Problem:
Please help with an introduction and conclusion for this paper including the following information.
Tell the story of some part of your life as a young person (ages 12-20 years). What was most memorable to you and why? What were some highlights and challenges and who helped to negotiate them? What did you learn? Need Assignment Help?
Reflect critically upon your story with the use of the readings from this course (use at least one main idea from each module). What do these ideas and course materials illuminate about your own life as a young person? Reflect on what you have told of your own young life in relation to the course. Properly cite any course readings and materials that you mention. You must include at minimum the following critical ideas: epistemological fallacy, being, becoming, and belonging.
The process of writing this paper includes placing your younger self in social and cultural contexts. What were the main challenges and/or joys and/or developments at the social and individual levels? How did you encounter and negotiate the challenges and opportunities of your particular setting, place, and cultural context. Which people, relationships, and organizations were important to the story? Think about social class, digital media, climate change, intergenerational injustice, school, families, communities, social policies, and other social forces that affected you and other young people.
As in Chapter 1 of Tilleczek's Approaching Youth Studies, the postcards are the same, and my story of growing up serves as a device to show the complexities surrounding young people's identities and the experiences within different social structures, such as home, school, and the community (p. 4). The layers and interconnected influences that shape young people's experiences serve as a lens for examining the complexities of growing up in diverse social contexts. The concept suggests that young people exist within multiple, overlapping environments that include not only their immediate family and school but also larger community structures and cultural norms. They symbolize how these different environments interact and impact an individual's sense of self and belonging (pp. 16-18).
Reflecting on my childhood, I was born in the early 80s and grew up in the 90s. My parents were divorced, and I primarily lived with my dad and stepmom and visited my mom on weekends. My mom was very laid-back when it came to parenting. My dad served in the military. He was a peacekeeper and an engineer; he was firm, not strict. My stepmom, on the other hand, was very strict. Growing up felt like my parents always knew what was best for me, and I wasn't allowed to have a voice. That kids were "to be seen, not heard."
Because of the military, I spent my youth moving around a lot, and I saw my dad only briefly that year. In my house, we practically lived out of boxes. We were posted so often that we only unpacked the essentials. I never had a say in whether I wanted to more or not. Leaving behind friends and a home. There were several terms that military families would say, some of which were about being second to the military: we just get shipped along with the boots. We had to learn how to adapt to each move quickly. The only good thing about being posted to bases is that you always find someone from another base you met before. Which I believe was really helpful for adapting quickly, because other youth knew precisely what you were going through because they were going through it as well.
In 1997, I was in grade 9, and I had a group of friends, the four of us, we were inseparable, our school knew if you found one, the rest of us were nearby. I remember spending much of my time outdoors with friends, face to face, listening to music; we hardly spent time inside. We would always say we were bored because there was nothing to do, but we always found something. At the same time, we started getting dial-up at home, and you couldn't use the phone and the internet at the same time without being cut off. It would drive everyone insane. But it also allowed us to talk to people in different parts of the country through chat rooms and MSN Messenger. At this point, it was still relatively new to find anything online. Compared to today, you can find anything with a click of a button. Back then, if you wanted to learn about something, you needed to go to the library, use a card catalogue to look up where things were in the building, and then go looking for a physical copy of a book.
For me, the most memorable would start in 1998, when I was finishing grade 10 and my dad retired from the military. Which would mean we would no longer be living on or attending school on base. We would also be moving out of town, to a place where I did not know anyone other than my family. I felt it changing because I did not know what to expect or if I would even make friends. For the first time in my life, I was nervous because in 1999, in grade 11, I would be attending a public school for the last two years of high school. I felt out of sorts and felt like everyone was staring at me. During the first two weeks I was there, someone asked me if I had ever attended public school. When I said no, it was my first time, and they replied, "You could tell." Their words and the way they said them made me feel very much like an outsider. For a while, it caused me to withdraw socially from people.
The main difference I found between the two different types of schools is the social ladder and how people treated each other. The school on base: while some students did not get along, there were not many fights among students. Of course, there were the "cool students"; they did not talk down to others or make fun of them. Everyone would say "hey" to someone. I don't know if it was just this unspoken rule because we were all going through the same thing, or if I didn't notice. As to where the public school is, I could hear, as I walked down the halls, the comments made about another person. I ended up making a couple of friends; I wouldn't say we were close, but it made it more manageable. I also joined our school wrestling team and school band. During this time period, I do not believe I had anyone to help me when I moved; it felt more like I was trying to survive something I was not used to.