Analytical Critique Paper on African American Children - Essay Example

College: Critical analysis One of the assumptions made by the and which cannot be overtly supported by the article is the fact that African American children are exposed to violence because of reasons of delinquency and involvement in aggressive activities. Another assumption is that African American children are more exposed to aggression that other minority groups that live in the same locality. The factors cited as causing exposure of African American children to violence do not explain the reasons as to why the authors depicted African American children as the most vulnerable group. School shootings, fights and homicide occur all over America, without major differences in areas. This seems to be an expression of racial prejudice as any children whether black or white exposed to violence can have the same effects. The authors fail to justify their arguments about African American children exposure to violence largely due to the lack of a definition for community violence (Thomas, et.al. 55). In as many research studies conducted among African-Americans, most of them always depict them as a violent group, a notion that has stuck in researchers. It is common for intervention programs to target the causes of problems rather than attacking the signs of the problems. The article shows a lot of bias and discrimination towards African Americans in general. The article portrays them as gang oriented group and crime minded people, a conclusion cannot be validly evaluated. Another assumption made by the authors and that does not auger well with me is the use of drugs, early sexual behavior and poor school performance by the African American children. The community-based action participatory research as a major intervention program among African American children exposed to violence does not provide a complete intervention that targets the cause of violence. Rather, the intervention targets individual behaviors changes and coping mechanisms that only address the effects of the violence and not the cause of the violence. It is reasonable that useful intervention programs target the cause of the violence like drug use, push towards violence behavior and violent neighborhoods (Thomas, et.al. 56). The major cause of violence is poverty, which leads people to use drugs and commit violent crimes. A major point of departure in use of the intervention paradigm is the fact that violent neighborhoods may require some form of aggression for one to cope with the problems. Further, exposure to violence is an inescapable thing in such communities and neighborhoods. The research study undermined the fact that working with African Americans researchers would have enhanced the outcome of the research study. Further, the background of the researchers seems to indicate an inclination towards African Americans (Thomas, et.al. 57). The effectiveness of research studies using qualitative methods rely on the representativeness of the sample. However, the conclusion drawn from the selection of participants indicates that the research suffered from misrepresentation and false accounts. Although, most of the American African neighborhoods are crime prone, the extent to which the accounts of affected children seem exaggerated. It would have been crucial to obtain from credible sources like the police departments about the nature of crimes the selected neighborhoods experienced. This would have provided a basis for assessing the truth of the accounts provided by the students. The pervasiveness of violence is projected to watching television, which shows that not only black American children are exposed to violence but all television watching children (Thomas, et.al. 59). However much one would like to detail African American children experiences in crime, it is impossible to believe that all the children interviewed did not have adults whom they could talk to. The extent of exaggeration seems obvious from the accounts, which affected the research outcomes. The research study seems to have suffered from psychological effects of expectations about the results of the research. This implies that the researchers seemed to have a made up mind set about what they were going to research about. While the research study would have been efficient in enhancing curricula change, the nature and type of co-curricular activities suggested by the participants seemed to disfavor teaching and learning and included other leisure activities. These activities of leisure are rampant in the neighborhoods that force people to be involved in crime and violence. Further, this implied that children were influenced by the violent groups on which leisure activities to engage in (Thomas, et.al. 61). The interventions suggested and proposed by the research program suffered from several biases. One of the biases was the exclusion of parents and teachers’ roles in preventing children from exposure to violence. Parents and teachers form a major component that influences the physical and mental growth of children. The two can provide favorable environments for children to cope with violence as well as reducing the exposure towards violence. For example, teachers can reduce the rate of bullying in schools, while parents can engage their children not to engage in crime. On the other hand, parents and teachers are important in creating extra activities for children to help them desist from involving themselves in violent activities. Leadership skills and skills to strengthen the community can also be learned from schools and enhanced by parents at home (Thomas, et.al. 63). It is appalling to note that even the implementation of the proposed curricular program relies on the willingness of the teachers and parents. The schools can provide environment for success or failure. Additionally, the relevance of the students’ participation in the community-based intervention research program and the inputs rely on the existing school curricular. For example, the creation of free time to engage in community development talks or exercises is within the jurisdiction of the schools and not that of students. Thus, teachers and parents play a great role in enhancing the reduction in exposure of African American children and youth to violence. Left on their own, students’ suggestions and inputs are totally inapplicable, which implies that the intervention program proposed must take into account more considerations than just the students’ suggestions. In this light, the extent of applicability of students’ involvement in designing intervention programs remains limited by validity, applicability and jurisdictional power (Thomas, et.al. 64). The nature of queries raised by the students in form of types and gravity of crimes is substantial, which may exaggerate the extent to which intervention program may be involved. While the involvement of African American children and youth remains invaluable, it is important to introduce a benchmark on which these issues can be assessed against to ensure validity and reliability of the data. Hence, the benchmark will be crucial in assessing the extent to which intervention program can be designed. Further, the intervention program must address the actual problems and not exaggerated or misstated facts (Thomas, et.al. 64). Works cited Thomas, Anita, et.al. African-American Youth and Exposure to Community Violence: Supporting Change from the Inside. Journal of Social Action in Counseling and Psychology, 4.1(2012): 54-68 Read More