All posts by Leslie Hargett

When Does Adulthood Begin?

Perspectives & History of Adolescence, Urban Adolescents

“People between 20 and 34 are taking longer to finish their educations, establish themselves in careers, marry, have children and become financially independent, said Frank F. Furstenberg, who leads the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Transitions to Adulthood, a team of scholars who have been studying this transformation. ‘A new period of life is emerging in which young people are no longer adolescents but not yet adults,’ Mr. Furstenberg said.”

“Long Road to Adulthood is Growing Even Longer” – Patricia Cohen, The New York Times

Continue reading When Does Adulthood Begin? →

MVP #2 – Leslie Hargett

Observing to Learn and Learning to Observe, Urban Adolescents

“These stereotypical images we hold of certain groups are powerful in influencing what people see and expect of students. Unless educators consciously try to undermine and work against these kinds of stereotypes, they often act on them unconsciously. Our assumptions related to race are so deeply entrenched that it is virtually impossible for us not to hold them unless we take conscious and deliberate action” (Noguera 30).

 

I found this passage from “Joaquín’s Dilemma” particularly thought provoking because it made me stop and think about underlying stereotypical images that I held because of my own school experience. I went to middle and high school in a very white-dominated, more affluent suburb of St. Louis, and in all of my honors or AP classes throughout high school, I could count on one hand the number of minority students in my classes. Therefore, I think I subconsciously began making assumptions about different groups of students that took particular levels of classes.

 

Moving forward as an educator, I want to try and take ‘conscious and deliberation action’ against these stereotypes, as Noguera recommends. My personal experience is not indicative of the entire population as a whole, and the assumptions that I may have made subconsciously do not have credibility. I want to strive to treat all my future students fairly and with as little of influence from stereotypes as possible, and although I know that this is a difficult task to carry out, I do personally believe that it will be one of the most important aspects of being an educator of adolescents.

MVP #1 – Leslie Hargett

Culturally, Linguistically, and Socioeconomically Diverse Adolescents in Urban Contexts: Framing the Conversation, Urban Adolescents

 

“Poor, Black, Learning Disabled, and Graduating”

 

“A persistent theme throughout all of the interviews was that these young men and women had to forgo any, if not all, peer relationships within the context of school. This theme was so persistent that we felt that it represented a form of isolationism. Although we originally coded this theme as a risk because we believed a lack of peer friendships to be a risk factor, we later decided that it actually represented a somewhat disturbing protective process based on the fact that affiliation with deviant peer can contribute to dropping out of school (Battin-Pearson et al., 2000) along with the very real potential of exposure to deviant peers within this particular setting” (Murray and Naranjo 152).

 

I found this passage particularly interesting because relationships within the classroom and during other school activities—whether they are extracurricular or in the lunchroom—are pivotal to student development. However, in this study, Murray and Naranjo find that these youth often have to avoid their troublesome and perhaps rule breaking peers in order to succeed within school. By doing this, do these students miss out on the crucial stages of identity development that occur during adolescence?

 

While reading this passage, I immediately thought back to Michael Nakkula’s piece “Identity and Possibility: Adolescent Development and the Potential of Schools” in which he asserts the idea that many individuals experience an identity crisis during adolescence and that sports and other activities greatly promote relationship development and the growth of their identity. What exactly are these students that pursue courses of isolationism missing out on during their high school careers? Furthermore, what can educators do in schools such as the one studied by Murray and Naranjo to decrease the need for this sort of isolationism?