Here are some thoughts on my reading about youth participation in libraries. I’d like to write a much longer essay on the subject. I feel very strongly that parents and educators should look to models of participation and real-world applications of concepts in trying to solve some of the biggest problems with our current education model. For now let this be an outline of some basic principles that I can build upon later:
Youth Participation: why it works, why libraries should make it a priority
1. Youth Participation is not a new idea, the concept of youth being out of the work environment until they are 18 years of age is actually the new idea. We provide choices for our students as to what they would like to do as a career, but these choices need to be applied at some point. Internships and independent study was a solution once students went to college, but the indications are strong that students in high school and grade school need this kind of experience too. In NYC, the education department has made more high schools “specialized”, but this does not always mean that students are actually able to participate in and learn skills and trades in their schools.
Here is an opportunity for libraries to bridge a divide between conceptual, classroom learning and real-world application.
2. Youth who participate have a greater stake in the community environment. This is demonstrated in the reports I cite as well as in my own experience working with teens and groups in the community.
3. Public Libraries are the perfect venues for a youth participation model. They can structure an environment that allows for the mistakes that youth must make in order to learn. Libraries can also provide un-structured learning that will help foster decision-making where staff is always available to provide structure and guidance.
4. Youth participation in an organization can act as word-of-mouth marketing, meeting the expectations of the public, allowing youth to become more familiar with the organization, and fulfilling a deep need not always met in low-income communities.
Articles Read:
Making Youth Participation and Service the Common Experience and Expectation of all Youth: The Story of Youth Service America
by Michael McCabe
What Works in Youth Participation: Case Studies from Around the World
Edited by Silvia Golombek,Ph.D.
New on the Shelf: Teens in the Library
Summary of Key Findings from the Evaluation of Public Libraries as Partners
in Youth Development, A Wallace Foundation Initiative
Julie Spielberger Carol Horton, Lisa Michels 2004
An Overview of alternative Educaton by Laudan Y. Aron
http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?ID=411283
Youth Participation: why it works, why libraries should make it a priority
1. Youth Participation is not a new idea, the concept of youth being out of the work environment until they are 18 years of age is actually the new idea. We provide choices for our students as to what they would like to do as a career, but these choices need to be applied at some point. Internships and independent study was a solution once students went to college, but the indications are strong that students in high school and grade school need this kind of experience too. In NYC, the education department has made more high schools “specialized”, but this does not always mean that students are actually able to participate in and learn skills and trades in their schools.
Here is an opportunity for libraries to bridge a divide between conceptual, classroom learning and real-world application.
2. Youth who participate have a greater stake in the community environment. This is demonstrated in the reports I cite as well as in my own experience working with teens and groups in the community.
3. Public Libraries are the perfect venues for a youth participation model. They can structure an environment that allows for the mistakes that youth must make in order to learn. Libraries can also provide un-structured learning that will help foster decision-making where staff is always available to provide structure and guidance.
4. Youth participation in an organization can act as word-of-mouth marketing, meeting the expectations of the public, allowing youth to become more familiar with the organization, and fulfilling a deep need not always met in low-income communities.
Articles Read:
Making Youth Participation and Service the Common Experience and Expectation of all Youth: The Story of Youth Service America
by Michael McCabe
What Works in Youth Participation: Case Studies from Around the World
Edited by Silvia Golombek,Ph.D.
New on the Shelf: Teens in the Library
Summary of Key Findings from the Evaluation of Public Libraries as Partners
in Youth Development, A Wallace Foundation Initiative
Julie Spielberger Carol Horton, Lisa Michels 2004
An Overview of alternative Educaton by Laudan Y. Aron
http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?ID=411283
posted by Nick at 5:40 AM
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