Blog #6: Ideology

I aligned most with Critical Youth Development. It was no surprise to me that I fit into this category, mostly because I have always felt passionate about letting youth have their own voice in society. Especially when it comes to their personal beliefs and opinions. Too often we as a society let youth hide in the shadows while adults make all of the decisions without consulting with youth as a whole and seeing how they feel. It has always been important to me to see how youth interact with my community in particular, and how they interact with their cultures. I work with children of all ages, races, and ethnicities; so it is important to me that each child knows that they have a voice of their own and that it is critical for them to use that voice to make a change. I feel that as a society we need to start taking our youth's voice and feelings more seriously, for they are the overall future of our society after we are gone. It is important to not only listen to what they have to say, but to be compassionate and show a sense of care and devotion. 

For me in particular, it is crucial to discuss important topics with youth, such as sex, relationships, and other topics such as racism and homophobia. These topics are often left undiscussed at home, since some families (mine included) are afraid of bringing them up. I wish as a child that someone in my family had better educated me about sex, healthy relationships, and racism/homophobia, because I had to learn all of these things on my own in society which made it 10x more difficult to understand. If someone close to me, an adult in particular, had taught me about healthy relationships/sex, I could have possibly avoided a 2 year abusive relationship. Overall, as youth workers, it is critical for us to have a voice with youth, but to also let the youth have a voice of their own.