Youth- Wasted on No One.

Monday, I taught one of our homeownership classes. We have been revamping some of the classes, Conflict Management being one of them. Since I have a background in psychology and experience putting on workshops, the homeownership director decided that the first go at the new curriculum should be mine (let me express here my deep gratitude for the affiliate’s trust in my abilities). I prepared heartily and thought through every detail, but something about the night caught me off guard and left me pondering.

 This workshop stood in stark contrast to the type of classes I often teach. My background has been heavily focused on youth activists. I’ve had very little experience teaching adults, and I can’t say that I’ve ever been comfortable with it. It’s strange: I can have a room of 17-year-olds dancing like penguins in less than five minutes, but an hour in a room with adult strangers leaves me wringing my hands. This workshop did likewise. The evaluations came back to us very positive, but I had a very hard time getting them to talk. The workshop was formatted to be interactive, but my inability to coax out their participation left it unfulfilled in my eyes.

I’ve spent the last four days trying to put my finger on the differences between the youth and adults I find myself teaching. I’ve considered cultural and social circumstances and narrowed into psychological differences. For example, I find at the conferences I used to plan for WV SADD, the youth formed strong bonds, a sense of comradery almost instantly. They were all there for the same reason, with a common purpose. The partner families here at Habitat have a common purpose, but it is not a uniting one. They are all here to work toward their homes, but the result is individual.

In youth, I find the ultimate uniting characteristic is self-efficacy. Every young person I’ve ever worked with knew that they could impact the world. I think this spirit is something we try to re-instill in our partner families. Often they come to us feeling like life happened to them, like they lost control. Habitat helps them gain back some of that control, and hopefully some of that youthful zest as well.

So my question to you is this: do you feel like you have the power to change the world, or have you “out-grown” it?