded with facts and compassion. A quote from the reading that made me remember this conversation is as stated " when students are given the opportunity to explore race related material in a classroom where both their affective and intellectual responses are acknowledged and addressed, their level of understanding is greatly enhanced" (Page 2 Tatum). The conversation in my class didn't just last that day but for a couple of weeks. It was important to have every individual speak if they wanted to. It was a brave space that let students speak their mind and really learn about privileged. I think that that it should be mandatory to have these conversations in a classroom setting so everyone can understand and grasp the topic of privilege.
Knew: Before reading this article i had an idea of what the deficit approach was but not fully. I saw a study before that showed kids who have more after school activities had less of a chance of getting into things they shouldn't. Learned: This approach didn't work at all. As stated in the reading "they began to show that single-issue programs rarely achieved success in eliminating or even significantly reducing problem behaviors over time." Another reason this program didn't work is because it put kids into two separate groups, kids who needed help or "high risk" and kids that don't. We should also offer all activities to every single school. It isn't fair that some schools have more resources. Thoughts: I loved reading this and learning about youth development history.
Thanks for your post Mark. I appreciate your reflection on this SWRK class and the deep discussion of privilege that you explored. I think you're right that privilege can sometimes be a tricky term--and that this label for white folks can feel like a negation of very real life struggles. I wonder, what were the ingredients in that class that supported the brave space and allowed folks to stay with a challenging discussion?
ReplyDeleteI like how you were able to differentiate the words privilege and experience for yourself. I think the social work as well as the YDEV courses have very open and understanding spaces for conversations like these which are so important. It is also very important to listen to understand vs listening and responding and I think these spaces allow this for us all.
ReplyDeleteI like how you talked about how it can be an ongoing conversation in this setting and needs to be something that doesn't last one day in order for everyone to be able to speak what is on their mind and truly learn about the topic.
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