Section IV- Historical Connections, Sociology Frameworks and Literature Review

   

    There are many social forces that have impacted the youth of Boston.  Poverty, Discrimination, and violence are ones that have deeply impacted the youth of Boston.

            Poverty, Discrimination, and violence are three things that no one wants to have to deal with.  The Boston are has such a high rate of all these, and many people are able to cope with  them, but for those that are not able to, they do not know how to adapt to these social forces. From my personal view I would say that this mainly affects the youth, because adults have been through it, and they understand, and know ways that can help them get through these obstacles known as social forces.

            Whereas, for youth they are going through a great deal of thing like trying to be accepted by their friends, being successful in their education as well as many other things.  Then, to have deal with these issues as well as other problems they have to deal with these three social forces that can only bring them down even more is only hurting them, and discouraging them even more just to stop trying to make it, and this results into horrible acts, or setting themselves up for failure, which is a horrible thing to say, but it occurs in the Urban areas of Boston to a great of “youth: dealing with social forces.  When you don’t have anyone there to help you overcome these negative social forces then you begin to believe it is okay, and that you should just settle for lower standards, which is should not be the case.

            This all goes beck to the fat of youth activism as well as activism as a whole.  There should be more of it, because for those, who have anyone there to help them make it or inspire them to do better so that they make something of their lives, and not to become another statistic. Nowadays, seeing that the youth in Boston have gaining this reputation of being violent, non-social able, etc that has created this thing called ephebiphobia, which is the fear of teens.  This is something that a great number of adults have, which stops them from wanting to help the youth,  This is something that not helping the youth, but it is crippling them from overcoming the fact that they have dug this hole that they can’t get out of, because they need assistance with climbing out of.  If adults turn their backs on the youth so that they can’t get out of the hole then the youth are just going to dig a deeper hole for themselves, which will only continue to get worse for the youth.  Then when its gets to its worst people then believe that they should step in, and help, and by then it will be too late, and by then, “heaven only knows” what will happen by then.

            To sum it up social forces influences and impact human lives a great deal.  Whether they have negative or positive social forces the human race will react towards them differently. The reaction may be excellent or it may be horrible.  In the case of youth it may be a little rocky, because they do not know how they will react toward and its worst when they have no one there to guide them toward the right the direction. This is the story of the youth in Boston, and if they are given more direction, and if they had people there that make them seem like they are important then this can help limit some of the problems that the state of Massachusetts ahs due to the fact of the youth.

           

            When you go into PAR and youth activism there are many things that you should know just from a being a “youth” in the community There are many stereotypes as well as other things that are formed by the community that are set up to create obstacles so that the “youth” aren’t able to move away from, and make it to be something more the what the community expects them to be.  This is something that I find to be a horrible that we as the community has, because we are so use to seeing the “youth” failing and throwing their lives away, and buy us setting up them up for failure and saying that they will not make it to be better then what they we are use to seeing then we are only helping them go down the wrong road.  It is sad to the community doesn’t expect to much from the “youth” today due to the fact of the reputation that a certain amount of “youth” have done, which is unfair, because this is categorizing all youth to being capable of the same achievement, because a great number wants to do the same acts that are ones that they know aren’t appreciated.  This is not only brings down the reputation of all the youth, but it also, makes it hard for those that are trying hard to something with their lives, because they already have these stereotypes on them that says that they are just like the other youth of their community, and this is not fair to them, but it also, creates something called structured racism, which is racism just structured.

            It may seem like this is something that we as you created for ourselves, but that may  be the case, but everyone is created the same, but they all act differently, and make different decision, because there I something call “free will”. Many people don’t think about that, because they are ignorant.  Ignorance is something that a great deal of the human race is, because they have in their heads that if they are exposed to something then that’s all they need to know, and everything else doesn’t matter, which isn’t the case, and everyone today needs to be educated, and maybe the high ignorance would be lowered.  This can help with youth trying to do activism PAR today.  Between structured racism, ephobephoibia, as well as many other things that can bring you down, when trying to be an activist this something that everyone should know about this van help you prepared for what is the “real world”.

 

            When I first started the PAR internship I though t that it would be a waste of time and that people would just see me as another teen not doing nothing with their life due to the fact of the reputation the youth has.  For the simple fact that I am a young female that being a female youth the statistics show that you are either pregnant, a drop out, just doing that prodective with my life.  By knowing these things I decided that I display to the internship that there are young females out there are young females out there are currently enrolled in school, and have no children, and plan on becoming something other then another statistics. Once I was placed at my site I made sure that I portrayed myself as a sophisticated young woman, by showing up on time, coming when I was scheduled to come in, and I made sure that I was professional about everything I said and did when I was present on the site, and when I around the employees of the internship.  By doing this, I felt very good about myself, because I felt as though I was changing the view of some adults, who had epaphobia, because they always exposed to negative acts of the youth.  By me displaying the total opposite this is something that I was proud to do.

            In my opinion if you are a youth you want to do something, and don’t believe that no adult will believe in you then should display your best qualities all the time, and show people that you are dedicated, and you are serious in what you want to peruse whether it be youth activism or just trying to promote something that you strongly believed in. Activism is the action to affect changes in the government.  We the “youth” can make a difference in the world today as long as we believe in ourselves.

            In the story of this country is that the wealthy are entitled to everything, and the poor are the ones, who really need resources and they are considered to work for it.  That may seem a little unfair, but that’s the story of this country.  The story is this way because we have a social pyramid, and it was created to make sure that everyone in the community knows their places and their roles, and it will create some type of organization. In a way it does keep the society in shape in line, but the social pyramid it also built so that you can’t rise above to the next class if you are in the lower class, but it is so easy to fall down into a lower class.  This is a question that I wonder about every since I read an article about the social pyramid.

            In this country usually the white race is the superior race to the others meaning in minorities in other words Latinos and African Americans, but nor all because some may be blessed with being in the higher class.  This takes place in class, economic status, and even education.  White people are usually born in higher classes so they are obligated to the finer things in life, and the better resources.

            Now that you know this you will be able to understand and maybe in a way break the chain that they have set so that others couldn’t move into other classes,a nd so that everyone should be obligated to just as many resources as everyone else. No matter the skin color or class.  Now when you think about it, it seems as though they still have us the African American race still in slavery whether or not we notice it with the social structure.  It is something that makes sure that we stay down in out place and never get higher to the next level if we were in the middle or lower class.  This make you think whether or not it was created so that it could form some type of racism.  Or structured racism”, which is structured racism.

            Education is something that helps foster the qualities that the human race has held within them selves. With education you have schools and teachers that help foster these qualities, which are excellent to have schools. The reason that I say that is that some schools within certain areas cater to their surroundings.  For instance, if they are located in the suburbs then they are usually the ones that are given the most resources that help them gain the better results in statistics and help them better prepare their students for college as well as the real world. This is excellent for the students that attend the school in the urban areas, who have more students, but have fewer resources, which enable them to equip all or even some students with all the resources they need in order to be prepared for the real world and college as well.  This is something that should not occur, it almost like schools are going hand and hand with the social pyramid on how the higher are obligated to the better resources and the middle and the lower just get what the higher doesn’t really need, even if they need them.

            From reading all different types of readings, questions begin to form in my head that I know a numerous of people have, but don’t want to ask. Do people really feel as though that one group should be limited to certain things because they don’t have the same amount of money that they are blessed with? Or do they deserve it and why?  In my opinion, I fee as though you are already blessed with enough money and everything that they shouldn’t receive a better education, everyone should receive the same education as everyone else.  It’s unfair to treat one better then the other.  If you don’t have enough to give one then you cant give the other is what my grandmother always says, which is very much true.  It caused commotion, which has done now, and makes one feel superior to the other. No one should feel this way, because we should be treated equally, because we all treated equally as to “GOD”, and no one should be the one to make one feel better, because they are not “GOD”.

            In the end, I feel as though the story of our county today is that the one has the most money are the ones that are exposed to the better resources and etc, which isn’t fair, because god made everyone the same and that’s a fact but he already blesses you doesn’t meant that you should take advantage of it, because some may not be as blessed.  This doest mean that you are the chosen one just me that he decided to give you a little extra to see how you would react, and use your extra.  If you seem to just show off and display to others that you have the finer things in life then you are just displaying that you shouldn’t haven’t been given what you were given by him.  This also, shows how our social structure should be adjusted so that we all should be able to move up not down in the pyramid.

            When I was first assigned this project I though that it would be boring, but when I was told that it was something that we could pick, to write about, and even though I wanted to talk about violence I decided that I needed to talk about something that had to deal with my PAR internship so seeing that the internship was a program that assisted people that wanted to be teachers that had there associated degree, and attending college. I thought this was a perfect internship, because being a student that has been in the Boston Public system for about 18 years I was interesting in how teachers become teachers.  With this internship I was ale to find out, and this was exciting on my behalf.

            A literature review allows the researchers to “carry dialogue” with previous study            work in the area.  Once I knew what I was doing that when I decided to select my topic and that was the “Achievement Gap”. This was something that was very interesting, because I had ready this packet my class was assigned over February break “Closing the Achievement Gap: How schools are making it happen”.  This was something that I wanted to furthermore study, because I wanted to know why there was an achievement gap and what was the cause of it.

            “Achievement Gap is the study if the performance of groups of students, through gender, race, or ethnicity”. (Achievement Gap) In the different articles that I found broke down the reason why we had achievement gap, and they all basically said that it had something to do with the economic status.  This all goes back to the social pyramid, which means that those that are more fortunate are the ones that receive a great deal if the resources, which help the achievement gap occur. “It most often describes the issue of low-income/minority education in the Unites States; that is, black and Latinos and students from poor families perform worse in school than their well-off white and Asia peers” (Achievement gap: internet).  This is something that makes me think about whether or not, because you are less fortunate that means that you don’t deserve the better resources, and then you are caught in the achievement gap, because you lack money.

            “Economical disadvantaged families are one factor, people with disabilities, limited English Profiency” are other factor according to the National Governors Association.  These factors that keep the achievement gap alive, when a student falls behind it is the “Public schools responsibility to make programs so that they close the achievement gap. (NGA)  This is something that damages the minority students in the long run, because, “by the time (minority students) reach grade 12, if they do so at all, minority students are about four years behind other young people” (NGA). This is something that a great deal of people doesn’t know, and this is very important I believe.  If many people knew especially parents maybe that would help with getting the government to try, and close the “Achievement gap” that we have.  The one thing that worries me is that this information that the Government has gathered about the “Achievement Gap” why haven’t they closed it. In understand that it is a lot of work, but if they continue to cut programs to other things with the money what is the point in discussing the “Achievement Gap”.  It seems like they want to keep the gap alive so that they can in a way benefit from it in some way.  I don’t get it, because they know what’s causing the gap and the factors, and what can help close it.  Why have they only tried to close it in certain areas, all states should be getting treated for the “Achievement Gap” not just a certain area!

            In the end, I feel as though this information shouldn’t be just in the internet, but also, somewhere everyone can see, and voice their opinions on it. I feel as though this is something that everyone has a problem with, but they are not exposed to it so they can’t make a huge deal of it.  If this continues to occur then in the end, the minority students will continue to do lower then those of white students that have more resources, money, and, who are exposed to well resourced education, and schools.  We already know that whites that attend schools in the well resources’ they are being taught by teachers, ho have their degrees. Some of the teachers in the Boston Public system have teacher teaching, and they dint even have their licenses to teach.  This is something that shouldn’t be the case.  We shouldn’t have to settle for less even though we are considered lesser then the other schools.  I believe that seeing that the state, and the board of education notices that there is an “achievement gap”, and they have all studies they should know how to limit them as well as fast as they can  detect them!  By them knowing all this information about, and only something being done in certain area isn’t helping as well.  Something should be dine in every area/state that needs assistance with closing the “achievement gap”. This is something that I am very worried about, because here I am in the 12th grade about to graduate, and I want to know whether or not I am 4years behind another white student that is like in the 9th grade that knows the same information, and more. I am concerned for the next generation, and the one to come, “Achievement gap” needs to be dealt with, and fast before minorities’ gaining their degrees from college.  This gap needs to be closed, and fast, because it’s not allowing us, the minorities to achieve over the gap that has been placed since slavery.