11 Chapter 11: Case Studies & Integrating the Chapters

Stories and storytelling are powerful ways to learn and understand theory in the context of actual applications.  Case studies complicates simplistic understandings of knowledge and forces the reader to come to terms with contradictions inherent in frameworks of knowledge. Case studies facilitate the use of inductive thinking for learners; in other words, most case studies have no clear right and wrong answers and the reader must weigh the pros and cons of each course of action (Popil, 2011).  The pedagogical tool as used in this segment allows for applying the knowledge gained in other chapters, solving problems, and finding new ways to explore the topics surveyed in earlier chapters. It has the potential to bring knowledge and praxis together. Case studies invite the reader to make connections between theory and the real world in which people function. Another clear benefit of introducing case studies as a part of the curriculum is foregrounding the ambiguities inherent in real world situations.  When used as a group exercise, the method has the capacity to facilitate cooperation and teamwork (Dowd & Davidhar, 1999; Herreid, 2007).

Practitioners and experts of the case study pedagogical method recommend that certain predetermined steps be used to facilitate thinking when using the tool. They advise that learners and instructors initially begin by identifying the main ideas that hold the case together; in other words, we could ask, “what is this story about and what is the intention behind its telling?”.  The group or individuals could try to articulate clearly why the case is being discussed and why the discussion might be important in the overall context of the class. How can students benefit from exploring the issue?

The second major step could involve exploring the context of the problem enumerated in the case study.  The exploration can involve key factors that affect the issues identified in the case-study.  The students and instructor can make clear the connections between the various facets of the case and the larger factors that may not be spelled out in the case description.  This would be especially true as one begins to explore social and political factors that might have led to the problems in question.  In popular discourse, individual distress is not connected to larger political and social forces and is often presented in a reductive fashion. However, as discussed in the earlier chapters of the book, the personal is political and social. Discussing case studies as couched within the larger context helps expose those connections.

Finally, it is important to end the discussion on a hopeful note; thus, solutions or the way forward can be explored in attempting to address any underlying issues. Participants can discuss alternative solutions to a situation both at the macro and the individual or familial levels. The relative advantages and disadvantages of any solution can be laid out and the long-term consequences on individuals, families, communities and the larger social context can be enumerated (Herreid, 2011).

The case studies listed reflect a variety of situations that involve young people in diverse contexts.  There is no one stated problem and the situations can be used in a variety of ways to strengthen connections between the readings, applying the information from the chapters and analyzing the larger social and economic contexts within which youth function.  Some of the cases require the reader to go beyond the book and search for external resources that may shed light on the case.  Following each of the case descriptions, there are questions and follow up work that students are invited to engage in.  There are also some suggested topics and chapters that the cases may relate to if the instructor chooses to review earlier information that the class explored.

The Bloom’s taxonomy of learning states that there are several levels of complexity in the learning process.  The levels are enumerated in figure 1 (courtesy Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching).  While the earlier chapters in the textbook introduced readers to information about theory, research and findings about adolescence and youth, they mainly address the lower levels of Bloom’s taxonomy of learning. This chapter aims to offer opportunities for the learner to integrate the various ideas and concepts introduced in the textbook and think about real world issues in a more analytical manner.  Students can engage with the subject matter in an inductive fashion and hope to achieve a grasp on the many issues surrounding adolescence from more complex perspectives.  They can learn the material from Bloom’s higher levels by applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating new ways of exploring the topics we examined.

Each case study has a short introduction and a narrative. The cases could be broken down into : a) identifying and getting an accurate description of the case and the protagonist’s predicament; b) the major contributing factors that form the basis of the case; c) finding ways of addressing the specific issue or issues; d) coming up with larger social policies that might have an impact on all youth in the long-term.

Students can be encouraged to go back to the book to find relevant information that may help them understand the cases better and answer its central questions.  In addition, they can attempt to identify the institutional levels where these factors were active – family, social institutions or larger political factors.  They can then think about what additional information they may need to collect and where they could gather the material from.  Finally, they can explore studies that have attempted to address the dilemmas that they conceptualized, what their findings were and the strengths and weaknesses of these experiments.

As Bronfenbrenner describes eloquently in his theory (described in Chapter 1), it is important to explore how people are influenced by forces that range from biological predispositions to the family and the neighborhood and the larger social structural factors.  The interactions between these various institutions historically and in the present often help in understanding contemporary phenomena. It is important for a holistic assessment of a problem to have the breadth of understanding that includes the genesis of the situation, how these issues are defined in public discourse and understanding who benefits and who loses as a result of framing of issues.

Ahmed is one of the many Syrian children who had to flee their homes when the violence started inside Syria.  There are about 31 million children who are currently displaced because of war, strife and social unrest. A little more than half are displaced internally while the rest have had to leave their national borders to seek refuge in other countries. Many of these children and youth cannot return because of the fear of being persecuted in their own countries.  About 52 % of refugees are children and youth below the age of 18 (UNICEF, 2018).  There are 5 million refugees fleeing the civil war in Syria.

Ahmed’s family was middle class before the war, and they lived in the city of Homs in Syria. His father was an engineer and his mother, a teacher.  Before the war started, Ahmed wanted to be a medical doctor when he grew up.   After the beginning of the war in 2014, his family was forced to flee even as the bombs were falling over Homs. The family moved from place to place trying to find a path out of the destruction that large parts of the country was increasingly being subjected to.   Ahmed saw his brother being killed from bomb shrapnel that fell too close to their temporary shelter.  He has witnessed people being tortured and murdered.  Now Ahmed lives in a camp on the northern Iraqi border that was built for 10,000 and now holds close to 50,000 people– almost half of them children.  With the onset of winter, there is a scarcity of necessities youth like Ahmed find themselves with few resources to adapt to the changing seasons.  He had fled his home with nothing but his summer clothes on.  He remembers his past with his family with a great deal of fondness, but he feels an anger that seems to consume him when he thinks about how his life was thrown into chaos because of decisions that others made.

Any Syrian family seeking to come to the US must go through extreme vetting because Syrians are predominantly Muslim.  The first level of screening is conducted by the United Nations which then passes on the family dossiers to the US.  The families are then interviewed several times by Homeland Security after which they are forced to wait for the FBI and other criminal screenings to come back clean.  The chances of approval are slim but if they are allowed in, they are given ‘cultural’ training where they learn the norms and mores? in the US.  Against all odds, Ahmed’s family has just been allowed to enter the US but with the US immigration policy under a great deal of flux, Ahmed and his family feel a lot of uncertainty about their future.  His neighbors assure him that he is fortunate but all he can feel is great despair at having to leave his home and extended family and settle in a land that he knows little about and whose language he does not understand.

Reflection Questions:

• Why are there so many children who end up being refugees when a country goes through civic strife? What might be precipitating factors in the Syrian context?
• What might be some of the impact of war and displacement on Ahmed and other children like him in the short term? As an adult, what might be the challenges he is likely to face?
• How do social identities like religion, socioeconomic class, gender and sexual identity affect life after displacement for youth?
• What are the services that youth need under conditions of displacement? Why?
• Explore in your own readings, how international organizations have stepped in to aid with youth in the conflict in Syria and elsewhere. Are they effective in reaching their goals?
• What are some factors that led to successful interventions in your readings? What are some barriers to helping youth who are caught under conditions of war?

Sophia traveled from El Salvador with her mother when she was just a baby.  Her family was forced to escape and undertake the long arduous journey because they were caught in the crossfires of a drug war in their neighborhood. Her father was killed in a conflict and her mother had little access to safety. The mother made the difficult choice of traveling through inhospitable terrain with her two children to escape the much worse fate that she felt awaited them if they stayed.  During her long crossing of Mexico, Sophia’s mother was raped by a fellow traveler and beaten and robbed by another.

Sophia has spent more time in the US than in the country where she was born.  She is now a student in a local mid-western high school, but she is confronted with the harsh reality that she may be deported without warning.  Her mother is cut off from mainstream American society and Sophia must play the role of the translator in any engagement they may have with any social institutions they may encounter.  In the last few months, Sophia has also increasingly become aware of her sexual identity as being non-normative but she dare not talk about it to anyone, especially her mother.  She knows her mother has too much to contend with and she does not want to burden her any more than is necessary; she does not really know if her mother would understand either.   When her teachers talk about civic engagement and democracy, her own disenfranchisement becomes clear to her – she has few rights in the country she has spent much of her life in.  Attending college is almost impossible considering that she was not born here and has no social security number. The new immigration crackdowns have heightened the stress for her family since they are not sure when one of them might be caught, jailed or worse, deported; separation from her family is so painful for her that she tries not to think about the rather likely possibility that it might happen.  The family has stopped going out unless it is absolutely necessary. More recently, Sophia has been complaining of increasing anxiety and distress.  She sees her young brother of ten burst into tears and try to harm himself by throwing himself against the wall and she feels powerless to help him (Sherman, Mendoza & Burke, 2019).

Reflection Questions:

• Why does Sophia exhibit symptoms of distress? How will it affect her functioning in the short-term and in the future?
• How does separation from one’s family and incarceration affect youth and children?
• Why does the Academy of Pediatrics think unaccompanied minors need urgent help? What are some concepts that you studied in your readings that might help explain the distress these children are feeling?
• What is Sophia’s immediate need in order to regain her mental and physical health? What are some of her long-term needs?
• What are some factors that facilitate or impede the full development of undocumented children?

Jonathan grew up in a suburb outside of a large US city. His upbringing was relatively normal; his European immigrant parents worked long hours to help make ends meet.  As he advanced through school, his parents had little capacity to help him with schoolwork since they barely spoke English.  Despite his family’s social background, Jonathan was a regular 14-year-old boy, playing video games and occasionally engaging in smoking marijuana and binge-drinking alcohol.  School did not interest him very much, but he was an average student and did well enough in school that he was left alone.  He did have feelings of inferiority because he felt that he was not very popular and charming; few girls expressed an interest in spending time with him.  He did not make many overtures either since he felt that he would only be ignored by girls. He is told by his peers that he should be strong and controlling as a white male, but his experiences do not reinforce his peers’ assertions.  He does not know what he wants to do with his life, and he is worried about his economic future.  Jonathan sees that many people in his neighborhood are being laid off frequently and their new jobs often pay less than what they had earned before.  His immigrant family on the other hand emphasizes the importance of working hard and being independent and successful in life; his parents are strict and demand complete obedience.

Recently, Jonathan has been spending a lot of time online in order to distract and entertain himself; his favorite website is 4-Chan from which he gathers that the current way of life for Americans is under threat.  The sites direct him to speakers who present their views on life in very emotional terms; they reject women’s rights, disparage any non-normative expressions of gender and sexuality, demonize immigrants and intellectuals. They emphasize that happiness comes from belonging to an exclusive community that rejects what the rest of society might believe in.  The speakers make him feel special and valuable and he finds that his feelings are validated when he goes online to chat with other like-minded people.   Jonathan has started to articulate some of his thoughts on the depravity of the people involved in the Black Lives Matter movement on the Chan board that he belongs to online and has been delighted by the positive expressions of support he has been receiving from other people.  This gives him the courage to try out an anti-woman meme he had been working on for a while now.  Sometimes in the dead of night, he is alarmed at the rather radical turn the online community has taken, but he loves his group and does not want to alienate them by resisting some of the obnoxious sentiments that he has seen others express.  In the meantime, he has alienated his former friends in school and in the neighborhood, who perceive him as odd and a little scary. Some of his former acquaintances have reached out to the teachers and the administration at school.  They report the changes in Jonathan’s behavior and the racist thoughts that he expresses online and among friends.  They are informed that there is little the school can do since he poses no visible threat to anybody, even if his statements are objectionable.  When Jonathan reports his experiences in school back to his online community, they assure him that his schoolmates are snowflakes and crybabies.

Reflection Questions:

1.What are some factors in Jonathan’s life that make him susceptible to white supremacist messages?

2.How are social media platforms easy spaces to spread hate messages? What are some concepts in your readings that illuminate this idea?

3.How can advocates for Jonathan intervene to help him see the groups for what they are – hate groups? Why is it hard to achieve this end?

4.What are some social, political and economic factors that have led to the increase in hate crimes against immigrants, people of color, homosexuals and trans people in the last few years? How can social institutions like families, schools and other social institutions respond?

Angela is a young woman of 16.  Her family belongs to an upper middle-class background; her father is a manager of a multinational company and her mother makes a living as a photographer.   Even though both parents work, they make sure that the food made and served at home is local and freshly prepared. The family mostly eats together except when Angela has gymnastics practice; the mother is usually the one to drop and pick Angela up from practice and is her most avid champion. The mother recognizes that Angela has a real gift in the sport, and she wants her daughter to excel in everything that she undertakes. Angela is a top student at school and is popular with both teachers and peers.  Both parents are physically active and very health conscious. They would both be considered highly attractive by viewers.  Angela occasionally observes her mother in front of the living-room mirror examining her body closely and pinching her waist disparagingly.  During one of those moments, the mother notices Angela watching her and comments that middle age is not for the faint of heart and that she is working hard to keep her youthful appearance.  She comments that it is hard work to be fit, and people who are not healthy and fit have themselves to blame.  She emphasizes to Angela that the girl should aspire to be the best and the sky is really the limit. Sometimes Angela’s dad joins in, in making fun of his wife’s weight gain, though he claims it is all in jest.  Her parents subscribe to several health magazines and have extended conversations about calories in different foods and appropriate ways to cook and eat them.

Angela loves flipping through fashion magazines and participates extensively in both viewing Instagram photographs as well as commenting on them when her friends put up pictures.  Angela thinks it is harmless fun – she thinks about how attractive she is and the social media site is a great way to reward herself for all the hard work she does on herself. However, she has recently begun following a famous teen icon on Instagram and is in awe of her beauty and talent. The icon seemed to have flawless skin and a perfectly proportioned body. Her photographs reflect the kind of life that Angela aspires to; she wants to be recognized for her talent in gymnastics and she believes that if she works hard enough, she can achieve the kind of success this icon seems to have achieved. She has increased the time that she spends at the gym and has started to fast until late afternoon.  Her mother notices that she eats a lot less than she did a year ago and is glad that her child is conscious about her health.

Reflection Questions:

1.What are some factors in Angela’s life that makes her susceptible to body dysmorphia?

2.How are social media platforms easy spaces to spread messages that lead to body dysmorphia? What are some concepts in your readings that illuminate this idea?

3.How can advocates for Angela intervene to help her see that she may be engaging in self-destructive behavior? Why is it hard to treat body dysmorphia and some forms of eating disorders?

4.What are some social, political and economic factors that have led to the increase disordered eating? How can social institutions like families, schools and other social institutions respond?

As far back as anyone could remember of Keira’s early childhood, she was better than other children her age at whatever task she undertook.  She was speaking in full sentences by 12 months and could write and do simple mathematical computations by 2 years.  Her parents were proud of her achievements and often wanted her to display her talents to visitors and guests to their house.  She had impeccable grades all through elementary school and the teachers loved her even though she appeared distracted and seemed to be daydreaming in class.

In middle school she was tracked into the most difficult courses because she seemed to handle her work easily and was usually successful in gaining mastery over the subject matter. She seemed to be initially continuing her trajectory of past successes but more recently her grades have been falling, mostly because she has not been able to get to class on time.  She routinely fails to turn in her homework and leaves quizzes unwritten and unfinished. Her teachers have called her parents in for a meeting.  The parents report that Keira’s grandmother with whom Keira had been close to, passed away after an illness that lasted over two years.  The family had been to counseling after the grandmother’s death, but Keira did not seem visibly perturbed and the parents thought that perhaps being a child, Keira was more resilient than they had given her credit for.

Keira has trouble sitting still in her seat during class and can barely stop herself from wanting to get up and jump in order to not fall asleep.  In addition, Keira doodles endlessly on her notebook but even that does not stimulate her enough and she does incur the teacher’s anger occasionally.  While she had had no trouble forming friendships in elementary school, she feels that she is not well-liked now because her classmates complain that she is rude and does not consider their needs.  Some of her former friends now try to avoid her in school.  A couple of friends called her ‘retarded’ and ‘an idiot’ after an altercation at lunch and Keira screamed back throwing a milk carton across the table at her friends.  The school psychologist works with Keira and reports to the principal that Keira reports feeling extremely distracted and unable to concentrate in class, especially when the task seems repetitive and undemanding.  She reports to the psychologist that she plans strategies for her video game while in class and loves to go home and implement those game strategies.  The school psychologist suspects that Keira might have AD/HD and recommends further testing and medication if needed.

Reflection Questions:

• What are some factors in Angela’s life that make her susceptible to body dysmorphia?
• How are social media platforms easy spaces to spread messages that lead to body dysmorphia? What are some concepts in your readings that illuminate this idea?
• How can advocates for Angela intervene to help her see that she may be engaging in self-destructive behavior? Why is it hard to treat body dysmorphia and some forms of eating disorders?
• What are some social, political and economic factors that have led to the increase disordered eating? How can social institutions like families, schools and other social institutions respond?

Robin was promoted to principal in Dewey High School. The school is situated in an economically and racially diverse area on the outskirts of a large city.  After many decades of being economically distressed, it has been enjoying a rebirth as new technology venture companies have moved into the area in the last decade.  The result is that many older residents are being priced out and taxed out of their homes, a process known as gentrification.  In Robin’s school, over three-fourths of the students come from low-income families, while there is a small minority of students whose parents are in the tech industry and could be considered upper class or in the upper-middle-class. As reflected in many of the standardized testing scales, Robin’s was a failing school.  The school had been put on probation by the state.  Analysis by some local professors of education revealed that the city’s distribution of funding is unequal and disadvantaged Dewey High School students. Comparisons reveal that the teachers at this school are less experienced, and there is a high turnover of teachers and staff than other wealthier schools.  Even as Robin is struggling to get the remedial help for students that need it the most, there is pressure from middle- and upper-class families to offer more for their children in the form of advanced placement classes or even an international baccalaureate degree.  At the same time, as the school is being forced to make dramatic cuts in the arts and in music because of budgetary constraints, families of privilege push for more arts, music and sports in an after-school setting.  These families feel that the facilities are not conducive to extra-curricular activities and put pressure on Robin and her staff to allocate more resources and personnel to after school programs.  The after-school activities participation of the working-class students in the school district had been dropping over the last decade and Robin spent many evenings pondering the ethicality of the current unequal system of funding for different programs in the school.  At the same time, she is aware that in order to draw qualified workers, the technology companies need schools that cater to their needs.  They contribute valuable tax dollars to the area.

Reflection Questions:

• What is gentrification and what are the ways that it affects the lives of adolescents in and out of school?
• How can parents of all backgrounds in the district participate in the decision making of how resources get spent in school? Why is it hard to achieve equity in participation?
• What are some social, political and economic factors that have led to the increased racial and social class segregation of schools in the country even after Brown v Board of Education overturned the practice 60 years ago?
• What are some issues that Robin needs to think about as she makes choices about how to spend valuable school resources?

Javed is a high school teacher who is attending a workshop on using findings from brain research to enhance teaching.  The participants spent the first half of the day talking about the structure of the brain and how they affect behavior.  Two neuro psychologists were the facilitators of the workshop.  By the end of the morning session, Javed felt confident that they understood the basics of the structure and functioning of the brain.  They gathered that there were basically three ‘layers’ to the brain which roughly could be termed reptilian, early mammalian and the exclusively human brain.  The second half of the workshop focused on groups differences in brain structure and functioning and how this affects learning and emotions.  The discussion became especially heated when gender differences were the topic.  One of the facilitators Gregory, maintained that there were clear gender differences in the brain, and this was the cause of performance differences in cognitive tasks between boys and girls – Gregory asserted that the corpus callosum was bigger in girls and hence the brain hemispheres are more specialized for boys.

Javed was informed by Gregory that some of the structures in the brain, like the hippocampus and the amygdala, were bigger in boys.  When solving problems or performing mental tasks, girls used different parts of the brain as compared to boys.  Gregory asserted that many of the gender differences in behavior and academic performance can be traced to these brain differences. Girls were supposedly better at verbal tasks and boys in numerical tasks. Girls were more compliant and better planners while boys were impulsive and excitement seeking.  The other facilitator of the workshop, Kiersten, disputed that these findings had validity and maintained that social differences from birth onwards are a significant factor leading to differences in brain and behavior, especially as they related to cognitive achievement.   Javed is confused; they had thought that perhaps organizing groups by gender, focusing on learning styles and aptitudes of the different genders would help them become a better teacher. They were discovering that perhaps it was a little more complicated than simply identifying brain difference.

Reflection Questions:

• From your reading of the textbook, what are some issues discussed in the connection with gender and behavior in your text?
• What other information might help in the project of sorting out the importance of gender in schools?
• What are some social, political and economic influences that lead to group differences in academic performance?
• In the context of the large variation in experts’ thinking on the influence of gender on school performance, how might Javed attempt to use the information that they have on the brain?

Shefali’s family goes to church every Sunday together and the parents typically go one other day of the week by themselves for mass.  Her basic values were formed and crystallized in the Sunday school that she remembers attending all her life.  She recalls her childhood as a happy one.  She has always enjoyed singing and writing the most of all the activities her parents encouraged her to attend.  People often commented on her several talents and her dedication to cultivating all of them.  At the age of thirteen, Shefali’s father lost his job and this placed an enormous stress on her mother who had been a homemaker before that.  Her father had a specialized occupation in medical transcription, and this occupation was fast disappearing.  All the alternative jobs that her father applied for paid less and he was mulling the idea of going back to school to retrain in a more employable profession even though he was in his forties.  Her mother has had to go back to work at a retail store where she is paid hourly and receives no benefits. The family had to move to a smaller house in a neighborhood with lower property taxes.  Shefali lost many of her neighborhood friends who now more or less ignore her in school.  Initially, she had tried to make overtures to her old friends, but they seemed preoccupied with their newfound freedoms and independence.  While Shefali once wanted to become a medical doctor, she feels that there is little chance she could fulfil her dream. It was not lost on her that her parents constantly bickered about money and would not talk to each other for days after exchanging harsh words.  Her mother had been engaged deeply with Shefali but now seems preoccupied and stressed.  Shefali hated going home and she was beginning to hate her school.  She recently struck up a friendship with a girl who others often labeled as a bully but who was also known to be a loyal friend.  Shefali appreciated that this newly found friend made her feel less lonely and she always seemed to have time for her.    Shefali maintains passing grades but her teachers notice that there is little enthusiasm that the girl exhibits around schoolwork and the quality of her schoolwork is dropping.  They also notice with alarm that her friendships are changing, and she no longer wants to sing at school plays and other events.

Reflection Questions:

• What are some concepts and research findings in your textbook that may help you to understand Shefali’s situation?
• What role does social class in the US play in family life and cohesion? How is parental employment related to child welfare?
• Why are Shefali’s teachers concerned about the company she keeps? What do research studies assert about peer relationships and behavior?
• How can Shefali’s advocates help her navigate her difficult youth?

Tara was a sixteen-year-old girl who had never engaged in sex or even been kissed by boys before she met David. She had plenty of friends who identified as boys, just no one that she was romantically interested in.  She gathered from her girlfriends that relationships are fraught with heartbreak and these were experienced by her friends as emotional rollercoasters. Her parents have had the sex talk with her when she was 12 and got her first period.  They told her that young people are not ready to have a relationship when they are in high school and they themselves were glad that they waited until college to go out with someone.  Tara had plenty to occupy her and was not really looking for a relationship, but then she met David.  Tara met him at a friend’s birthday party; it was a fun affair with plenty of alcohol in circulation.  Tara had been pressured to have a drink and she felt her usual reserve float away. She felt drawn to David because he seemed to have many friends in the gathering, but she felt him eyeing her appreciatively. She had one more drink to make her panic go away. The two struck up a conversation and after the party they took a long walk and by the end of it, they decided they were in love.  David was older and had just graduated high school and was taking a gap year.  In a few weeks’ time, Tara was spending all her time with David. He was a voracious reader and introduced her to exciting new books. He played acoustic guitar and wrote beautiful love songs to her. Tara felt that she must be the luckiest person on the planet.  She was hanging out a lot less with her friends and if she had to confess, she would admit that she even liked them a little less. Also, she was secretly afraid that David may not like her friends and think them to be shallow.  A couple of times when they did have dinner with her friends, David had later commented that he found this or that person to be vacuous and silly.  On another occasion when she wanted to go to the movies with a couple of girlfriends, David appeared angry and said that he had made plans for them for that evening and that Tara was so inconsiderate that she forgot all about it.  A friend who Tara had known from her earliest years expressed her concern for Tara; Tara reassured her that David loved her dearly and cared for her.

On a warm June day, David and Tara were returning from a concert of his favorite musician when David stopped the car and asked her if she really loved him. Of course, Tara said. Then I’d like for you to show it, David hissed through his breath. He had been drinking and smoking pot all evening. How? Responded Tara. I want us to have sex; it’s time. I know you said you were not ready, but I think it’s time and if you loved me, you would trust me and not keep me hanging.  Tara was dumbfounded.  She weakly protested, “I’ve promised my parents, I will discuss this with them.” David appeared enraged at the thought of her parents having a say in their relationship. He walked around, opened the passenger side door of the car and pulled her on to the grass by the side of the road.  Tara froze in her terror.

Reflection Questions:

• What are some concepts and research findings in your textbook that may help you to understand Tara’s situation?
• What role does gender play in both peer and romantic relationships? How common is it for girls in the US to experience what Tara has?
• Why is the US considered by many experts to be a hostile place for girls? What needs to happen legislatively for the situation to change for the better?
• How can Tara’s advocates help her navigate her difficult youth?

Jared is an African American teen who lives in a predominantly white neighborhood. He is one of a handful of students of color in his predominantly white school.  More recently, a handful of immigrants, refugees from the Syrian crisis have moved into the neighborhood.   Jared’s everyday life has always been filled with microaggressions as far back as he can remember.   On his first day in Kindergarten, a white classmate said that his mother was just plain ugly because she as Black.  He remembered a time when other kids would not allow him in the local pool because they said the water would turn brown. In middle school, another student pushed him and told him to go the back of the line because that is where he belonged. The student used the N-word to address him.  He found a racist message in the bathroom once.  His teachers were not overtly racist, but they mostly ignored him.  One teacher once told him that she does not see race; that she only cares about his character.  Jared would go home and discuss the events with his parents; initially they complained to the school about at least the big acts of discriminations that he faced.  The principal would call the perpetrators of the bullying actions and punish them. That did not stop the microaggressions.  When Jared got his driver’s license, his parents sat him down to go over what he might need to do if he was stopped when driving – they called the experience Driving While Black.  They warned him that the consequences could be deadly if he made a mistake.  They instructed him to be respectful to the cop and make sure his hands were always visible.   It was a steep learning curve for Jared, but his parents’ training was helpful and even during times when he was angry that he was being unfairly targeted at school and outside, he negotiated the encounters with authority with civility. As he grew older, he simply learned to avoid his classmates and mostly hung out with the two or three other Black students in the school.  Jared was taller than most other students in the school and few students dared bully him in high school.  On a rainy night when he was driving home from an after school activity, he spotted that a fellow student of Syrian origin was lying in the side-walk with handcuffs while a law enforcement personnel who Jared had had encounters with before was standing over the boy with a gun pointed at him.

Reflection Questions:

• What are some concepts and research findings in your textbook that may help you to understand Jared’s experiences?
• How does race interact with gender in school social life?
• Why is the US considered by many experts to be a hostile place for African Americans? What policy changes facilitate justice for people of color, especially Latinx, Black and Native peoples?
• What should Jared do in the situation he finds himself in?

Bloom’s higher levels of learning suggests that analysis, synthesis and creation allow you to engage in a deeper fashion with their subject matter. Case studies facilitate the immersion of the reader in the complexity of adolescent lives and explore the many pathways to development and growth. As additional exercises, you could compare theories and their power to explain the adolescences described here.  You could synthesize theories and research to better help describe, understand and engage with youth lives.  How about picking one issue that you are passionate about and writing a case study about a context where your knowledge can help you construct the basic elements of the case?

Dowd, S. B., & Davidhizar, R. (1999). Using case studies to teach clinical problem-solving. Nurse Educator, 24(5), 42-46.

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