Fourth World People’s University: Youth

March 2, 2019

Guests

Mark Fusco has been an English teacher at Hyde Leadership Charter School for nine years. He runs the United Nations (UN) Group, which has participated in October 17 commemorations for the past four years. He lives in Astoria, Queens, and loves film and baseball.

Osvaldo Garcia is a senior in Hyde Leadership Charter School. He is active in Student Council, the UN Group, and Youth Justice Board. He notes, “I am an activist for the planet and reformation of the justice system.” He likes video games and plans to study political science in college.

Fatoumata Cisse is a freshman at Hyde Leadership School. She is Freshman Rep on its Student Council and also member of the UN Group. She notes, “I am an outgoing person. If I am passionate I will keep sharing my opinion.” As well as being an environmental activist, she swims, takes part in volleyball club, and likes to read and cook. Her favorite subject is history.

Susan McKeown is a Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, and producer from Dublin, Ireland, who has lived most of her adult life in New York. She is founder and executive director of Cuala Foundation, a non-profit organization whose aim is to transform lives by learning, creating, and celebrating together. Cuala's projects in Ireland and the United States involve young people and communities in exploring intergenerational trauma and cultural healing.

Introduction

Virginie: Many of you have said, "Let’s not forget our young people; let’s not build the Fourth World Movement without our young people." We are very aware of the challenges that young people have every day at school, at work, and in daily life. But are we open to hearing the hopes and concerns that teenagers and young adults have?

On March 2, 1955,Claudette Colvin, a fifteen-year-old girl in Montgomery, Alabama, was arrested when she refused to give up her seat on a bus for a white woman. That was some months before Rosa Parks started the Montgomery bus boycott. People learned from that teenager who took an action that seemed small from where she was, but had a big impact. We want to enter into a dialogue with young people who take action.

In the posters we made a month ago (see appendix in the PDF) one activist said that adults don’t believe in young people and don’t support them enough. Here, in this room, we found that we do support them, but we need to hear from them how we can better support them. We are very happy to have eight young people here to give us their perspectives. Thank you for joining in the process with us.

But we also want to hear from adults, many of whom are not young anymore; but we care, we have concerns and hopes. We hope to have a dialogue today between generations.

Preparation for this dialogue:

First preparation meeting (February 1): The three posters on the wall were prepared a month ago, in three peer groups. We created these bodies you see. In the head there's the hope we have as young people or for young people. In the torso, the concerns; in the arms, the actions to take; in the legs, where to go.

Second preparation meeting (February 15): We have three scenarios created by young people and one by adults using Forum Theatre technique.

Forum Theatre is a process where participants build a scene based on real-life experiences, and from the scene learn new perspectives. Characters will play their scene once, then the audience reflects for a moment. The actors start the scene again and “spect-actors” can offer to take a player's part. When the scene is played a second time, raise your hand to freeze the action, and the "joker" (facilitator) will call on you to come in and take the place of the character you want; or you can add a character, or add furniture or a prop such as a coffee cup. The "joker" might stop a scene. The aim is to change the dynamics of the conversation, not produce a magical solution. We are not doing a whole play, just a snippet. Our guests are welcome to join in to respond.

First scenario — the corner store

Plot: A shopkeeper sees two teenagers enter her store. One wants to buy a box of cookies; the other is holding a can of soda she had bought in a bodega across the street. The shopkeeper is concerned that the soda might actually have come from her store and asks the girls to pay for it. The girl holding the soda says she had bought it before coming into this store. The storekeeper asks to see the receipt or paper bag from the other store. The girl replies that the bodega does not give a receipt or bag. Her friend agrees. The shopkeeper calls security. The girls explain again to a security guard, who insists the store policy is that they need to show a receipt. The girl with the soda says it’s because they are teenagers that they get treated like this.

Scene Changes: The corner store

The new cashier insisted that she wanted to be sure that soda did not come from her store. A new teenager said, "I did not take the soda from the refrigerator." Another new teenager suggested that if the store has cameras, they could go to the office and look; then the first teenager with cookies offered to just pay for the soda so that they can go. The "joker" asked whether this is a magical solution. The scene evolved when a new security guard stopped insisting on seeing a receipt and bag and agreed to go and check the camera with the girls (who were actually adults playing teens).

A new cashier thanked the security guard. The teens came back with the news that they checked the camera and no one took anything, so the soda is hers. Then a new teen (who played the security guard earlier) jumped in; she demanded an apology saying, “With the young white people in the shop, you don’t take any precautions. You only take precautions with us (because we are black).” The cashier explained that the store has to follow policy, but was interrupted by the new security person who said to the teens, “Thank you for your purchase. We are sorry.” The "joker" wrapped up the scene after eight minutes.

Second scenario — "Mom, I got accepted into college."

Plot: A mother sitting holding a coffee cup seems very detached when her daughter comes to say that she got accepted at a great university. The teen is apparently quite pregnant (with a bucket under her T-shirt). Her mother sips her coffee and seems not as excited as the daughter is. The conversation turns to who will take care of the baby, and the mother asks the daughter to go to college near home and take care of the baby. The mother says that she doesn’t have time to take care of the baby because of her knitting class and that the daughter should take the baby with her to college. The daughter says she needs her freedom to go out of town to this great college and the mother has nothing to do anyway. The daughter insists the mother can take the baby to her knitting class.

SceneChanges: "Mom, I got accepted into college."

The same daughter actor, more excitedly, exclaims that it’s one of the best colleges ever and the new mom congratulates the daughter while asking, "How are we going to take care of the baby?" The same daughter replies, "What do you mean we?You are going to take care of the baby." The new mother asks how far away the college is. The daughter says it’s four hours away. The daughter says, “You are the best mom, ever,” and the new mom touches the daughter stomach and says, “The baby is your responsibility also.”

A second new mom asks how far away the college is and can the daughter look into day care. The daughter insists that her mother stays home with the baby while she goes study, to which the mother replies, “It’s my turn. I want you to be secure, I still want you to go to college, but I raised my children for 21 years. I’m the grandmother. I am not the mother.” Another new daughter (who happened to be the twelve-year-old daughter of one of the participants) takes the bucket from first daughter, puts it under her T-shirt, and says, “Maybe I just won’t go to college.”

Another new mom steps in and says, “I want you to go to college,” and proposes that the college might have a day care for newborns so the daughter can study. Yet another new mom takes over, with an idea to be more supportive by helping the daughter find an apartment near campus and find a babysitter.

A participant jumps in as a new character, the father of the baby, who says he will also go to college and the child will go to school with them, but they ask the mom for help. Then another new mom (an actual grandmother) enters the scene. She’s tougher and tells the couple that they made this baby; they don’t need any help because they are adults now. The father continues, saying he will go to work. Another new mom steps in and says, "That’s your responsibility," as she points to the daughter’s stomach. The "joker" ends the scene.

Third Scenario — Daughter calling home to Dad from college

Plot: Daughter and father hold cell phones and speak as if miles apart. The daughter explains to her father that she needs money to pay her rent because she lost her job. She is also studying at college. Dad says that she is to help herself, she is responsible. The daughter says she has been studying really hard, and she got fired because she was late to work. Dad says she hasn’t really been trying. She insists that she has been studying every day, late, and that she’s going to college because that’s what Dad wanted and asks if he will help pay for it. He replies that he’s not saying no, he will get back to her, and he hangs up.

Scene Changes: Daughter calling home to Dad from college

The scene starts as before with the daughter asking her father to help with this month’s rent. Dad remains stoic, saying, “You know you can do it. Work harder.” The daughter replies that she has been trying, and studying really hard for the exam, and she lost her job because she was late.

The daughter insists that Dad help. She lost her job because she was staying up all night studying and was really tired. The "joker" calls for help. A new father asks, "When did this happen?" Same daughter says she didn’t realize how much work there would be and didn’t have time to do the job anymore.

New father asks how her studies were going, and says it sounded like she was passionate about her studies. The same daughter says she’s only doing this because her dad wanted it. New father asks what she really wants. The daughter explains that she wanted to be an artist but he forced her to study engineering. The new father agrees and adds that it’s possible to find a solution, like moving into a dorm, because he doesn’t have the money to pay her rent (to which the audience called out that dorms are not free).

The new father (a young woman) says he wants to talk more with the daughter about changing to an art major but at the same time the daughter has to have a job. He says he knows she is a wonderful artist. The daughter is hopeful that if she switches to the art program, she would have time to work. But meanwhile the father is doubtful he can get a loan to help with her rent. The "joker" asked for somebody to help out this student. A new daughter steps in and explains that there are other things you can do with an art degree — it’s not just being an artist. She (actually a male teen now) says, “I mean, I could work in a museum." Then the father asked the daughter for more conversations beyond this phone call and says, “I miss you; it’s been a big change since you left.” The new daughter says, “I miss you too.” The father says, “I love you,” and they end the call.

Fourth Scenario — Brother tells his little sister that he just spent $2,000 on four pairs of sneakers.

Plot: Little sister is shocked because he seems to forget his future, going to college. He should save the money for tuition and books instead of spending it on sneakers. Furthermore, sister says he has a bunch of sneakers hanging on his wall that he doesn’t even wear. Brother explains that he has to look good when he goes to school, and he has saved up for college as well. When the sister asks how much he has saved, he says $15,000. Sister says that sounds like a lot but maybe not in the real world of tuition. Brother replies he will get a job to make more money. Sister complains that he has a bad habit, buying sneakers. Brother says she’s right; he won’t do it again.

Scene Changes: Brother tells his little sister that he just spent $2,000 on four pairs of sneakers

A new sister steps in and says she’s been to college already and wants her brother to be smarter with money. A friend of the sister (a young person who joined in) insists that anyone can see that the brother doesn’t care. New brother steps in and says he loves making money and wants to be an entrepreneur more than he wants to be in school.

A new sister says the real problem is that he has an addiction to buying sneakers. A mom joins the scene (she is the brother character’s actual mom) and a participant enters to take the confrontational friend for a walk, while the new mom confronts the son because he spent money while he already has a collection of sneakers, doesn’t think about the family, etc. A new son steps in and insists he will sell the sneakers online. The "joker" freezes the scene and asks whether someone can help out the mother. A participant (from the side) says, “The mother doesn’t need help; it’s the boy who needs help.”

A new son continues while both the sister and mom sit listening.The new son agrees that he has a problem, but says the sneakers are collector’s items. The mother counters that $2,000 is a couple of months’ rent and food and that the son better listen. The son replies that she doesn’t give him a chance to speak. The "joker" freezes the scene and says, “Sometimes a conversation goes in circles; we have to find a way to conclude.”

The sister asks the brother where he got the money. Another new brother steps in and says he got it from his father, who is not here.

The sister asks where the father is, and the son explains that his dad is a business owner and taught him to respect the fact that the family is not together. A “little brother” (actually the brother of the actor) joins in to support the brother. Then another new brother steps in to say that at next week’s basketball game, the players are going to autograph the sneakers. A new mom steps in (actually a teen peer of the brother actor) and suggests a plan: he should go to that basketball game, get the sneakers signed, and sell them on eBay for more money. When he gets the money he wants, to go to college, "then we’ll all be happy," she says. The sister sitting next to her (who was also a young person) says she hopes it all works out. The new brother asks, “What about me?” The "joker" ends the scene and asks whether that was a happy ending.

Guests’ reactions: How does what you’ve just heard reflect your own practice and experience?

Mark: First, thank you for performing; that was interesting. Second, I thought the theme and every performance reflected the challenge that young people face in being listened to; or the fact that they are not listened to. Sometimes, they might be listened to but they don’t feel like they are being heard. As a teacher, I feel very strongly that my job with the young people I work with is for them to know that I’m listening to them.It’s not that they are always going to get what they want; it doesn’t mean I am always going to agree with them. The adults I resented when I was a teenager were the adults who were not listening to me. They could critique what I had to say, but if they didn’t listen to me and they just wanted to tell me how to live my life, that would make me really, really angry. So I try not to be that person, that adult.

Fatoumata: I could relate to two scenes out the four. SometimesI go to a bodega near our school and I see the store owners looking at me differently than my friends. They are Hispanic and I am black and the owners think I am going to take something. It makes me angry. I think, "Do I look suspicious to you? I just want to look around." And with the scenario with shoes, I saw how the mom was not letting you speak. And that’s like with me. WhenI’m in trouble, my mom asks me to explain myself, and then she won’t let me explain. So I ask her, "Do you want me to explain, or not?" She won’t let me speak, so I end up getting in trouble.

Susan: This was a really interesting process. I didn’t know about Forum Theatre, and it’s beautiful. Thank you for the thought that went into the performances. You ended up presenting the problem. I love how you say, step outside the box, when you can step back and experiment and come up with a different way to look at a situation. When you’re stuck, the Forum Theatre allows you to bring creativity and imagine different solutions. You can see what can happen and how life can be different when you step out of the box. Just like family, when you have recurring issues, you can try them out with different characters, and a solution is possible. To see that another way is possible, it’s a great process.

I can relate to the first scene I jumped into, the one where the daughter was in college and couldn’t pay the rent. It's important to know that you can’t always have a magical ending. There are certain structural things in place; you can’t fight against everything, but you can look at different options.

When the daughter said, "I’m an artist, and you’re forcing me to go to college to be an engineer. That’s not what my passion is," my experience is that you have to be practical, but you really also have to be internal, you have to let that internal voice be heard. And sometimes that is about letting yourself hear that voice first — knowing what you really want and following your passion. And that’s the most important voice that we all carry.How can we let that be heard in the context of the practical barriers that we come up against every day?

So you said to your father, "I am an artist; that is my passion and you just haven’t heard me." That opened the way for him to maybe hear for the first time. It’s not that you haven’t said it before. But then you have to bring that inside voice; you have to express it. As you said in our conversation when you invited me, we have to let the voices of young people be heard more. There’s never been a more important time. And, today, it’s great to see examples around the world of young people’s voices being heard. You just have to step into that and let people know how to listen to their voices.

Osvaldo: I agree with Susan a lot. I could relate to the scene about the university and having responsibilities that are keeping you from your dream. I have a passion for politics and activism, but I also need to be practical and find ways I could both maintain myself and still live my passion. My parents are helping me with that; we’re trying to figure that out. That is something I am still trying to learn and come to grips with. When young people are trying to describe their dreams and passion, adults are in a position to try to find ways to make it more practical for them. Or to set it in reality and say, "Yes, this is your passion, but how can we make this something sustainable? You could follow your dream, but you also don’t have to worry about whether you have food in your fridge."

Dialogue

Relating to the scenes

The different scenes resonate a lot for many participants. For example, one said: “I remember one time about twenty years ago when I went to a store down in Manhattan and I was followed around. It was 1996and I went downtown to buy crayons. I remember this lady was following me around and she didn’t follow anybody else around. So I asked her, 'Do you have any crayons?' The woman was shocked and she said, 'No,' so I just left.”

Here are some themes that particularly resonated for the participants and guests.

Seen and Not Heard at School

Virginie: How do we show young people that they are seen and heard?

Mark: I can speak about that. Our school is really special because we have frequent opportunities to give feedback to teachers. It’s actually part of the culture of the school. The teacher has to sit there and be quiet. The students can give their feedback, and the teachers are not allowed to say anything. You could talk afterwards, maybe, but generally you are not supposed to say anything. Also, I continue with the UN Group with these wonderful students, because it leads to opportunities where they go to places like the United Nations because of you, ATD Fourth World, and people from all areas of life are looking at them, listening to what they have to say. It’s very empowering. I wish I had had that when I was a teenager.

Fatoumata: That’s what I like about my school. In other schools, if I get in trouble, my dad would say you always have to listen to your teacher, your teacher is correct. I really don’t like that. But then at our school the teacher gives us a choice about how you want to learn; for example, read this or watch a video. The teachers get to know how we feel and how they can improve our learning.

Raising kids, then and now

Participant: I understand what Mark said, because that’s how I grew up. Children were seen and not heard. In my mother’s house, you ate what was put on the table whether you liked it or not. You had to wear the clothes whether you liked them or not. With my children, unless it was their school uniform, they can pick and choose what they want. I did not want to become my mom. I always tell my children that adults are not always right. I hope when people are raising their children, they let their children have a word. It’s really hard growing up when you have nothing to say.

Susan (addressing this participant): I am interested in why your mother raised you the way she did. Why did she do that? And why did you raise your kids the way you did?

Participant: I think my mom thought it was good when she raised us like that, because "that’s how my mother raised us,"she said. There was never a voice. I was never a quiet person but I became, not antisocial, but I became introverted. I can’t say anything even though I am an adult. I knew it was wrong. And, if I felt like that, why would I want to raise my children like that knowing they would have the same problem I have?

Participant (young person): I think a lot of times parents have this fear of being proved wrong by their child. This fear thinking, "I am supposed to be the bigger person, but my child is proving me wrong," because they think it’s a failure for them. But it’s not a failure at all. I think it’s also something that parents need to work on all the time. Because that small ridiculous fear stops kids from telling their parents what they want to do when they grow up or what they want to wear.

Participant: My mom only had two kids. I am the oldest. My mom was a seamstress. She made our clothes. She had an eye, she would see something in the stores, she would sew clothes for me, but when it came down to my brother, she didn’t knowhow to make men’s pants or shirts so she would take him shopping to get clothes. But as a girl, the oldest child, I wanted to know why I got clothes made to wear and then he goes to the store and she buys him clothes. I am 50years old now, but when we were kids, we couldn’t be outspoken to our parents. You couldn’t respond, "I don’t want to wear those pants." If I had said that back then, I would have had no teeth in my mouth. The kids today and the kids back when I was a kid, it’s totally different. I see them moving in the street, hear them cursing, and I think, if they knew my mom back then! I would have got my (behind) whipped right then. Then when I got home, I would get another whipping; when Daddy came home, I’d get a third one. That’s how it was back in the day.

Challenges and making decisions through dialogue

Participant: I just wanted to raise the idea that Mark brought up about the difficulty or the challenges. Each of the four episodes resonated with me: to parent in a positive way that allows children to speak and be heard and to share as an adult the knowledge and experience you have. My son went to drama school from when he was in first grade. That was what he wanted to do.Having that conversation in high school, when I knew he was going to go to college for drama —not to give up on the other stuff, the science class or the advanced math class; unless it’s killing you and you can’t do it, keep as many doors open as you can — those kinds of conversations are difficult. For me it pointed out how difficult it is for both and how important it is to have dialogues between young people and adults. You learn things from each other.It’s hard not to say, "I know you’re about to make a huge mistake,"but you want to give them the room to make that mistake and learn from it.

Participant: First I wanted to congratulate the players. You were better than any TV show I’ve seen, especially the young ones. I was struck by the scene with the pregnant student and the scene of the student in college who couldn’t pay the rent. I was struck because my first reaction was, "My poor girl,I’m the older one and have more money, have the means to take care of your baby.It’s so important that you go to college; that’s your future." In the other one, we don’t know in real life if someone can handle the job and all these classes and everything. But at some point giving them the space, saying,"Okay you are the adult right now. You have to make this choice right now, of going to college, but at some point you have to take care of all the consequences." Because, respecting them, they are the ones wanting to goto college. It’s not only the parents who want them to go to college and save the situation and make everything possible for them. It makes them grow a lot. At some point you have to make a decision.

It was very interesting and so far away from my own culture and how I was raised up. My mother was making a sacrifice of herself for us all the time. And I am doing that with my kids.

Speaking up

Participant (young person): I went to TrinityTech High School and I thought it was a good school; everybody was talking about it. I went there for four years. My dean kept calling my mom telling herI was cutting class, but he had me sitting in the office — I had to sit in the office every day I came. My mom, being herself, came with me to the principal’s office and found out I wasn’t even cutting class. She wasn’t believing me at first, so every day when I came home, I used to get my butt whipped by her, by my brothers. The school called her again that I was cutting class when I was sitting in the office. After that she wasn’t believing me until she came again and I was just sitting in the office. So I was just getting beat. In math class, when I couldn’t solve the problem, he would just kick me out. One day my mom came and she said, "My son is just sitting there. Why is he just sitting there?" I said to her, "See, I told you, he has me sitting here and won’t let me go to class." Then she started to believe me after that.

Participant: That’s a perfect example of how we have to let our kids know that adults are not always right. I want them to respect adults, but I know plenty of scenarios like that where teachers or neighbors tell something about a child that's not true. That’s a profession that’s supposed to care for these children and they are speaking falsely. That’s why when our kids tell you something, I believe in them first. Then I will go to the school, and we’ll sit down and talk it out. I have six children and there have been plenty of times I could just look at the teacher or the principal and know my child did not do that. I know my own child. So you have to listen to your children first. Don’t think just because an adult said that, don’t go ahead and smack your child. It was like that with my mom: once the teacher said something like that, smack! I said I didn’t even do anything. Sometimes, I would just say I did it so I wouldn’t get hit again. I just shut up and said, "I guess the adult is right." That’s why I taught my children that adults are not always right.

Listening, Learning from each other

Osvaldo: When I was growing up, my parents would never listen.Every time I did something they thought was wrong or even if I did not do it, I got punished. It was this idea, "I can’t be wrong as a parent because I have to protect my ego. I am always correct. I am trying to be the best parent."But like you were saying, the problem's with me too. I am trying to fix that. IfI am always wrong and the authority is always right, that idea could be bad; because in the future when you are actually wronged by the authorities and nobody’s treating you right, you always think, "What am I doing wrong?" when it’s actually their fault. That’s why there are a lot of problems in our society today — people think it’s something they are doing wrong when it’s actually the authority that’s wronging them, and they don’t want to fight back because they are afraid. That’s the problem about parenting. When I become a parent I am going to fix that.

Participant: I was struck in the scenes how people transformed the situation. But what also struck me was trying different ways of communication. Sometimes it’s not just a quick solution. I was really touched by the feeling, a mutual feeling, when they said "I love you," and that made a difference — not the money, not the major, or the major you want for me. Like the scene with the shoes and they got stuck, I noticed he was saying he wanted to be an entrepreneur, but at the beginning it was about college, the different insights, the changes. Sometimes it’s good not to be alone in the communication process.

On Respect

Participant:There was a teacher my son had in junior high school who was also a teacher to my sister when she was in first grade. And when she was my sister’s teacher, she beat my sister with a flagpole; my little sister saw her in the window of the classroom. The school called my mother and told her it was because my little sister was misbehaving, so my mother spanked my sister for it. When my son ended up having her as a teacher, she tried to play the same role with me, but she didn’t remember that my sister was the one who got hit by her. We had the discussion in the principal’s office, when she told me, "I want you to spank your son for being disrespectful." I told my son to leave the office, because I wasn’t going to show him that she was being disrespectful and rude. I reminded her of what she did to my sister. I told her what she was accusing my son of. I know my child, and my child would never do that. I am not giving him the power in front of you, but I am not giving you the power either.I had her removed from the school. I went to the district and I had her removed from the school because she actually threw a book at my son.

Participant: I want to say something to the young people. What you need to understand in this life: everything is about respect. Sometimes you have no chance, you cannot pay rent, maybe you are poor, your parents have no time to take care of you the way they are supposed to do, they are working hard and they are not here because they have so much problem to pay rent and everything. But you need to remember about respect for each other. The school is supposed to teach you about that, but I believe the school doesn’t do that for you. If we could create a class for any college, any school, about respect, education and good manners, it would change this world. But when I go somewhere and I feel the kids had a good education, I feel great.

Guests’ Take Away

What will you take back to school, when you write anew song, when you see your parents — when you are going back to your life, what will you remember?

Mark: I will take away the importance of listening, solidarity, and communication.

Osvaldo: Trying to be empathetic and putting yourself in another person’s shoes in a situation.

Susan: I was inspired by all the young voices; everybody was clear about a lot of things, about who they are and what they want in life. One thing that is often forgotten is, we are here to have joy. So, be in touch with your joy every day.

Fatoumata: I’ll take away standing my ground, especially because of how I was raised, and my dad said the teacher’s always right. I learned thatI respect my teachers, but when a teacher yells at me, I feel like I want to cry, I get sensitive. But now I learned they are not always right, so don’t apologize for something you didn’t do.

FWPU PrepTeam: Christelle, Emma, Marcia, Marie-Claire, Stacy, Virginie

Next Fourth World People's University session is on June 1, 2019. Theme: Social Media

UncategorizedApril 17, 2019