{"id":59570,"date":"2019-08-12T15:20:58","date_gmt":"2019-08-12T19:20:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=59570"},"modified":"2019-08-12T15:22:31","modified_gmt":"2019-08-12T19:22:31","slug":"todays-youth-tackle-adult-sized-problems-say-brock-profs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2019\/08\/todays-youth-tackle-adult-sized-problems-say-brock-profs\/","title":{"rendered":"Today\u2019s youth tackle adult-sized problems, say Brock profs"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the United Nations marking Monday, Aug. 12 as International Youth Day<\/a>, two Brock University professors say today\u2019s youth are taking matters into their own hands to solve the world\u2019s problems.<\/p>\n

\u201cYoung people seem to be changing the world,\u201d said Shauna Pomerantz, Associate Professor of Child and Youth Studies (CHYS). \u201cI don\u2019t recall living through a time where young people have been so vocal, active and heard.\u201d<\/p>\n

The United Nations established International Youth Day to celebrate and encourage youth around the world. This year\u2019s theme \u2014 transforming education \u2014 highlights efforts, including efforts by youth themselves, to make education more relevant, equitable and inclusive.<\/p>\n

According to Pomerantz and her CHYS colleague, Professor Rebecca Raby, a key to transforming education would be to acknowledge inequality and confront ideology that values independence and self-reliance above compassion and community.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Brock University Associate Professor Shauna Pomerantz, left, and Professor Rebecca Raby from the Department of Child and Youth Studies say young people are speaking out about social issues at a younger age than ever before.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cTackling things such as gender inequality, racism, heterosexism and environmental degradation in schools would contribute to the notion that we are an interconnected community of people who need to support and help each other,\u201d said Pomerantz. \u201cAnd that can only benefit everyone in the end by creating more support systems, by helping people do well, by helping people achieve satisfying careers and goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

The complexities of academic success, in particular when it comes to \u2018smart girls,\u2019 has been one focus for Raby and Pomerantz. Their research points to the importance of school culture in nurturing student success \u201cfor diverse young people, including LGBTQ kids and new immigrants who face particular challenges right now,\u201d said Raby.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not the case that we\u2019re post-racism, post-classism and post-sexism,\u201d she said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t do anybody any favours to pretend these issues don\u2019t exist.\u201d<\/p>\n

When it comes to gender diversity, \u201cbroadening what is acceptable in the school is a gateway to endless possibilities,\u201d said Pomerantz. \u201cThat\u2019s what transformation in education can mean \u2014 not just changing curriculum, hiring excellent teachers or creating policies, but at the social level broadening what is possible in all directions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raby and Pomerantz agreed that, while \u201cgreat work\u201d is currently being done in many schools, there remains lots of work to do.<\/p>\n

When they wrote Smart Girls: Success, School, and the Myth of Post-Feminism<\/em><\/a>, Hillary Clinton looked poised to become the president of the U.S., a sign for many that gender equality had been achieved.<\/p>\n

Instead, the election of Donald Trump \u201cconfirmed for many girls and women that gender inequality continues to exist and needs confrontation,\u201d Raby said.<\/p>\n

The 2017 book investigated how self-identified smart girls managed their academic and extra-curricular achievements while dealing with stress, perfectionism, race and class issues, and sexism. Barely two-and-a-half years later, the authors wonder how different the focus of that book would be if they were writing it now.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the smart girl today would probably talk about political engagement of some kind,\u201d Pomerantz says. \u201cThere would be a broader awareness of the need for activism and the need to be heard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adults often fail to recognize the extent of young people\u2019s involvement or their right to a voice in the present, said Raby. For example, the civics classes that are compulsory in many Canadian high schools tend to be framed as a way to prepare kids for adulthood. But today\u2019s youth aren\u2019t prepared to wait that long.<\/p>\n

Amplified by social media, young people are making their voices heard now.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis seems to me to be the largest shift I have seen,\u201d said Pomerantz, pointing to the many \u201cincredible student-led activist movements\u201d around the world, including standing up against sexism, gun violence, the climate crisis, cuts to education and environmental degradation.<\/p>\n

For some young people who feel they must \u201cdo it all,\u201d adding political activism to the list of pressures facing them can be overwhelming.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe need to be conventionally attractive, super smart, athletic, and now also to be outspoken and involved can take a toll on young people,\u201d Raby said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the United Nations marking Monday, Aug. 12 as International Youth Day, two Brock University professors say today\u2019s youth are taking matters into their own hands to solve the world\u2019s problems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":59571,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7484,3319,4052,1,4,5,38],"tags":[45,7807,8153,1532,4211,31],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59570"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59570"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59576,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59570\/revisions\/59576"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}