Being a Good Person: Examining the Ways Young People Reshape Themselves to Achieve Societal Acceptance

• In Event: Youth Development and Civic Education

Abstract

This paper pulls from a year-long ethnographic research with youth ages 11-14 to review how young people prepared themselves to be ready for the 21st century. While youth in the study acknowledged the importance of learning to communicate, being creative, engaging with diverse communities, they also discussed the value and benefits of becoming a “good” person in readiness for the 21st century. Young people noted that while this idea and standard of good were established by society, they discussed how some young people may feel pressured to change themselves in order to belong and feel accepted.

Author

• Ahram Park, Teachers College, Columbia University