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Journal #3:
Multiculturalism (Any Age)

Liliana Celio
HD 300
Instructor: Dan Beaman
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On November 18, 2016, I had the opportunity to observe a thirteen-year-old child named,

Sergio. As an educator within the Ontario-Montclair School District, I occasionally worked as a

Substitute Instructional Aide at the Middle School in which I observed Sergio. Therefore, I

decided that I would take this opportunity to reconnect with him.

Sergio is the second child of three children in his family. His older brother is currently

incarcerated, and his parents work long hours in order to make ends meet. As a result, Sergio has

found himself taking care of his younger sister while his parents work. In the past, he shared with

me that his parents and brother immigrated from Mexico when his brother was fifteen years old.

He has also made mistakes that lead administrators to place him in a school program called,

Student Outreach Academic Recovery (S.O.A.R.). The program works with expelled and at-risk

students who need additional emotional, mental, and academic guidance. Although I have only

substituted for the program a couple of times, I often see how much guidance the students need.

As I observed Sergio amongst his classmates, the teacher instructed the class. She

explained the math lesson for the day before she assigned a set of problems from a math book.

Sergio sat and listened. A student then interrupted the teacher with a joke, which the teacher then

reminded the students that if they did not allow her to show them how to solve the problems,

they would need to answer them on their own. The student responded, ok only to sit in silence

for a few minutes before another student shouted out, teacher this is stupid. The teacher then

responded, Im sorry that you feel that way but thats what we need to learn today. I can help

you after Im done explaining it to everyone else. The student sat and waited. As the teacher

continued to instruct the class, I noticed that Sergio passed notes to his friends. He then worked

on the assignment while coincidently conversing with other students about what they did over

the weekend. He finished the task but then allowed his classmates to copy his work. Sergio then
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turned in his work, only to continue a history assignment that he could not complete the day

previous day. He became distracted as his classmates continued to discuss the activities that they

had planned once school was out.

After observing Sergio, my mind automatically connects his behavior to Eriksons Stage

Five, Theory of Identity vs. Role Confusion. I say this because the stage categorizes adolescents

his age as constantly questioning their place in society (Erikson, 2016). As I observed Sergio, I

noticed that while the teacher instructed the class, Sergio constantly interacted with other

students. Based on previous conversations that I have had with Sergio I knew that he wanted

more for himself as a member of society. However, considering his stage of development and his

environment, Sergio worried more about what his peers would think of him if he did not behave

the way that the other students behaved in the class (Erikson, 2016). Indeed, his worry about his

friends perspectives initially lead him to become a part of the S.O.A.R. program.

I also compare Sergios behavior to the identity development that Beverly Daniel Tatum

discusses in her book, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other

Conversations About Race (2002). As an adolescent, adults may attempt to relate to them as

much as possible, but only those who look like them will appeal to them the most (Tatum, 2002,

p. 60). In Sergios case, he is aware that he does not want to become like his parents as they work

day in and day out in order to make ends meet. In fact, he internally wants to become better, yet

because he always worries about what his friends think of him, he chooses to play that role

instead. His current environment is the most familiar to him, and therefore, that is the only role

that he knows how to play. In this case, because his focus is more on what others see, he prefers

to take on the oppositional identity that Tatum discusses (pp. 61-62). Since he had few to no

significant role models to show him otherwise, he preferred to behave the way that his peers
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behaved in order to fit in (pp. 61-62). In fact, his longing for a sense of community amongst

others who understood his struggles facilitated his transition into becoming a part of the group of

students with whom he interacted the most. As a result, I believe that if he took on the role of an

emissary in order to oppose this role, his current group of friends would insult him or exclude

him from the group because he would be acting the way the way that they believe to be

unacceptable (p. 64). As an adolescent, a sense of belonging and acceptance is one of the most

important concepts. Exclusion would most likely lead to other negative thoughts or behavior,

such as depression.

To remedy this type of mentality, one must question why the school or program has not

done more to place more positive role models in Sergios life. I believe that todays social media

dramatically impacts these impressionable minds. As a result, we have more individuals who

think that following the negative behaviors that others carry out is acceptable. Indeed, these

adolescents belong to the generation of future leaders of America. We need to do more than just

try. Their future depends on it.


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References

HD 300 Course Files (Fall II, 2016). Retrieved from

https://tcsedsystem.instructure.com/courses/32543/files/5138949/download?wrap=1

Ontario-Montclair School District. The S.O.A.R. Academy: Student Outreach Academic

Recovery. Retrieved from http://omsd.k12.ca.us/departments/cwa/SOAR

%20Documents/SOARBrochure.pdf

Tatum, B. (2002). Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other

Conversations About Race. New York: Basic Books.

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