Category: Growing Up

Loneliness, struggles, and challenges make me think of about a million things that have happened throughout my life. In today’s society, it is very common to be raised by just one parent so the biggest challenge I have had to face is growing up in a single-parent household. I felt terrible, sad, and angry because my parents divorced and I did not show any signs, but it affected me in the Inside. Growing up with single parent was very hard and difficult. I always felt unwanted, fell behind in school, and had negative feeling toward my mom. However, everything I faced living with single parent gave me strength.

When I was two months old, my dad and my mom got divorced, and I grew up with my dad and his family. At the time my brother was only three years old. I never thought much of living in a single parent until I was six years old, it was normal to me, even though I always knew that a mother figure was missing. When I was growing up, I started thinking about my mom, why she left me with my dad, and why most of my friends had both parents and I was the only who lived with single parent. I started to feel unwanted because my mom and I didn’t have a close relationship and I didn’t have a mother that was actively present in my life. I was mad at her that she was not there for me when I really needed her help. I remember when I was in second grade, we had parent’s day and both parents had to come so I told my dad that he had to come to school but he didn’t come on time. I saw my friends with their parents and I was really mad and I got jealous. I cried and felt unwanted and lonely. After half an hour my dad

came and I screamed at him in front of people. He got shocked because he had not seen me like that before. I told him to buy me a mother from the store or to bring my mom to me but he didn’t take my feelings seriously. He just made fun of me in front of my friends. After we got home, I asked him why he divorced my mom but he didn’t want to tell me. He just said “you are not matured enough to hear that.” I kept quiet but I didn’t stop thinking about my mom. At that time, I hated to be alive and I felt like an orphan. However, I just allowed God to guide me and put my trust in the lord wholeheartedly because there was no one to show me how to be a good girl and no one gave me love as a mother give her child.

After all that, I started falling behind in school and kept getting bad grades because all the time, I was thinking about my mom during class time instead of learning. My teachers called my dad and asked him why I was getting bad grades but he didn’t answer anything , then they asked me in front of him and I told them that I missed my mom and I couldn’t learn anything until I saw her. Also, I told him that I wanted to live with my mom but he didn’t let me. Growing up with a single dad hurt me socially, especially when it came to new people. I came to develop a shyness that caused me to have less self-confidence and to be less active than other students.

Also I had a negative feeling toward my mom because I never grew up hearing a good things about my mom. My dad’s family never talked about my mom positive things. They always told me that she left me without any reason and that she didn’t care about me. Especially, my grandma didn’t like when I started talking about my mom because she takes care of me like her daughter and she thought If I heard a good things about my mom, that I will never want her to be my grandma . My grandma did everything for me that I asked her, but I always said to myself I wish I could have one family with both a mom and a dad. When I was eleven years old my mom came to visit me and I heard everything from her. She told me all the reality. When she gave birth to me, she was twenty three years old and she didn’t have any income to raise me. That’s why she left me with my dad. She stayed three months and left. I cried and felt sad. After my mom left my dad told me that he had a girlfriend and that he was going to marry her. It seemed to me that he was being selfish because I always needed his help, and I didn’t want to be far away from him. Also, I was really needing a real strong relationship between me and him. But he told that he decided to get married and that the girl was nice and that she was going to take care of me like her baby. However I promised myself not to get bad grades and to make my dad proud because my mom told me to be a good girl and to make my family proud.

The most important thing that I knew after I heard the reality from my mom that I wanted to be successful in my life. Living with a single parent is a hard job but I learned how to be responsible and how to handle myself. My grandma was not strong enough to give me a shower, to braid my hair, and to wash my clothes. I did everything by myself. Life was filled with many challenges that come with growing up in a single parent household, but all those challenges have given me the strength of life. I asked God for his hands to guide my heart and to not be a perfect, because I knew there was no way anyone could be perfect, but rather I asked him to be strong.

In conclusion, I don’t hate my past life because it made me to become more mature and to be responsible for myself. I love my life, and I love my family because maybe I don’t have exactly what I want but I have what I need. I will never forget the things happened throughout my life because my past life becomes a memory, and the memory becomes a treasure.

Georges is a boy from the Centrepoint Homeless Shelter who has a story to tell. He had always had a fine life with his mother, except for the days she beat him. One day he has enough of it, so he left, spending several nights on the street in the middle of November in only a t-shirt and jeans. Through all the stress of living with his girlfriend and friends, he started going through a bad depression, and blamed himself for all the things he was going through, when really, none of it was his fault.

Being homeless can be defined as a person without a home, most likely living on the street. The effects these children experience can be both short and long term. Most children become homeless due to the choices their parents make, usually involving substance or drug abuse. Youth who grow up with parents who are addicted to alcohol or drugs are at a high risk for developing a mental illness and face the struggle of becoming an addict themselves. (Parental Drug Addiction and Its Destructive Impact on Children). Safework Laboratories says, 45 to 79 percent of children in the US are more likely to become addicted to drugs if their parents are addicted as well. (par. 8) In spending all their money on drugs, families or parents cannot afford the proper housing or food for their children, which often leads to them fending for themselves, or even worse, these youth are locked out of their house or have no choice but to run away.

A homeless child on the street only thinks about two things; where can they find food, and where can they sleep where they will not be bothered. These youth do not think about school, and most of them drop out or stop showing up. They believe that time is wasted going to school when they could be working and getting money for food or clothing. But not all homeless youth drop out. Those few that stay in school faces many hardships, one of the biggest being finding a place to do homework, especially if its online. The supplies that is needed inside school may be easy for normal people to get, is a problem for those on the streets. As a child sits in school, the stress and the struggles of the street are constantly on their mind, which makes learning a bit of a disorder. These youth can get months behind because days of school will be missed for work, or for finding another place to stay. Not all homeless youth drop out, but not all make it to graduation. Without the proper education or even a GED, these teens will only make about 20,000 dollars a year, which is not enough to support themselves. The fact of getting a job and it normally being the child’s first job, they will typically only make minimum wage, and the money rapidly gets spent on the essential items needed in a home.

Being homeless can have long term effects on any child. Stephanie Dickrell from the SC Times says, “Many homeless families and children have risk factors that are strongly associated with long-term problems. There’s strong evidence these children have toxic-stress exposure, undermining health, brain development and long-term functioning,” (Dickrell). Children need to grow up in a stable, structural environment. Throughout the process of adolescence, these children learn to be social and how to build relationships with different kinds of people. As a homeless youth, their top priority is finding a way to survive. These relationships are not built with new people and this causes big social gaps in the youth’s life. Domestic violence in a household can be one of the biggest reasons a child can become homeless, whether they were trying to run away from the problem or because they were denied the freedom to live in their house. Children normally tend to have mixed emotions about this topic. These youth tend to turn fearful, or find themselves in a great deal of depression, and push people away or isolate themselves from the outside world, which is yet another example of how these children are struggling with these social problems. Graduateway states,” A child can derive the greatest amount of stress in his or her life from his or her homeless situation. The way this stress affects different children, however varies. Research conducted on different life events such as divorce, hospitalization, and the birth of a sibling, suggests that boys appear more vulnerable to effects of stress as girls. The experience of being homeless is a far more drastic event than those mentioned and as such will most likely affect boys more and girls differently than the previously stated life events do. “(Graduatway Ch. 1). As a child grows up, this stress level only builds, as they realize life only gets harder without the things a normal child would get.

Mental problems and mental illnesses arise with living on the street. Behavior problems are a big setback for youth living on their own. Children think they are their own boss, so they do not feel the need to listen to any adult or someone older than them. If the child is still in school, teachers have a hard time finding ways to discipline these kids because they do not listen. These youth see more crimes living on the street than people in a normal house even hear of. They struggle with violence acts against them and must learn how to stand up for themselves and how to fight back if necessary. In seeing and growing up facing and watching these problems every day, these youth tend to get tangled into stuff no child should ever be involved in. To get money or food, or even other essentials these kids need, they feel the need to be involved in these crimes. Homeless youth have no one as they grow up. Children need to feel a sense of protection, and love from other people. A lot of children tend to get mixed up with the wrong kinds of people, just looking for that affection and the feeling of being wanted. These troubled youth look to the gangs that work the streets they live on, thus involving themselves in petty, or even serious crimes. Gang members will most likely take advantage of these kids, getting them to smuggle and sell drugs or even involve or sell them into prostitution, or other adults. The youth think that this is the only way they can get the money they need. These poor choices can lead to long term effects like being coming addicted to drugs, or being sexually abused, or worse, getting themselves killed.

Children who grow up homeless struggle through so many hardships that no child should ever face. The effects these children experience can be both short and long term. They struggle with things that normal youth do not even think twice about, like finding a place to sleep every night, or struggling to buy food or clothes. These youth have no protection or care, and the only person they have is their self. Some of these kids will live on the streets their whole life, and some will find a way to fight through the hardships and make a better life for their selves. Mental issues arise with the child, and some may never be able to overcome them. The only way we can help these children have a someone healthy adult life is to make a safe and nonthreatening environment for them, especially at school or public spaces that these children tend to visit.

The film, “Growing Up Trans”, identifies the internal battle of discovering gender identity. It focuses specifically on adolescents developmenting a sense of gender dysmorphia and how that plays into their development. Although many sociological ideas are integrated into the transgender community, society confusing the meaning of gender and sex causes the negative perception of transgender children.

Gender identity is the major factor separating the children in “Growing Up Trans” from the rest of their age range. In chapter nine of The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology, gender identity is defined as an individual’s self-definition or sense of gender. If this identity does not match the given gender at birth, society tends to outcast this person. In most cases, transgender kids start out as just gender nonconforming, meaning they begin with just having some characteristics that dont match a predisposed gender. A lot of the times nonconforming people eventually then start self identifying as transgender. With that being said, you can be nonconforming without being transgender, this idea highlights the main parental debate within the film “Growing Up Trans”. Being a parent of a self identifying transgender child, one must make the decision to go with the desires of their child or ignore them and let me get through this “phase”. The first reaction of hearing a younger child is transgender is that they must be just going througha confusing phase in life that is making them feel this way. A growing debate is taking place in the U.S. because of this on whether taking an actual medical approach to a transgender young person is a smart method and safe for the still developing person. In a lot of cases, the parents are cisgender and have a socialized transphobia that causes this conflict of allowing your child to transform into a nonconformative role. This socialization has a lot to do with the misunderstanding of how gender, gender identity, and sex are all different. Sex is your biological make-up, while gender is simply the societal standards of how each sex should act and present themselves. Gender Identity can come in many different forms and is determined solely on how the individual feels. So you can have an individual who is biologically in the male sex and society precieves them to be apart of the male gender, but they self identify as a transgender female. If socialization is moved forward into focusing on gender identities more than the actual “gender roles” themselves, then the outcasting of transgender and other nonconforming groups with being to decrease. Many kids feel discouraged to identify as different than the normative solely because of the fear of bullying and becoming a victim.

The queer theory is another sociological idea presented in chapter 9 that highlights the many different identities individuals can have. The development of this theory is very beneficial to adolescents like the ones shown in “Growing Up Trans”. A new community has formed along with this theory to embrace the differences and even highlights its importance, the community is known as LGBTQ. Creating this for all non-traditional gender identities and sexualities allows minority groups to form a safe community to feel a new sense of normalcy. This helps a lot of internal struggles shown to affect young transgender individuals. Many transgender people are suicidal and depressed because of the overwhelming feeling of being an outsider combined with gender dsymorphia. Having a community of individuals who have also been through similar experiences and feelings can act as a coping mechanism and a form of therapy for these kids. The theory basically says that any form of categorization is restricting and does not fully embrace the uniqueness of each individual.

The film, “Growing Up Trans” gives support to many different sociological ideas relating to the transgender community. These different examples easily explain how children are being outcasted, and parents are debating on to handle a touchy subject. The study of sociology gives awareness on how socialization, and specifically gender role socialization, has brought fear for embraces differences between individuals.

References

1. Ferris, K. a. (2018). The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology. (6th ed.). New York: W.W. Norton.

A novel in which every scene and detail has its meaning and a single item has symbolism is no other than To Kill A Mockingbird. To Kill A Mockingbird has many themes although one theme, in particular, develops over the course of the novel. In this novel, it focuses on two characters, that being Scout and Jem and their coming of age story. Opening their eyes and seeing the truth behind what they had previously believed, in the small town of Maycomb. In this novel, a theme that is emphasized throughout the novel is the importance of innocence and growing up.

In the very beginning, it seems as though Jem scout and dill were pretty innocent happy children, believing anything that was told or even heard regarding Boo Radley. Due to Dill’s curiosity, Jem informed, “[ Them that] boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that’s why his hands were bloodstained-if you ate an animal raw, you could never wash the blood off. There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time” (Lee 14). This shows how innocent they are believing the roomers they would hear even though it is mostly unrealistic.

As time goes on Jem had hit the age of 12, and is described as being moody and difficult to live with, although he does certain actions that prove he’s maturing. Scout discovers how alike Jem actually was to Atticus, by pointing out, “Jem’s soft brown hair and eyes, his oval face and snug-fitting ears were our mother’s contrasting oddly with Atticus’s gaying black hair and square-cut features, but they were somehow alike. Mutual defiance made them alike”( Lee 173). Jem is becoming like his father with his actions as he defends what’s right even though he knows she might not be able to win he still takes the opportunity.

Jem and Scout had been dealing with the situation of Tom Robinson’s trial and his death, affecting the two young ones as they know he was an innocent man. When remembering and passing by the Radley house she demonstrates maturity: “So many things had happened to us, boo Radley was the least of our fears”(Lee 278). Scout began to realize that there were bigger issues than hearing or discussing rumors about Boo Radley. She now begins to understand how the town was never how she imagined instead of people who judge with stereotypes and racist people.

The theme of innocence and growing up plays a huge role in the novel and even makes it move forward. Throughout his novel, you see as Jem and scout view things differently than in the beginning and understanding the reality they live in. Throughout there lives they thought that their town was just like any normal town all ways the same and people minding there own business. In a part of the novel it Atticus reminds Jem that it was a sin to kill a mocking bird, as they were innocent. When thinking about the book To Kill A Mocking Bird the title has a different meaning when it comes to the theme of innocence and growing up, even how it relates to the kids and their reality.

Growing up in a military family is not always an easy feat. One thing that military “brats” share is a familiarity with moving and establishing new “homes”, often far across the country or even overseas. At a young age, one learns how to drop everything, say goodbye to friends after just getting to know them, and dutifully pack for the next assignment.

Early on, children in military families face the inevitable overflow of values from their parents and surrounding environment. Unconsciously it shapes who we are and ultimately who we become. For me, growing up in a military culture taught me crucial lessons on self-discipline, resiliency, and service.

Responsibility for One’s Future

From a young age, my parents constantly reminded us that “[we] were ultimately responsible for our own happiness.” Initially, this seemed like the perfect justification for why couldn’t always simply get what we wanted, whether it was the hottest toy or dessert before we finished our vegetables. However, as I grew older, I realized that it was my parent’s way of encouraging our own self-discipline and how the ultimate responsibility for our success in life was our own. Parents, teachers, and friends might all provide guidance along the way, but without personal perseverance and determination to succeed, we would never achieve our goals. This understanding of self-motivation became especially apparent as I started my freshman year at Creighton University. For the first time in my life, my success was entirely dependent on me. I was responsible for physically getting out of bed, attending classes, and completing my assignments. I no longer had my parents or anyone else to fall back on. Following a transition period in my first semester, I found myself returning to this phase as I worked to balance the academic demands of triple majoring, independent research, and my life as an ROTC cadet. In the end, this mindset proved to be a guiding principle throughout my undergraduate career and I successfully graduated with high honors and a plan.

‘…home is where the heart is”

There is an anonymous poem that compares military children to dandelions, claiming that like the flower, children in military families are extremely resilient and can “put down roots almost anywhere.” From the inconsistency of moving, deployments, and various short-term assignments, it can be difficult to ever establish a true “home.” Growing up, I never had the best answer to the standard “Where are you from.” For me, my home was constantly evolving and changing, and it was hard to identify with a single place. Yet despite these challenges, I learned that moving brings opportunities for new experiences and adventures. As I prepared to spend a summer abroad in college, this flexibility once again came to the forefront of my mind. I not only faced the challenges of my new environment but walked away embracing the new experiences ahead of me.

Mission First, People Always

“Service before self” is one of the core values of the Air Force and sacrifice is a shared ideal across every branch of the military. My trainers and superiors drilled these words into my mind during my time in the Air Force. Yet, my experience with service started long before I joined the military. My dad regularly stressed the importance of service and community and provided examples of how we could serve others. Whether by being the last person to leave the office, and often not coming home until after I’d gone to bed, or volunteering in the local community, my dad was the perfect example of service and stewardship. My own desire to serve others led me to pursue a career in public service. Working in public service is not just a career; it is a calling. In the public sector. I may not always have the same career opportunities or rewards compared to my private counterparts, however, when I look to my future, I see the opportunity and privilege to serve.

Growing up as part of a military family is more than just a familiarity with moving or military culture. My experiences as a military brat instilled a strong sense of resiliency, self-discipline, and service from a young age. Each and everyone one of these lessons plays an instrumental role as I pursue a career in the federal government. Life is full constantly evolving and the flexibility to face unexpected challenges is invaluable. In the professional world, one needs to maintain a strong sense of self-discipline and determination to be successful. Self-motivation and success go hand in hand. Most importantly, careers in the public sector require a foundation in sacrifice and community and are dependent on a dedicated focus on service before self

I saw a meme on Facebook a while back, showing kids standing on the beach in the sunset, dancing around in the waves. The caption said, ‘Remember when we were young and said we couldn’t wait to grow up? What were we thinking?!?’ And now that we are old enough to appreciate that meme, let’s talk about ‘growing up and ‘personal growth.

First of all, what is ‘growing up? Well, according to the dictionary, it is ‘the process of maturing physically and emotionally. But we all know that there is more to it than that. Growing up also means taking on new responsibilities, making important decisions, and learning from our mistakes. In other words, it is a never-ending process.

On the other hand, ‘personal growth is defined as ‘the development of oneself in terms of one’s abilities and character. This includes things like learning new skills, exploring new interests, and becoming a better person. Unlike growing up, personal growth is something we can choose to do at any age.

So, which is better? Growing up or personal growth?

Well, they both have their pros and cons (beyond ‘alive’ is preferable to the alternative).

Growing up has its advantages, of course. For one thing, it gives us a sense of accomplishment. We can look back on our lives and see how far we’ve come. It also teaches us valuable lessons about life, love, and relationships. And let’s not forget the most important benefit of all: growing up makes us eligible for senior discounts!

But there are downsides to growing up, too. For one thing, it can be a lot of work. And it doesn’t always go the way we want it to. We make mistakes, we get hurt, and we sometimes have to do things we don’t want to do-taking out the trash, commuting, and taxes readily come to mind for me.

Personal growth, on the other hand, is often more fun. We get to learn new things, meet new people, and explore new interests. And best of all, unlike trash, commuting, and taxes, we can do it at our own pace. We don’t have deadlines, nor do we need to rush into anything, and we can change our minds if we want to.

So, which is better? Growing up or personal growth? The answer is: it depends. If you’re happy with your life the way it is, then there’s no need to change anything; you are growing and you like it. But if you’re looking for a little more excitement, then personal growth would be the way to go.

Everyone can benefit from personal growth, no matter how old you are

Just because you’re not a teenager anymore doesn’t mean you can’t continue to grow as a person. In fact, personal growth is something that can be a lifelong goal. There are many benefits to pursuing personal growth, such as improved relationships, increased confidence, and greater success in life it can even help you change your definition of ‘success’!

Personal growth can help you become a more well-rounded person

A well-rounded person is someone who has a balance of different skills, interests, and qualities. This in itself can help you improve your relationships. It will certainly give you more to talk about when the conversation slows or gets awkward. ‘I’ve started collecting Tibetan Mastiff brushes. You wouldn’t believe the variety!’

As you grow as a person, you will learn how to communicate better, handle conflict better, and understand other people better. This can lead to improved relationships with your family, your friends, and even that co-worker who regularly warms up fish for lunch in the break room.

Finally, pursuing personal growth can also help you achieve greater success in life. You will be better equipped to handle challenges and achieve your goals. Personal growth can therefore help you lead a happier life.

It’s never too late to start working on your personal growth

‘You’re never too old to learn.’ This phrase is often used to encourage people of all ages to pursue knowledge and keep growing mentally. But it can also apply to personal growth. In fact, personal growth is something to make a lifelong goal.

But make sure you celebrate your accomplishments along the way! Personal growth can be a difficult journey, so it’s important to remember to celebrate your accomplishments along the way. This will help you stay motivated and keep growing. Take some time to pat yourself on the back every once in a while, and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Personal growth can help you in all areas of your life, from your career to your personal relationships with yourself as well as with others. It can make you happier and more fulfilled, and help you reach toward your full potential. If you’re not sure where to start, there are plenty of resources available to help you get started on your journey of personal growth, such as books, articles, and support groups.

There is also a wealth of information available online, like reading Medium articles There are even courses and seminars that you can take. Personal growth is something that you can pursue at any time, and it’s never too late to start.

So, come on! Grow up! Personal growth is a journey to enrich your life! And doesn’t everyone want to be enricher?

A child not having their father in his or her life is sad, but it does not doom a person forever. Having a biological father does not equate to success. A single mother can raise a successful child. For example, Barack Obama, his father left him, but he held the most powerful position in the United States and did not have a father in the home as a grown-up. Obama is close to his mother and he does not feel the need for a father figure. This shows that fathers are not a need and many successful people grow up without a father. A child needs his or her mother, showing the mother-child relationship gives the kids a sense of confidence and responsibility, and how mothers build resilience. Fathers could put children at risk.

Children primarily need a mother, not a father. A biological father may not be in a child’s life for several reasons. These reasons include but are not limited to: “Four percent of fathers are incarcerated, twenty-six of fathers are emotionally absent, and fifteen of fathers deserted their child” (Babul and Lusine, 9-10). When children do not have a father figure, they need someone to look up to and guide them down the straight and narrow. Mother is the perfect candidate for this position. A mother can give you the love of no other person and advice that will help you throughout life. But despite that, children can be successful and survive with the guidance of his or her mother. It’s the mother’s inclination to care for the body from birth.

A child needs a mother’s touch such as for breastfeeding. Quest et al. note that, finally, other research has shown that breastfeeding mother-infant dyads spend significantly more time in mutual gaze during feedings than bottle dyads. This proves that babies need their mothers. If a mother breastfeeds her child, the child already has a strong bond. Quest et al. indicate: “And when you cuddle and smell each other it leads to an oxytocin surge which, as we’ve already discovered, helps with bonding and breastfeeding” (‘Breastfeeding and Bonding with Your Newborn’). There is a genuine connection between the mother and the child.

Being raised by a single mother can build resilience. Children who were raised by a single-mother build survival skills. Based on the definition from Dictionary.com, resilience means the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness. Researchers have identified general vulnerabilities that single mothers experience, with far fewer exploring how negative pathways can be disrupted or examining resilience factors. Furthermore, because single-mother families are most often compared to two-parent families, researchers continue to highlight a deficit model rather than exploring within-group differences that would emphasize strengths in single-mother households that could be used in intervention efforts (Murry et al., 2001; Taylor & Conger, 2014). Resilience researchers have demonstrated that positive outcomes are possible for children exposed to even extreme stressors and hardships; and a consistent finding is that having a competent, warm parent promotes healthy developmental trajectories and protects children from maladjustment despite adversities (Masten, 2014). Therefore, examining factors that contribute to the well-being of mothers and, in turn, their parenting may be one of the most effective ways of contributing to children’s adjustment. This makes the kids more flexible to unpredictable turns of life. Mothers teach their children survival skills and how to adapt to change. People who experience not having a father have built resilience. Mothers raise their children to be independent.

In today’s society, we have this picture-perfect image of a big happy family with both parents. For most people fathers are needed to prevent kids from going down the wrong path. According to Jerrod Brown, “Family structure and the lack of paternal involvement are predictive of juvenile delinquency. The more opportunities a child has to interact with his or her biological father, the less likely he or she is to commit a crime or have contact with the juvenile justice system”. On the other hand, fathers can put children at risk. Denna Babul and Karin Luise write: “Many abused children cling to the hope that growing up will bring escape and freedom. She is still a prisoner of her childhood: attempting to create a new life, she reencounters the trauma”. This indicates Children can go through sexual and emotional abuse that long-term damage. This long-time term damage could mental illness. “Early life adversity is a major risk factor for the development of psychological and behavioral problems later in life, depression, suicidality, anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, and aggressive behavior” (‘How Childhood Trauma Changes Our Mental Health into Adulthood’). Fatherless children might experience a lot of self-esteem problems. The children feel like nobody cares about them because, if their dad didn’t want them, then who does? The mother helps the kids feel loved and cared for.

Living in a single-parent household can make a child appreciate work and being responsible. This dedication will rub off on their children and help the kids. Because they have greater responsibilities at home, teenage children from single-parent families often exhibit more confidence and autonomy. Having had to care for themselves, and sometimes younger siblings, teenagers from single-parent homes have built confidence in their abilities. Additionally, teens in single-parent families who have close, healthy relationships with their parents are often more capable of taking on the ‘real world’ when they reach adulthood. Greater chances for exposure to ‘adult’ tasks like balancing the checkbook, paying bills, and planning meals often give children in single-parent families an advantage when first out on their own – they know what they must do, and in what manner (‘Pros and Cons in Single-Parent Families’). In addition, children of single mothers see that she works an enormous amount of hours to make sure that there’s food on the table and clothes on their backs.

Summing up, a single mother can raise a successful child. Children having both parents also comes with advantages. Not everyone has the opportunity to have their father in their lives. That does not mean that the children are automatically destined for failure. The children not are doomed just because they don’t have a father figure. Any small experience can change a child’s outlook on life. Mothers can teach their children how to build resilience, and how it makes children appreciate.

According to Carol Geddes article, “Growing up Native”, there were and still are many hardships faced by the Natives in Canada. In this intriguing first person account by Geddes, she talks about the racial profiling and racism endured by the Natives through their life in school and throughout their battle in life to find equality. Carol describes her time growing up in the Tlingit family, which provides a better reflection of her childhood experiences. In addition to this, she also tells personal stories about moving around Canada and the experiences of trying to be assimilated through residential schools. Geddes uses descriptive words and scenes to fully convey emotion through her story, from being a young child in the Yukon bush to being mistreated in residential school. The wide range of words and emotions help put meaning to Geddes’ experiences. To fully understand the article, we must define the term of racism, in which Merriam-Webster refers to it as the racial differences that produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.

Carol Geddes’ experience represents the story of a true survivor. Geddes portrays a message through her story to never stop believing in yourself and your culture and to never change who you are. One scene that really described racism in her school involved an older boy who was asked to read a passage, but he refused and then the teacher ask Geddes to read the passage instead. In fear of being yelled at, Geddes recounts her experience: “I wet my pants, as I stood there fighting my tears of shame”. Geddes stuck to her culture by not reading the passage and embarrassing the older boy, but ended up feeling humiliated. Another example of hardship that Geddes faced from her culture, was when she was in Ottawa and her friend handed her the reading list for her textbooks where she explains, “I was feeling vaguely envious of her and, once again, inferior”. In growing up, Geddes believed that University was only meant for white people and she never believed that the books she knew and loved were being taught.

Unfortunately, racism still exists in our society today. As explained by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, “First Ministers condemn all forms of racism, discrimination, intolerance, and bigotry”. Racism is still very much alive in society and nobody should have to deal with it anymore. The story of Geddes takes readers through the early stages of her life and of when she got into University and her experiences afterwards. It is demonstrated through her story that she has respect for both herself and her community. Staying true to oneself and believing in your core values is the greatest gift you can give.

AVID, or Advancement Via Individual Determination, is a non-profit organization designed to promote high school success and college readiness in at-risk students. Unfortunately, AVID is in a relatively small amount of schools, less than 3% nationwide. Right now, the efficacy of the AVID program cannot be guaranteed. Because so many things affect the success of the program, and there has been a lack of proper field research, AVID cannot, at this point, be proven to help at-risk students to their fullest potential.

When AVID first started in 1980, it was a small one-room program that hosted only one class of students. At the time, only one teacher taught the program; Mary Catherine Swanson. She designed the AVID curriculum with the hopes of helping students who were determined to be at risk. She is credited for believing that every student can succeed with the proper educational assistance. Right now, AVID is in only 2.6% of schools nationally. It is possible that a main feature keeping AVID from growing is its exorbitant price; AVID teacher Alicia Gunderson says, “The AVID program is very expensive for schools to maintain.”

A large problem the AVID program may likely face is the possibility that a chosen teacher may be ill-suited to teaching the AVID curriculum. As much as the AVID program teaches school skills like organization and time management, it also teaches the importance of interpersonal skills and building relationships. An AVID instructor is meant to serve as a student advocate and an advisor to AVID students. This means the careful selection of a teacher is crucial. If a student is unable to form a bond with their AVID teacher, their success in the program is greatly jeopardized. Historically, an issue for students that are at risk or who come from a low socio-economic background was having teachers who underestimate them. This can entail skipping necessary lessons because it is assumed that a student will fail or won’t understand the topic. Often, this thinking is a self-fulfilling prophecy, because this technique allows for at-risk students to fall behind in school.

In some schools, there aren’t enough tutors for all of the students. Gunderson, a teacher at the largest middle school in the state, says, “This is probably my biggest frustration as an AVID teacher. We have UNM and CNM and we still have a shortage.” As well as teachers, the AVID program relies heavily on the support of the school and school administrators. Because some of the program’s curriculum extends to the organization and techniques into other classes, AVID is directly reliant upon how supportive the administration, teachers, and students are. This becomes an issue in very large schools, particularly high schools. In some larger schools, it is not uncommon for a teacher to be disconnected from the rest of the school, resulting in a lack of knowledge about other teachers, programs, and classes. If the AVID program requires the support of the entire school, it will be let down by the disconnected teachers that may have their own organizational rules or who may disagree with the teachings of the AVID program.

Right now, there is a severe lack of official, third-party research on the AVID program. At this point in time, AVID takes pride in its mission to promote equity, teacher effectiveness, leadership, and student learning, But these goals are poorly defined and cannot be measured. In their study of the success of AVID, Portland public schools reached the conclusion in their study Evaluation of AVID Effectiveness that “Although it is clear that much research supports the use of AVID, most of the research has been non-experimental in nature, did not utilize comparison groups, and had small sample sizes” (14). Many of the studies presented by the organization observed samples that were too small, often less than 40 students at a time. These small sample sizes make it impossible to make a statement on the findings. As well as these small studies, evidence has shown that AVID stilts the information being given to administrators, teachers, and students by posting graphs with manipulated data prominently on their website. Specifically, their graph on the enrollment of New Mexico seniors in college has a footnote that states that the data is collected in the first fall semester after graduation. This footnote is concerning because seeing as AVID is marketed as a college prep program, it is likely that these students were enrolled in college for the fall semester before they graduated high school while they were still in the AVID program. There is no further information on the enrollment statistics for seniors in New Mexico, which implies that the data was not recollected after classes were started. Manipulative data collection, such as this data which was collected solely to make the AVID program look good, is common in much of the AVID program and is also present in the third-party studies posted on the website. In some case studies, the number of children being researched at a time was below 40, far too few to make an appropriate generalization for the program. Another issue often seen in AVID studies is the lack of use of a proper control group. In most AVID studies designed to measure the aided success of at-risk or disadvantaged students, a class with disadvantaged students outside the AVID program is not observed for comparison. Not only does this lead to an extrapolation of data on the benefit of AVID. As of yet, the data provided by AVID vouching their efficacy is inconclusive. Upon further research, there is very little public information about the districts and schools that host the AVID program. In the data portion of the AVID website, there are links that lead to snapshots of the AVID progress state by state. While this should be a statistical gold mine for a researcher, only 22 of the supposed 47 states that host the AVID program have public snapshots available. This exclusion of statistics is a concerning choice, especially considering the evidence of manipulated data that has been present throughout the research process.

At this point in time, there is no way to tell exactly how effective AVID is. There are too many irregular variables to make an assumption about the efficacy of the program. The AVID program in New Mexico seems to be relatively well structured and supported. Further research should be done on the methods and goals of the program. It has great potential to aid disadvantaged students around the nation.

Works Cited

1. Carroll, Noël, and Noel Carroll. “Can Government Funding of the Arts Be Justified Theoretically?” Journal of Aesthetic Education, vol. 21, no. 1, 1987, p. 21., doi:10.2307/3332811.
2. CFA Staff. “Addressing the College Completion Gap Among Low-Income Students.” Addressing the College Completion Gap Among Low-Income Students, 3 Oct. 2018, collegeforamerica.org/college-completion-low-income-students/.
3. Durie, Mason. “Cultural Preservation and Protection.” SpringerLink, Springer, Dordrecht, 1 Jan. 1970, link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-1-4020-5614-7_634.
4. Evaluation of AVID Effectiveness – Portland Public Schools. Multnomah County Partnership for Education Research, Oct. 2015, http://www.pps.net/cms/lib8/OR01913224/Centricity/Domain/207/avid_effectiveness_oct_2015.pdf.
5. Gunderson, Alicia. Personal Interview. 4 Dec. 2019.
6. Jeffers, Carol S,., and Noreen Izuo Fong. “Funding Issues and Teacher Expertise in Elementary Art Teaching: A Dynamic Relationship.” Art Education, 30 Nov. 1999, eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ642112.
7. Lynch, Grace. “The Importance of Art in Child Development.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 11 Nov. 2019, www.pbs.org/parents/thrive/the-importance-of-art-in-child-development.   

Kenneth Slessor’s suite of poetry enhances the complexities of the human experience and he invites us to challenge our predetermined consumptions and asks his audience to question what it means to human. Slessor’s dichotomous poem, ‘William Street’ is a clear representation of the experiences of living in an urban metropolis whilst observing into a different perspective. Slessor’s ‘Out of Time’ delivers a revolutionary understanding of time passing by unnoticed, further assuring the audience is reconsidering the true power of time. The pair, comparatively, constructs a dynamic understanding of the experience of beauty co-existing in times of chaos. Ultimately, Slessor’s poems propose a chance for the audience to reconsider their predetermined consumptions and with this reconsideration, look at the world in an alternate perspective whilst in the moment.

Kenneth Slessor’s dichotomous poem, ‘William Street’ represents individual human experience of living in an urban metropolis and enhances our attention to looking in another perspective. Modernism arose in response to destruction as a result of WWI, meaning that traditional values were disregarded and thought to be irrelevant. Slessor was influenced primarily on the combined impact of war and economic catastrophe. The four-quatrain poem encompasses the modernist ideals that Slessor adopted in the 1930s by depicting four distinct images about the street itself, focusing on both the sordid and hedonistic. Slessor uses elemental imagery in the first stanza to dismantle the demarcations between the man-made and the artificial features of the city, focusing on the hedonistic, ‘the red globe light’ and ‘the liquor green’ is a multifaceted motif of the vibrant lights and formidable energy, these characterize that the vices of drinking and engaging with sex work are the beating heart of the city. However, stanza two idolizes the sordid where the extensive use of death imagery to portray a phantom of death. The simile of ‘Ghost trousers, like the dangle of hungmen.’ reinforces this phantom being, haunting the city and driving it. Stanza fours use of colloquial language reinforces the sordid, “The dips and molls, with flip and shiny gaze” proposes an alternative view that from the first stanza’s bright and flamboyant lights, thus showing both positions humans can be in living in the city. Slessor in ‘William Street’ aimed to explore the perspective of human subjectivity in the objective, further challenging and enhancing the audience’s perception of living in a city.

Slessor’s representation of the transience of time in his redolent poem ‘Out of Time’ revolutionizes our understanding of life and time rushing by our consciousness into oblivion. Modernism in ‘Out of Time’ aimed to present consciousness, emotion and meaning of an individual’s relationship with society. He focuses on the subjective means of representing his emotions, in that there is nothing absolute in the world. The retrospective narration Slessor uses throughout his poem such as ‘saw’ and ‘thought’ recalls from his individual human experience and represents ‘time’ as a collective human experience that goes by in the past, with conjunction to the individual perspective of ‘I’ this reinforces this subjective notion of his inner emotion of time passing into the oblivion. Slessor personifies ‘Time’ to give it a fuller life form. The pleading tone in ‘Time, you must cry farewell’ represents mans desire for this, now life-form, to leave him alone and let him live his life free of worry. Slessor’s utilization of the form and structure in the poem, more specifically, the concluding rhyming couplet and its cyclic structure, represents the power dynamic between ‘time’ and the ‘moment.’ Furthermore, this represents man’s immersion in the moment defeats time for this brief moment, the men ‘let him go’ and ‘I and the moment laugh,’ further proposing the dramatic conflict going against time. Therefore the conflict between ‘time’ and the ‘moment’ is clearly depicted as something that passes by individuals unnoticed, therefore challenging our assumptions about humans experiencing time in the moment. Allowing us to reconsider the true power of ‘time.’

Exemplifying the capacity for beauty to co-exist during times of chaos as well, Slessor’s poem, ‘Out of time’, and, ‘William Street’, both allow for or an enhancement in our understanding of these experiences to take place. ‘William Street’ formally addresses the coexistence of beauty in chaotic times in the constant refrain used after the end of each image, ‘you find this ugly, I find it lovely.’ highlighting the ultimate contrasting perspective individuals have on ‘the cross.’ Additionally, it provides a literal paradox in the refrain, in that the beauty coexists in the individual rather than where chaos is set in the mind of another individual. Moreover, ‘Out of Time’ additionally illustrates the beauty of the moment, in comparison to the lust for life in the future. Identified in Slessor’s reclamation of ‘time leaves this lovely moment in his back,’- where time allows for the beauty experienced in the moment to linger with him whilst time continues to take its toll. Furthermore, Slessor adds ‘The gulls go down, the body dies and rots,

And Time flows past them like a hundred yachts.’ This rhyming couplet symbolizes the sense of death, and that time continues to prosper after we die, but the only thing to divert us from realizing this impending doom is grasping onto memories made in the moment. Therefore the co-existence of beauty in times of chaos is manifested in both ‘Out of Time’ and ‘William Street’ to enhance the anomalies in life, to also show that immersion in the moment allows for a diminished power of Time, all overarchingly evident on perspective and where to look.

Ultimately, Slessor’s poems ‘Out of Time’ and ‘William Street’ both contribute to the overarching idea of challenging our predetermined assumptions, he invites the audience to grasp an alternative perspective in establishing new assumptions on the dynamic world around them whilst immersed in the moment.