Framing Youth

"We come to know youth as incomplete, in-transition, finding themselves, hormone-driven, emotional, inexperienced, and always in opposition to the adults in their lives."

"Youth are to be feared, controlled, contained, and as Nathan noted, "kept in".

"If adolescence is a socially constructed category through which young people are understood as defined by age, distinct from adults, and yet undifferentiated from each other, is there any “truth” to the experience of adolescence?"

These were just a few of the many quotes that stuck out to me while reading Framing Youth, a piece taken from Feed Your Mind: A Qualitative Study of Youth, Power and Privilege, written by Lesley Bogad. Bogad discusses the concepts of common sense and how this can limit our ability to see young people as future competent leaders. We believe in various stereotypes about youth because as stated in the article, "we were once young". We have these representations about youth and how it feels to be a young person because at one point we were all young. However, different people may have experienced different situations at different ages. For example, some of us, like myself, had my first job at just fifteen years old. Once in the workplace, I really started to feel like an adult. However, adults were there to remind me that I was still just an adolescent and did not have as much freedom as I thought. So even though I myself felt like I was transitioning from a adolescent to an adult, adults had a different perspective, especially my parents.

The media also plays a role in the distinction between an adult and adolescence. The example Bogad uses is a magazine cover of a famous actress who is celebrating her last day as a teen. She has a a young look to her but you can also see that the cover shows her "pissed off and sexy side". In addition to magazine covers, this is also true for televisions shows, music, and movies. Directors and song writers write about things that teens are believed to have their own private thoughts on such as drugs, sex, and and their parents.

These types of stereotypes can be dangerous for young people who wish to be future leaders. Whether your child wishes to be the future leader of the United States or maybe just the leader of a club at school, various obstacles can get in the way. In order to help conquer these obstacles, I believe it is important to use the characteristics of youth work that we discussed last week. Let us advocate for and with youth, allow the young people have a voice when possible, assist in educational, social and welfare practices, and continue to actively challenge inequality and fight for social justice.