By: Lizzy Lavin –
Lazy.
Troublemaker.
Loser.
These frequently heard and “deviant” labels are ones associated with those who have committed behaviors and are found worthy of a detention. These labels can be used by, not only students, but teachers and adults as well. Labels pile on to the many questions raised about how we develop these preconceived notions of students required to serve detention and why those students are subject to said labels. The labeling of students and how teachers handle disciplinary situations regarding these children needs to be reviewed.
Randall Farmer, Director of Education at the LPS Pathfinder Program, Lancaster County Youth Center who gets to experience these students first hand.
“Education of the community is paramount to helping youth not to be labeled. We need for more people to understand these youth have simply made mistakes, based upon the way they see the world,” said .
Not only is education important to these children, but it is also critical that the community, as well, be educated to stop the labeling of these people. Labeling and judgements seem to come so naturally and quite frequently solely based on the mistake they made and the situation they are in. When labeling occurs, it affects the full potential these students could have in our society.
Farmer’s wife and research partner, Sarah Staples-Farmer, wrote her dissertation over “Racking Up Cultural Capital and Eliminating Labels: The Culture of Teaching and Learning in the Juvenile Justice System.” She found that students facing labels were less likely to succeed because of the misconstrued words associated with their character. The impact labels have on students can drastically affect their behavior and even their academics.
“Labeling theories suggest that within social settings and institutions, “deviant” labels construct youth identity thus impacting educational success. Low literacy rates among youth go hand-in-hand with stigmatization of youth, low academic performance, and subsequent delinquent behavior,” said Staples-Farmer.
Staples-Farmer believes the educators and administration first need to be educated and trained in how to handle detentions properly using an established curriculum in order to fully understand these children’s positions and the relationships they need in order to have the students believe in their ability to reach their full potential.
“The ‘bottom line’, most important component is the relationship between adults and youth,” said Farmer, “The power of the relationship must be created with the student. Adults cannot build a relationship while holding power over the youth as the primary component. At the same time, youth need to know adults are in control so they can feel safe.”
Associate Principal Brent Ailes knows the importance of having a relationship with students attending detentions. He hopes that conversations between students and their teachers would involve what it looks like for these students to grow from this point and how these adults can help.
“Even if an adult signs a student a detention we don’t want it to be a negative thing, hopefully it can be a learning opportunity,” said Ailes. “‘What can we do to help you’, hopefully they are having conversations like that so they can keep a good strong relationship with that student.”
It is well known that adolescent brains don’t fully develop until adulthood and thus their reasoning and decision making skills have not fully developed either.
“Adolescents do not think like adults and we should not expect them to think like adults, (we should help/teach them). This is the primary reason we have ‘juvenile’ courts separate from adult courts, and instead of punishment we focus on rehabilitation for juveniles,” said Farmer. “If more people understood these concepts, and if more people understood that almost everyone knows someone who has been in a detention center, and if we remembered that these youth are coming back into our communities, things might be different.”
Farmer wants educators and the community to know that empathy could really make a difference in the success of these students. While these students may often feel powerless, education is one thing they can have ownership of.
“Education is the one thing students have control over when the rest of their life is out of control, or under the control of adults and the courts. Education is a powerful tool that youth control to get them out of any situation in their life and provides a positive pathway to any future they desire, they just have to do the work,” said Farmer. “Education is an escape from the day to day routine in detention which can be monotonous. Education provides a creative outlet and can be individualized to meet their needs, or a great socialization opportunity to learn about the world, and other people. It can expand the horizons of youth who often view the world through just their own small window (a neighborhood, or a single city).”
To make our community a place of learning and growth, we must, as a society, start with the troubled youth that are so often mislabeled and are the most vulnerable in our education system. To help these students gain the education and relationships they deserve we need to bring awareness to the labeling of students facing these challenges, regardless if you are an educator, an administrator, a mentor, another student, or society member.
“It is in all our best interest to support these youth,” said Farmer. “We need to help get people back on track, and starting in adolescence is the best opportunity.”