After watching the video Creating Culturally Relevant Education I have learned a lot about
how a youth worker like myself can work across different cultural boundaries.
One story that stuck out for me the most was from a student from Nigeria that
moved to the states and then had to go back to Nigeria for his entire 7th
grade education, but then returned back to the United States to continue on
with his education. Why should a student with a different cultural and educational
background go through all this trouble? As a youth worker, we need to be more
understanding and look to learn from youth as well as teach them about other
cultures. We need to be able to support and help the youth in their academic
environment and their personal lives in order for them to succeed and choose
the right paths.
As youth workers we must also involve the parents of
our youth in the everyday events that occur. This can be done by notifications
or getting the parents to volunteer and get involved in the school systems and
programs in order for us to understand the cultures. An example of this was
when I was in elementary school. My class had a culture week where each day
three different students brought in their parents with a special dish from
their culture to share with the class and introduce them to their cultures.
Schools and programs need to intertwine lessons like this more often. This will
help not only the teachers learn about the culture the student is from but also
for the students to learn about the different cultures in their society as
well.
All in all we must look at the diverse races,
cultures, and different learning strategies as equal and none superior to the
other. Youth workers shouldn’t take any of societies stigmas and stereotypes
from stopping them in supporting and helping our youth of tomorrow. As one
Youth in Action parent said in the video, we must challenge ourselves and learn
about the community we work in and also learn about the different cultures the
youth are bringing into the society and programs.
