The scrutinized teen

I found chapter 7 of our book to be very interesting. The media basically implies that today's teenagers are killing more people, having more unprotected sex, and using drugs more and more. Because of the coverage teenage crimes get in the media, most Americans think that teenagers are violent creatures, with no regard for others. All in all, the media seems to be inflating facts about a group of people and stereotyping them all. Many groups of people are stereotyped (minorities, gays, etc) and these stereotypes are generally seen negatively in the eye of the media. However, the media often creates these stereotpyes by covering certain stories while not paying attention to others. It's important for us as educators to make our students aware of the bias look the media and many other age groups have against teenagers.
I found the section on "poverty violence" intriguing. First of all, I cannot stand racist people and think that anyone who thinks less of a person because of the color of their skin is very ignorant. Obviously there are other factors at play when a certain group has a problem not commiting crimes. That reminds me of a movie, "American History X," in which a Neo-Nazi is discussing the amount of Africn-American men incarcerated and says that they're genetically predetermined to commit crimes. People like this are so filled with hate that they don't look at the social inequalities that often place certain groups in a tough situation. Poverty is extremely tough for many people yet it doesn't mean all in poverty are murdering drug dealers. The media can often portray this yet we must warn our students about how the media can put a spin on things to show a side of something

Puberty is a phenomenon in which everyone experiences. During this strange and for some, difficult time, hormones begin to physically change humans from children into adults. During my time in college, I have taken a few courses that discuss puberty and the developmental and social changes that come with puberty. Yet for the first time, I actually will be dealing with children who are going through puberty. While they receive some information about the changes occurring in their body (growth of sexual characteristics, menarche, etc), I don't believe enough is done about sex education. This is a controversial topic because it's a touchy subject. How do we educate young teenagers about sex education? Some insist on abstinence until marriage. However, the Republican vice presidential nominee, Sarah Palin who insisted that abstinence until marriage was the best way to teach children about safe sex ended up having a pregnant teenage daughter. In my opinion, abstinence until marriage is extremely unrealistic and will never work in our society. Teenage pregnancies are widespread in out society, especially in lower ses communities. What is a plausible answer to help decrease the amount of teenage pregnancies? Do we hand out condoms to children and give a class on contraceptives and their proper usage? Some may argue that it's promoting sex between minors, however, nothing can stop two teenagers from doing what they please. In addition to better sex education, more research needs to be completed on puberty. The authors state that most studies are done on white, middle class, white adolescents and that there are, "...too few cross cultural and multiethnic studies have been conducted." In order to better understand this confusing and difficult part of students lives, researchers need to expand where they research across the spectrum.

Anti-Oppressive Education

The article, "Toward a Theory of Anti-Oppressive Education," reminded me of a group that was formed in my high school known as PATH. PATH was a group that stood for, Promoting Acceptance Toward all Humans. My high school was a suburban school that was predominantly white, middle class students with a small variety of minorities including asian-americans, african-americans, and had a few, as the other calls them, queer, students. This group promoted accepting these minority groups and all the teachers embraced this as a powerful tool to help include and accept these students as humans who should be respected. In other words, they created a supportive space for these students who were often not supported even by their parents. Since I come from a pretty conservative city, the majority of the student body hated PATH and rebelled against it by wearing shirts saying, "Its Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve," for example. While the attempt to promote unity between different groups was there, most students stuck to their ways and hated others who were different than they were. It's difficult and while be difficult for me and other future educators to promote respect for others who are different when the dominant group doesn't understand or doesn't want to understant other groups. However, I know that not all students will accept homosexuals, for example, yet they will respect them in the schools and any form of discrimination won't be tolerated.