Young voices are valuable

Why I see benefits to learning from youth

Throughout my life, I have experienced situations in which I feel my opinion and knowledge is inferior because of my age. While I agree that there is much to learn from those older than us, we often overlook what we can learn from those younger than us. I have had the privilege of learning from and alongside youth and children for as long as I can remember.

Tedi Buffett – Argosy Co-Editor-in-Chief

 

I have volunteered in Kindergarten classrooms, worked for and participated in youth advocacy programs, and I have babysat more times than I can count. Each of these experiences have taught me the value of learning from children and youth. Those who I have worked with have possessed an ability to unabashedly follow their passions and speak their minds. I have met 15-year-old aspiring journalists and animators who have such clarity in their message. They are hopeful, determined and curious—traits that, though I think I possess, are often hard for me to grasp.

 

It seems to me, the older you get, the easier it is to dismiss the challenges and changes experienced by those younger than you. Yet, I remember what it was like to feel that I was not seen or heard by those older than me. I still experience that. Daily. I felt as if I could not be the only one who sees the immense value in our youth. So, I spoke to two Mt. A students with experience working with youth and children to see how their experiences have shaped them.

 

“Every kid is so special and they all deserve to know that, they all deserve to be told and shown that,” says Shae Wakabayashi, a second-year classics major at Mt. A. Wakabayashi has worked as a summer camp counselor and as staff for an elementary school’s before and after school child care program. They shared with me that, through their work with children, they have learned “how important it is to be a kid and to feel seen and heard.” They also know “how important it is [..] to make that effort [for] other kids.” 

 

While employed by an after school care program, Wakabayashi worked with a child who “came in super shy, kept to themself, didn’t really speak, [and] didn’t really interact with anyone.” By making an effort to engage with them, they began to see the child “come out of their shell a bit more.” The child became “more comfortable talking to me and the other staff, but also with other kids,” they shared.

 

“I walked in the room one day and the kid immediately runs up to me, grabs my hand and drags me over to the art tables. […] They’re talking a mile a minute, they are telling me about this picture book that they and their friends have planned and [asked if] I [could] help them staple it together and [asked] ‘do you want to read it?’ And I nearly cried,” Wakabayashi recalled of their experience. 

 

Priyanka Pandey, a second-year international relations major at Mt. A, worked as a program assistant for SHAD Mount Allison this past summer. SHAD is a Canadian educational summer program for high school aged youth. Overall, Pandey described this intensive month-long experience as “enriching.” She specifically made note of the closing ceremony, in which both the youth and staff were asked “what is one thing that really changed you as a person and what do you think you are taking away from this experience?”

 

Pandey described how, when thinking of a response to these questions, she recalled her struggle to fit in with the rest of the staff. This, however, did not seem to be a challenge among the youth. Not once did she “see someone being singled out or being ridiculed or made fun of.”

 

“They made everyone feel included and made everyone feel at home and that didn’t happen to us as adults,” she shared. “As adults we sometimes make judgments about people […] and erect this barrier to keep [others] out because [we] feel a certain way about them or don’t like how they conduct themselves. But these kids, they are what, 16? 15 years old? And they are so different from each other but still they were such a strong group.” Pandey remarked that she found it “fascinating” that the adult staff “couldn’t achieve that.” 

 

Speaking with Wakabayashi and Pandey reaffirmed just how impactful and rewarding working with children and youth can be. Those younger than us can teach us about compassion and inclusion. They can teach us about wonder and hope. I, for one, feel the most hopeful when I am in youth spaces. 

 

I was reminded of this sense of hope this summer, when I planned and led a youth conference for youth ages 15 to 17. As a leader, it was my responsibility to facilitate discussions on a variety of topics. Though I was, for lack of a better term, a teacher in this setting, I found that I learned far more than I taught. It was not about me, it was about them. It was their interests and passions that would guide the discussions. 

 

I remember one youth in particular remarking that, in their high school, they were not learning about the issues and topics important to them. They were happy to now be in a space that prioritized that and allowed them to delve deeper into what they wanted to learn. A space where they could learn from other youth. I did not create this space for them, they created it themselves. I simply observed, with utmost fascination, a way of learning that saw value in the perspectives of youth. 

 

You do not have to be a professor or an expert in your field in order for your opinions and knowledge to be perceived as valuable. As Wakabayashi emphasized, it is important that children and youth feel seen and heard. So, I encourage you to listen and look.



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