Deficit View

I have learned so much from my experiences at Crestveiw Teen Night, especially about encouraging students to be the best that they can be despite what they have been through. The idea of the deficit viewpoint deals with feeling or seeing the child’s family or culture as inferior compared to the dominant culture. I feel that these children experience the deficit viewpoint directed at them quite often because of the area that they live in. I have spoken before to some of the teens about this and they feel that often their teachers have these views towards them whether it be because of their skin color, culture, or community. I admit that when I first started attending Teen Night I too had some of these same feelings but after spending time with the teens those views have definitely changed. Now I work towards empowering these teens to combat these views themselves and push them to be the best that they can be. I try to encourage the students that come to Teen Night to remember that no matter where they come from or how others view them, they need to push to be strong individuals. Some ways that we work to do this are to bring in speakers who have been where these teens have been to allow them to see what they can become. We educate them on their culture by watching videos such as the “Tuskeege Airmen” and discuss their feelings towards this. Overall, I think we are going good work to encourage these children to overcome the deficit view and I hope we are able to continue to do so.

April 30, 2010. Uncategorized.