YOUTH WORK IS... CARE

Before doing the readings I understood care in education and Youth Development as caring for all students equally. To understand and get to know all of your students. When I say understand, I mean to genuinely try to understand your student, where they come from, their life/ background, where they struggle, their needs and how they learn best, so you can care for them and support them the best way possible. To encourage and push youth to succeed and support them along the way. To provide them with basic needs. To show them warmth, love, attention and support. To accommodate all your students needs. To look after and protect youth, etc. For this post I chose quotes from "Nice is Not Enough" by Sonia Neito and "Dear White Teachers: You Can't Love Your Black Students if You Don't Know Them" by Bettina Love. 

"A warm, friendly, helpful teacher is nice but it isn’t enough. We have plenty of warm friendly teachers who tell the kids nicely to forget their Spanish and ask mommy and daddy to speak to them in English at home; who give them easier tasks so they won’t feel badly when the work becomes difficult; who never learn about what life is like at home or what they eat or what music they like or what stories they have been told or what their history is. Instead, we smile and give them a hug and tell them to eat our food and listen to our stories and dance to our music. We teach them to read with our words and wonder why it’s so hard for them. We ask them to sit quietly and tell them what’s important and they must know to get ready for the next grade. And we never ask them who they are and where they want to go." 

This quote stood out to me because I feel like as a teacher you shouldn't focus on what is going to be easier for your students, you should focus on what it going to challenge them and if they struggle with it, you should assist them. As a teacher you're not helping your students by giving them easy work because you feel bad, you're only allowing them to stay stuck or fall behind. It's also important to understand your students history and where they come from so you can best accommodate them and support them. You shouldn't try to change the child's at home language or how they speak. How can you "care" for your students but not get to know them? or challenge them? or understand them and their needs and support them? A smile and a hug is nice but thats not all the students need. 

                       

Even as we purport to care about all students equally, we also often tolerate policies in our districts and schools that harm students of color, especially those who are poor and those for whom English is a second language: unequal resources, punitive high-stakes testing, and rigid ability-group tracking are some key examples."

How can you care for your students, specifically your students of color if you are not challenging the policies in your school and district that are affecting students of color, who are poor and students whom English is their second language? Some teachers may feel like the policies is above their job and they shouldn't try to change it or care but they should. It affects their students and if you "care" about "all" your students you should try to dismantle the system and fight for new policies that support ALL students EQUALLY. Also, to make sure that all students have the same resources and access to additional support. 

"Future teachers should be required to take classes such as African studies, African-American studies, Latinx studies, Caribbean studies, Chicana/o studies, Asian and Southeast Asian studies, and Native American studies."

I feel like all teachers especially teachers without an understanding of other cultures and languages should have to take the courses listed above. Taking those courses may be a start to understanding and learning about it but even taking those courses would not be enough if you're not genuinely trying to understand your students and their culture/history. In addition to taking the courses I think teachers should have to volunteer or intern in urban communities to understand the challenges you may face teaching in that environment and how under resourced it is. 

I loved both articles. I think they were both very informative and eyeopening. I had similar views on what care in Education and Youth Development looked like but these articles definitely expanded my views. I think these articles did a great job breaking down what care really looks like in Educational settings. Care is so much more than smiling with and hugging your students.