This blog is proving to be more popular than we imagined. So, we are giving it its own blog. Once again, all class members are welcome to contribute. Here’s Alex Jeria’s latest report:
A Perspective on Perspectives
Hi again Rutgers,
Since my last blog entry, several new things have happened in class. In my last entry I wrote about my predictions and high hopes for this class as a model for similar classes. The past two classes have been filled with new material and various discussions covering the topic of children and violence. However, of those two days I specifically wanted to share a story which occurred on this past Tuesday (September 9th) that I feel describes a typical day in class.
For our first assignment, Dr Siegel wanted us to read and prepare to discuss the Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 2006 National Report. As the title adequately states, the extremely comprehensive report, compiled from a conglomeration of sources, highlighted various statistics to show trends in juvenile crime and victimization. Yet, for all the information the report held within its pages, the sheer amount of statistics, graphs and main points made it difficult to glean meaning out of the report.
Thankfully our class discussion reversed that feeling. In fact, Dr. Siegel facilitated the discussion so well, that the report, which at first had seemed like a jumble of numbers and graphs, soon held serious meaning and could in the context of growing and decreasing juvenile trends. As we discussed the report further and the class grew more inquisitive, a serious discussion about the topic of race, poverty and its relationship to violence mutated from what began as a simple discussion on Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 2006 National Report. As the conversation about race and poverty began to pull more people in, a broad spectrum of perspectives appeared. Some people expressed feelings of misunderstand of why segregation occurred and why it was necessary or unnecessary to categorize and maintain statistics by race.
As each member of the class shared their perspectives on race, poverty and violence I realized that this was what the class was truly about, not only were we given a chance to learn from a very knowledgeable professor, but we were also being given the chance to learn from each other, an opportunity rarely given inside a college classroom. While we shuffled off to our next class, our next assignment was given, read two reports: Violence by Teenage Girls: Trends and Context and Risk Factors For Youth Violence.
