"Common Sense" About Youth

In this 250-500 word blog post, use quotes and examples from the text to talk about how the deeply held beliefs/assumptions about  “raging hormones, teenage angst, and gawky, insecure, risk-taking adolescents” (8) can be dangerous and damaging to young people who want to lead.  

Jessica Brotka

Blog #2

This chapter, Framing Youth: Writing ‘Youth’ in Social Contest is about youth and what people view of them. The chapter Bogad focus is on, “In this chapter I will review some of the literature about youth to examine how researchers and scholars have struggled to identify and unlearn many of the dominant discourses the frame young people.” (Bogad, p.2)

 People believe that youth are unable to have the skills necessary to guide or handle things on their own. They are unable to take control of the situations. One example from the text that shows ‘how deeply held beliefs/assumptions about “ranging/hormones, teenage angst, and gawky, insecure, risk-taking adolescents” is when Bogad discusses the magazine cover. She talks about how people view youth, and the example of the magazine cover can prove her point whether it’s true or not. With Kate Holmes posing on the cover in seductive manor as a youth it gives the readers more reason to have these beliefs about youth. Seeing youth in inappropriate setting like magazine covers wearing little clothing, getting pregnant, and in trouble are examples of what people think of youth.

 “We come to know youth as incomplete, in-transition, finding themselves, hormone-driven, emotional, in-experienced, and always in opposition to the adults in their lives.” (Bogad, p.) This quote I believe is true because we don’t give youth the benefit of the doubt. Now a day’s youth are learning things more from other youth instead of by the adults, this can be threatening to adults. There is so much more to youth then this. I hear it all the time “I have been that age, I know what it’s like.” At one point in everyone’s life they have been that age but people experienced things different. Time has changed and  people have changed, this influences children and youth. I thought this statement was good because it was clear and got right to the point, The quote states “But to rely on that which we already know is to reproduce that which we already “know.” (Bogad, p.3)

The Columbine shooting was a tragedy and the many shootings after that. People thought there was something wrong with the youth but it isn’t everyone youth that has done such a horrible thing. It is an example of stigmatizing because they felt that there is something wrong with all the youth. “This “secret life” garnered national concern in a few ways in the aftermath of the 1999-2000 North American school shootings – post-Columbine headlines asked, “How well do you know your kids?” (Newsweek, 8/10/99),” What’s wrong with America’s youth?” and “Are the Kids Alright?” (Syracuse New Times, 5/19/99). (Bogad, p.5) Many people in this chapter have different views of youth. Hine (1999) argues that “these qualities- the things we love, fear and think we know about the basic nature of young people- constitute a teenage mystique: a seductive but damaging way of understanding young people”(11) You can’t just say you know the person everyone is different, assuming you know everything about the child or youth it can be damaging to them because you will not want to hear anything they have to say.