Engage Her: Activating Women and MultiCultural Communities

A newly released report has documented the rise in the loss of teens hearing to 20% or 1 out of 5 teens now suffer from hearing loss. It’s increased in the past years since the last survey. The survey also documented the number of kids who suffer from a mild hearing loss equivalent to not hearing someone whisper in your ear. Also kids from poor families were significantly more likely to show hearing loss than those living above the poverty income levels. That equates roughly to 1 teen out of every classroom who has some listening impairment. Kids might not even notice they are having this problem.

What does that mean? Can these teens hear the teachers in their lectures? Are they responding to questions and instructions? What are the impacts on these students’ achievement scores, knowledge absorption and participation in a classroom? Does hearing loss affect their self esteem, participation in activities, prevent them from participating in more activities? Studies are beginning to document that hearing loss in teens ultimately impacts their performance to the point it could partially contribute to kids dropping out of high school. What are the long term lasting outcomes of hearing loss for these teens as they become adults?

Researchers don’t know the actual causes of hearing loss. It could be a combination of environmental factors, medication side effects, exposure to toxins, diet, nutrition and genetics. There’s also the possibility that the increased use of music and mobile devices they stick in their ears for hours a day may have significant impact. We know that many teens love to turn up the volume, so what are the outcome and solutions? What are some suggestions? If you think or as a parent you suspect your teen may have a hearing loss, get them tested. They may need to sit up at the front of the class, ask people to speak louder. As a parent asking your teens to do something for the tenth time, maybe there’s a reason they’re not “hearing” you. Check back for more.

Calling all women who want to be leaders of the future. The landscape of our country is changing dramatically and in states like California the combined populations of multicultural communities (formerly known as “minorities”) have now become the dominant majority. When you add in the fact that there are more women than men in our country, then multicultural women have now become the majority of our population. The burning question we must ask ourselves: Where are the multicultural women leaders in our country? In the three major institutions that run our country, the Media, Government and Corporations there are very few women executives and decision makers that control key decisions in our country. The Census Bureau has been projecting that across our nation by 2052 or sooner, the rest of the country will look like California. That means 1 out of 3 people will be Latinos, 1 out of 6 Asian and 1 out of 6 will be of African American descent. That doesn’t include all the citizens who are “blended” or of multi-racial cultures and ethnicities. When you add these people together, the numbers are far larger and will change the landscape much more rapidly.

With the change in our population, the impact and social needs of our communities and nation will change dramatically. The impact on our educational system, jobs, healthcare system, social justice issues, immigration will need to reflect the needs of these communities. We will need new and improved services to address this changing population. Critical issues such as obesity, language, cultural challenges, higher education, immigration all represent issues that significantly impact our entire nation. We need leaders who come from these communities, understand their needs and will be able to advocate and put programs and build products and services to address their needs. We cannot sit back and wait for this dramatic change to happen. We have to encourage our communities to step up and become the leaders that they need to develop into to help lead the charge for change in our country. We need to widen the “pipeline” of leadership candidates and educate, motivate and help show young people different ways that they can become our next generation of leaders.

There are role models out there today in many different industries. Unfortunately mainstream media, corporations and government do not highlight, profile and promote these leaders. Multicultural people need to see people who look like ourselves, understand our issues and learn how to speak up, assert ourselves and become the new leaders. At Engage Her we’re dedicated to developing leadership programs, profiling leaders and identifying and supporting the next generation of multicultural leaders. We hope you will join our community, contribute to our content, attend leadership conferences, workshops and help become the change we all seek for our country. Stay tuned for more leadership articles and programs.

The hearing to determine if Elena Kagan nominated by President Obama to be the next Supreme Court Justice opens this week. As she endures questions and inspection into her qualifications, records and opinions people will get to learn more about her positions on key issues that affect us all. If she is confirmed, she could have 25 years or more on the Supreme Court that would clearly have strong impact on issues facing our country. It is a crucial appointment for all of us that we need to watch closely and understand how her decisions and opinions will affect all of us for multiple decades. If she is confirmed, Elena Kagan would be the 112th Supreme Court justice and the fourth woman to sit on the nation’s highest court.

On my last two blogs, I have addressed a fairly common interpersonal dynamic that occurs when people from different backgrounds interact.  In socio-linguistic terms, it is referred to as “code switching”. It is about how certain women and certain people of color tend to adapt their way of interacting in order to be better heard, if lucky, understood or, even better, accepted by mainstream society.

There is no question that everyone, regardless of gender, socio-economic background, ethnicity or age, tends to talk differently depending on who is before them.  If we are interacting with a young child, regardless of their background, we may all use a different tone of voice or choice of words than if talking with an adult.  If we come from a cultural background that distinguishes gender roles quite clearly, we may even further adapt our topics of conversation to match the fact that we are relating to a boy or a girl.  If we come from a counter-culture that advocates for gender equity, we may intentionally not choose to make such adaptation.  An African American successful business entrepreneur coming from humble beginnings will certainly not talk to her family and childhood friends the same way she would relate business partners on Wall Street.  However, that is not the code-switching we are referring to in intercultural dynamics. There are critical differences when we pay attention to who needs to adapt to whom, who is simply oblivious to this dynamic, and how the adaptation is learned.

Changing the way we speak when talking to a child, our neighbor, or a complete stranger is a sign of how socially adept we may be.  In normal circumstances, we learned such skills at an early age from our social surroundings.  And, even if we are not completely proficient at it, the social consequences of not using the right terms or tone are not usually drastic, nor as mind boggling.  However, it is quite a different story when those who are recurrently seen and treated as having ‘lesser social rank’ adapt the way they interact with the hopes to “fit in” mainstream society. First of all, the adaptation is only one-way.  Second, most people coming from ‘higher social rank’ are completely oblivious to the fact that others adapt to their ways in order to be heard, and if lucky, understood.  Third, since all of these dynamics are rarely talked about all the learning is done by a hit or miss process, and no explicit feedback.  Can you imagine how confusing it is for those learning?

To put it more bluntly, how does a young adult immigrant from Asia or Latin America learn to interact with his or her middle class peers in the USA?  What are their chances of their choice of words, or tone, or body language being seriously mis-interpreted, and thus judged, by their local counter-parts?  If the interaction is fairly informal and on a friendly basis, it explains why social integration has such a long way to go, at least, in the USA.  However, if we take a look at this dynamic in the workplace, then… we have a lot of insight why discrimination in employment is so prevalent, even in the Twenty First Century!

Food for Thought: Have you ever been in a situation in which you are, by-far, the minority in a group or society?  Was your ‘minority status’ one that placed you in a higher or lower rank?  If you were perceived and treated as one of lesser rank— did you learn to interact in a fashion that would make you more heard in the group? How did you learn how to do that?

I would certainly be extremely interested in learning about others experiences in this very complex and rich field.

All my life I’ve wanted to go to college and graduate, get a good job and be successful. In 8th grade, a couple of students from the local high school pointed out that going to community college for two years and transferring to a university is the best and less costly path to take. It was in that moment that I decided to go to a community college and transfer to a university. Just recently, I discovered that the public university system is making it hard for low income people to transfer to a university, such as a UC or CSU. How are people who want to go to a university, but can’t pay for it, going to broaden their horizons or make strides towards the career that they are interested in?

Only 40 percent of California community college students actually transfer. Many people enroll but don’t go through with showing up and actually taking the classes. But the people who do apply to transfer must go through so much, and now that the state is making such huge budget cuts, they must go through even more.

I just don’t think this is fair. Some people who come from very little, who never got what they wanted for Christmas, who are used to hearing their mom say, “We don’t have enough money this year,” who are barely scraping by to get food or pay for rent, depend on a higher education. Some know how their life is going to turn out and want to change their destiny by going to school, getting a good job, and hoping to not make their children (if they have any) hear the same words they heard.

I think university should be more accessible for even the poorest students in California. Why is our country spending more money on sending troops to Afghanistan when they know we need it for the schools and for the youth of America to get the education they need?

A student who goes to Tennyson High School in Hayward, California was recently told that they’re going to close down their high school. Where will the students go? They’re closing down so many schools and then they complain about how they can’t fit most kids in the right classes. The kids aren’t getting the right education. They’re getting packed in classes, and lack the attention they need from their teachers. And if they close down Tennyson High, it’s not going to get any better.

If I was forced to move to a different school, I would be mad. I wouldn’t get the education I need, and that affects me. Not the school board. It’s not just one person, it’s many. As the saying goes “we look to the next generation, because they are our future.” That’s hard to believe because they’re taking the resources we need to become “the future.” It seems like all they talk about is the schools and budget cuts. I understand the schools must cut down on the money they’re spending, and it’s hard. There’s no easy way to cut and still provide ALL the essential things kids need. But at least you still have the power to prevent cramming, provide learning skills that work, and stop laying off so many teachers.
 
Another problem is the no summer school policy. How can kids make up or have a chance to pass the class they failed in? And even if they offer classes at Chabot College in the summer, what if their family is cutting back or doesn’t have the money to pay for it? That student doesn’t have the option to get it right the second time. Yeah, they can take a given class during the school year, but they might not take all the classes they need to earn enough credits to graduate. That’s a huge issue. How about setting up a system similar to summer school but pay the teachers less and have volunteers to help? There are steps that could improve this situation we’re in now.
 
But until then, sincerely
Tina Gerardo