Youth Development Ideology

This week, we took the Youth Development Ideology Inventory to determine to which area of Youth Development we feel most connected. The three areas, according to the Youth Development Ideology Inventory are Risk, Resiliency and Prevention; Positive Youth Development; and Critical Youth Development. My scores show that I relate most to the Critical Youth Development Ideology with a score of 9, then Positive Youth Development with a score of 12, and least to Risk, Resiliency and Prevention with a score of 15. My scores are not extreme which shows that I agree, in some ways, with all three areas.

According to Youth Development Ideology Inventory, Critical Youth Development asks questions such as "How can adults and youth work together to make the world a better place?" I think part of this question that is very important is "How can adults and youth work together?" This, to me, implies co-creating or co-authoring a story for the youth and for the world. This is the philosophy behind organizations like Youth In Action that encourage youth to take leadership roles in their community and take on social issues to create positive change in the world. This is very important to me because I believe that youth are often involved in making changes in the world. It also assumes that adults don't have all the answers and that society hasn't solved all of its problems, yet. We can't assume that we have all the answers to give youth because that would mean we had already solved all of the problems in the world. The belief for Critical Youth Development listed on the Youth Development Ideology is:

"Teens are legitimate actors and collaborators who have important ideas and ways of contributing to the world."

To me, this means that youth are not simply passive members of society who are shaped by their environments and the adults around them. They are also active participants who help to shape their environments and the people around them as they are shaped by them. The Critical Youth Development orientation includes a "focus on how youth engage with and impact their communities and cultures." This kind of Youth Development can include community activism and other types of programs, such as Youth in Action, which encourage youth to become more involved in their communities and take on social issues.