System Kids by Lauren J. Silver

Author:Lauren J. Silver [Silver, Lauren J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, Public Policy, Social Services & Welfare, Social Science, Sociology, General, Marriage & Family, Women's Studies
ISBN: 9781469622590
Google: eq-toQEACAAJ
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 23371480
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Published: 2015-01-15T03:04:24+00:00

Producing the Responsible Worker

SIL officials arranged for two representatives from the federally funded program to speak to SIL teen moms at the program’s GED classroom. The ceiling was very low and I had to crouch down on a narrow and crooked stairway to enter the basement classroom. It was a cold and snowy day, and Nicole entered with her friend Lisa in a loud, dramatic manner. “Oh, my God!” she exclaimed. “I can’t believe you all made us come out here in the snow.”

Ms. Brooks, the representative from the job-training program, was a black woman who appeared to be in her mid-thirties. She arrived with another black career counselor, as a couple of other teen moms from the SIL program took their seats around the table. Ms. Brooks began by asking the girls to introduce themselves and share what they had learned from the SIL program. Nicole started laughing and looked at Lisa, who also began to chuckle. Nicole then muttered an inaudible comment and Lisa did the same. Erica looked as though she was trying very hard not to join in the laughter. She offered that she received daycare, had graduated from high school, and had set her future educational and career goals. Ebony mumbled that she had learned to be responsible with school.

Nicole and Lisa’s clowning did not impress Ms. Brooks. She told the four girls that in order to benefit from the education and job-training program, applicants must be “serious.” “I am going to be brutally honest,” she said gravely. “There are a couple of you here who wouldn’t qualify.” I heard Lisa, who was sitting next to me, whisper, “Nicole and me.” Nicole immediately raised her hand and, after being called on, looked directly at Ms. Brooks and said, “When it comes to school, I am very serious.” Ms. Brooks replied, “Well, I started assessing you all from the first moment I walked in. If you want consideration for this program, you need to make a good impression.” From that moment on, Nicole remained focused and attentive. She did not laugh or smile. She even seemed to rise out of her slouched posture and sit straighter. Her demeanor was calm and she kept her attention directly on Ms. Brooks.

When Nicole entered the room, she conformed her behavior to the social incentives she read from her peers. She either ignored or misread the signals from Ms. Brooks that she must perform a serious, “school” identity. When Nicole realized the disjuncture in Ms. Brooks’s reading, she changed her behavior to conform to her expectations. Her transformation provides another example of how youth were flexible and strategic in managing their identities. It also indicated that she was sufficiently motivated by the incentives Ms. Brooks communicated.

I later learned from the job-training program’s website that to qualify, youth (ages sixteen through twenty-four) had to meet a low-income requirement. Youth applicants needed to experience at least one of the following circumstances: having dropped out of school, having become parents, being homeless, or living in foster care.

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