I'm having a love-hate relationship with the new Fox series Glee. The premise is that a bunch of high school 'misfits' form a glee club under the auspices of a teacher who is also having problems in his own life. For the first few weeks the show split the kids fairly predictably down the usual televised lines: jocks and cheerleaders, the effeminate boy, the Asian chick, the black girl, and the Jewish girl. Each had their stereotypes firmly in place.
In last night's episode, though, they started to break them down. One of the emerging themes has been what is the best way to help these young adults. As Rachel, the bullied Jewish girl who sees her voice as her ticket to likeability, says to the teacher: "You help everyone else, but you don't know what to do for me." She hits on something vital here. When it comes to all the other kids, their problems are obvious, and are generally eased by giving them a confidence boost. Rachel has confidence already. What she needs from glee club is a social connection with people who will not judge her or mock her for having that confidence.
Talking about teen services, I think it can be easy to overlook the Rachels. They may come into the library and seem to have all the answers already and our focus remains on those teens who are not so confident. But Rachel's development is equally important. This is why it is vital to try, as much as it is possible, to know each teen, whether it is only for a moment or for a longer period, depending on often s/he comes into the library.
Young adults are often made to feel unwelcome. In Glee, the kids are in the club because they don't fit in anywhere else. However, the club is now giving them the confidence to branch out. Kurt, the effeminate boy, has joined the football team and come out to his father. (On a side note, the show's handling of Kurt's coming out story arc was one of the things that brought me around to truly liking the show.) The jock and the cheerleader have opened themselves up to accepting others' differences because of glee club. Likewise, the library can serve as a place for young adults to hang out with peers who they normally wouldn't. I see this as an inspirational start.
The important thing is to first provide a space where they are welcome.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Adapting Across the Lines
Both of this week's readings are about change. Or, to put it more accurately, adaptation. Gorman writes about how the librarian can adapt her attitude to welcome YAs into the library and provide a place where they feel comfortable and as welcome as the children or adults. Prensky writes about the differences between people who did not grow up in the digital age and the difficulties they have teaching the generations that are.
It seems to come down to a hurdle--jumping over the block that tells us teenagers should behave like fully-formed adults or that there is only one way to learn and it involves books and hours of dedicated study. I find myself on the edge of the digital age. We had computers in the house in the 1980's, and I remember the 'internet' back then, which was a black screen with green or white text that my father would type a question into and ten minutes later he'd get an answer. Wow. I remember each step of the internet's progression into what it is today.
YAs now do not have a historical memory of technology, at least not one as drastic as mine.
Does this make us unable to relate to each other on that level? I don't think so. Who knows, they could be interested in learning about the old days...
The greater issues could be the stereotypes that Gorman claims we hold against each other. Judgmental and overprotective. Noisy and disruptive. The male-female ratio and racial differences, too. They all push together in a recipe for confrontation. However, this can be offset by being firm yet open with the YAs. Welcome them, talk to them, hear them, and let them decide to behave or to leave. I have no idea if this last part will work in practice, but it seems better than yelling.
It seems to come down to a hurdle--jumping over the block that tells us teenagers should behave like fully-formed adults or that there is only one way to learn and it involves books and hours of dedicated study. I find myself on the edge of the digital age. We had computers in the house in the 1980's, and I remember the 'internet' back then, which was a black screen with green or white text that my father would type a question into and ten minutes later he'd get an answer. Wow. I remember each step of the internet's progression into what it is today.
YAs now do not have a historical memory of technology, at least not one as drastic as mine.
Does this make us unable to relate to each other on that level? I don't think so. Who knows, they could be interested in learning about the old days...
The greater issues could be the stereotypes that Gorman claims we hold against each other. Judgmental and overprotective. Noisy and disruptive. The male-female ratio and racial differences, too. They all push together in a recipe for confrontation. However, this can be offset by being firm yet open with the YAs. Welcome them, talk to them, hear them, and let them decide to behave or to leave. I have no idea if this last part will work in practice, but it seems better than yelling.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Week 1: 12-15 Year Olds--too old to wave for attention, too young to stage protests about it
This week the reading (and thank you, UPS man for bringing me the book last night!) is about understanding the youth audience. Teens, to me, are a fairly mysterious entity. I have one cousin who is a teenager, but I'm not certain if she counts anymore because she's 19 and in college, so I'm pretty sure there's a cut off there. In any case, my primary exposure to teens en masse these days is on the subway or at CVS right when school lets out. I see them at their most raucous, when they have just been released from forced order and quiet and are letting all their energy out by out-talking each other and playfully shoving each other around.
I generally try not to get in their way.
This is not to say that teens intimidate me. I simply understand that I am encountering them in a moment when they definitely do not desire an adult to be butting in in any capacity. I used to think quite a lot about teen services (or Young Adult services, as surveys have shown older teens prefer to be called, so I should probably start doing that...) So. I used to think a lot about teen *and* young adult services in my hometown, which is very small and had wonderful library programs for children but none for kids twelve and up. The town itself had nothing for kids that age, so in reading over the chart of internal and external assets that young people need to achieve their full potential, I was silently checking off each one as 'no, didn't have that, or that one either...'
I think that the kids aged between 13-15 are too often ignored by society. It seems that people don't really know what to do with them. Here are the kids in an age range where they are forming their traits that will see them through their lives, and yet there is a veritable black hole of services and programming available to them. Are they children? Are they young adults? What must it be like for them to age out of a children's program and find that the young adult programs are not suited for them? This is what I saw happening in my town.
My personal goal for a YA services program would be one that could serve all ages from 12-high school graduation with divisions of appropriateness, at first glance by age level, but more importantly by what the patron needed. Libraries and librarians are a social cornerstone that can be vital in the transition from youth to adult. Especially in situations where teens are without parental guidance for the majority of their day, the library should be able to provide a place of support where they can feel able to be themselves, to play on the computer if they want, but especially to feel that they have the support they need and the opportunities they need to achieve what they want now and to feel important now. No child should have to wait to feel validated.
I generally try not to get in their way.
This is not to say that teens intimidate me. I simply understand that I am encountering them in a moment when they definitely do not desire an adult to be butting in in any capacity. I used to think quite a lot about teen services (or Young Adult services, as surveys have shown older teens prefer to be called, so I should probably start doing that...) So. I used to think a lot about teen *and* young adult services in my hometown, which is very small and had wonderful library programs for children but none for kids twelve and up. The town itself had nothing for kids that age, so in reading over the chart of internal and external assets that young people need to achieve their full potential, I was silently checking off each one as 'no, didn't have that, or that one either...'
I think that the kids aged between 13-15 are too often ignored by society. It seems that people don't really know what to do with them. Here are the kids in an age range where they are forming their traits that will see them through their lives, and yet there is a veritable black hole of services and programming available to them. Are they children? Are they young adults? What must it be like for them to age out of a children's program and find that the young adult programs are not suited for them? This is what I saw happening in my town.
My personal goal for a YA services program would be one that could serve all ages from 12-high school graduation with divisions of appropriateness, at first glance by age level, but more importantly by what the patron needed. Libraries and librarians are a social cornerstone that can be vital in the transition from youth to adult. Especially in situations where teens are without parental guidance for the majority of their day, the library should be able to provide a place of support where they can feel able to be themselves, to play on the computer if they want, but especially to feel that they have the support they need and the opportunities they need to achieve what they want now and to feel important now. No child should have to wait to feel validated.
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