So I wrote my thesis on "Youth Engagement", right? I spent a year of my life reading articles. I interviewed countless very smart people. I discussed the meaningful participation of youth in their community until I was blue in the face. I became an expert. And at my new job, I've been asked to think about (read: revive from being shoved on the back-burner) the idea of a youth advisory council for the research that we do. Given that our research is pretty much exclusively focused at the secondary school level, that sounds straight up my alley. I love teenagers. Think they're awesome. Want to work with them. Have experience!
And here I am, trying to write up a proposal for a youth council, and I am at a complete loss. It's embarassing. So I thought I'd blog about it, in case something brilliant spews out.
First, let me discuss the issues I'm having with the idea:
The very name, youth advisory council, brings up problems for me. Why do youth want to "advise" us of anything? Seriously, do they care what research we do? No! They just care if it gets them out of class for a bit. Why? Because research generally doesn't have an impact for those youth who participate in it. Even if it's ground-breaking and causes major over-hauls of some part of their lives (say, the way the school operates), the changes will happen so slowly that they will never witness them. And the likelihood of research actually impacting the real world... well, I'm trying to be less cynical these days, so I'll just shut up now.
The way research is funded leaves me wondering how we could ever give these young people a sense that their needs matter. Although we can consult with them after-the-fact easy enough, how is it that we can incorporate their ideas into what we are researching. What we research is based on the research interests of faculty and available funding. That's the bottom line. Unless that changes, we really can't expect the suggestions young people make to go anywhere. And the pace at which research moves, any suggestions young people make will be held up by funding and ethics, to the point that they will no longer be around to see the results of their involvement. Okay, didn't I just say I was going to be less cynical?
Let's talk my dream world:
It would be really cool if we could have comprehensive school health teams in each school we work with. Hell, this is dream-talk... have one in each school on the Island! These teams would meet as youth action councils or committees. Not advisory - action! This is very important. They could be supported by the research that is going on at the university, but would also have control over their own agenda (so they could conduct particpatory action research projects with our support, or focus on interventions like peer education). Once a year, the research team I'm working with could host a youth forum at the University. It would be an overnight thing, with cool "youth-y" leaders, a dance, lots of activites and food, and chances for forums, debates, and discussion. There could even be an presentation of issues to politicans and policy makers. Over the course of this forum, the research team could gather ideas for research areas to pursue, and have their previous research reviewed as part of workshops or discussions.
The problem:
My job is to do lit. reviews and stuff. I wasn't hired to rally the youth of Prince Edward Island together for the sake of a healthier school. Research is not the same as action, at least not when you're a research coordinator (I don't even get to be first author on things I write... I'm lucky to get my name on stuff at all!). I need to find a way to reconcile my dream-world with the real world, and that's something I wish my degree had prepared me to do. Instead, I'm on my own. But hey, I guess I'll learn it now, and I'm not paying tuition for this learning, so that's a bonus.
With that, I'm going home for the weekend. I have lots of exciting things to look forward to, which I will update about soon. Oh, there's going to be significant cuteness increase on this blog, I tell you what!
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2 comments:
Shaunarama:
Interesting thoughts - practical learning is very valuable and is something universities are not very good at teaching about or even recognizing. That is why we have jobs, I guess.
Canarama
You may never convince the youth advisors that their advice will actually go anywhere, but you might be able to entice them with the prospect of learning some kind of "skill set" that they could put on their resumes and college applications, and adapt for future use.
Put them to work on something concrete that they could stick in a portfolio. Like maybe a nice, crisp report and a powerpoint presentation, or some other kind of quasi-professional artifact that they could put their names on. Then, instead of appealing to students' altruism, you've set up a kind of transaction where you're teaching them the formalities of the advisory process (and who makes more money than "consultants" these days?) and they're giving you the information you need.
Just a suggestion. In my (limited) experience, nothing motivates like intelligent self-interest.
BTW, what's up with Janice's blog? Blogger tells me I can't read it without an invitation.
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