Educating Urban Youth

By: Alayna Nkalubo

Before digging deeper into this lesson, what do you all think of when you see the term "urban youth"?

Learning Targets

The goal of this lesson is to help teachers gain a better understanding of how to properly teach and care for urban youth. I will also explain what urban youth is identified as. At end of this lesson:

Students will be able to identify and define the terms of urban youth
Students will be able to explain how to improve education within the urban youth
Students will be able to correctly identify and explain how schools implement success in the urban youth

A deeper look into Urban Youth

In this video, Urban Youth Impact introduced us to Phileas, a young boy who attends Urban Youth Impact. Urban Youth Impact is an after-school program in Florida that emphasizes the importance of catering to the urban youth and providing them with better opportunities. Phileas explained that before coming to Urban Youth Impact, he was "small" and "bad". However, after experiencing what Urban Youth has to offer, he said that he has changed for the better.

So what is Urban Youth?

Urban youth can be defined as children who have been raised in urban areas. Children who live in these areas are exposed to many issues, including high delinquency rates and unsafe, depressing living environments (Shaw, 1963). A lot of these children are people of color, with a few of them being of white descent (Shaw, 1963). Many children who are considered urban youth end up in sad situations as a result of their harsh upbringings. Being that they are introduced to the “street life” at such a young age, this leads to them trying different drugs, selling their bodies, and even experiencing homelessness as they grow older (Powers, Jaklitsch, 1993). Homelessness specifically is a major issue for urban youth, and it affects their education drastically. Their living situations cause them to lack in certain areas of school, such as attendance and missing assignments (Powers, Jaklitsch, 1993). Unfortunately, this has an effect on their self-esteem and them wanting to actively participate in a school setting (Powers, Jaklitsch, 1993).

How Have Schools Implemented Ways to Help the Urban Youth’s Futures?

Burnett (1992) recommended that urban youth attend a career academy as a way to improve their future. A lot of youth are prepared for the future in a scholarly aspect and lack proper work etiquette. However, a career academy is a school that offers helpful resources to its students to ensure they are familiarized with planning for their future, which includes obtaining a career (1992). Another way that schools have helped the urban youth is by creating different prevention programs for them. In the article “The Effectiveness of the Warning Signs Program in Educating Youth about Violence Prevention: A Study with Urban High School Students”, Schaefer-Schiumo and Gisenburg discussed the effects that Warning Signs Programs have on the youth (2003). Through these programs, students were able to properly pinpoint different violent scenarios which likely would not have been the case otherwise (Schaefer-Schuimo, Gisenburg, 2003).

Multiple Choice Questions

Question #1:

One of your students has been getting picked up late from school every day for the past month. When expressing concern to his mother about this situation, she explained to you that she is a single mom and does not have anyone to watch her son since she has two jobs. She also mentioned that she does not feel comfortable leaving him at home by himself because the area she stays in has a very high crime rate. What would you suggest to be the best option for her and her child?

A.) Suggest daycare options for her.

B.) Voice your concerns to social services.

C.) Tell her about the after-school program that the school offers.

Question #2:

What type of communities do urban youth come from?

A.) Unsafe, dangerous environments.

B.) Middle-class, average communities.

C.) Wealthy communities.

Answers

Conclusion

To conclude, it is very important that future educators take the time to properly learn about Urban Youth. You should want to know your students' backgrounds and why they may act the way that they do. Learning about where they come from can help you implement ways on how to cater to them within the classroom and be the best teacher that you can be!

References

Eric Development Team. (1992). ED355311 1992-12-00 career academies: Educating urban ... Retrieved February 8th, 2022, from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED355311.pdf

Powers, J. L., & Jaklitsch, B. (1993). Reaching the Hard to Reach: Educating Homeless Adolescents in Urban Settings. Education and Urban Society, 25(4), 394–409. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013124593025004006

Shaw, F. (1963). Educating Culturally Deprived Youth in Urban Centers. The Phi Delta Kappan, 45(2), 91–97. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20343043

Schaefer-Schiumo, K., & Ginsberg, A. P. (2003). The Effectiveness of the Warning Signs Program in Educating Youth about Violence Prevention: A Study with Urban High School Students. Professional School Counseling, 7(1), 1–8. http://www.jstor.org/stable/42732528

Urban Youth Impact - Get to Know Phileas. (2018). Retrieved February 22, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kDH18Iby6k.

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