The question of adolescent ideality in education

In the last four years, we have seen world youth revolts in the streets, in the home, and in school. The social response, is almost always accompanied by a tone of disbelief. Adults show disbelief with the adolescent’s desire to be plugged in to a device for an unbelievable number of hours. And paradoxically, when adolescents do show interest in their world and take to the streets, many adults wish they would just stay home. My project asks why these accounts of revolt against the adult community matter to adults entrusted with the care of young people and specifically, looks to consider them as a part of a larger problematic: what is ‘unbelievable’ about adolescence for the adult? To do that, I will work with an international focus with a close look at Turkish and Canadian contexts. I will work with a research team at Ozyegin University, Istanbul on an ongoing project about psychosocial perspectives on youth revolts in Istanbul. I will also work on government responses to the youth protests to see how it relates to the difficulty of adult-adolescent relationship.

Faculty Supervisor:

Deborah Britzman

Student:

Partner:

Ozyegin University

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Education

University:

York University

Program: