Categories: uncategorized
Date: 23 February 2009 17:43:46
The BBC Magazine has this really interesting article about a criminologist studying the rise of British gang culture, which left me smiling at my computer screen as I read it. The article is inspiring for a range of reasons:
1) It shows how education can help people turn their lives around. The article describes the academics own life journey and how she went from leaving school with no qualifications to gaining a first class degree in criminology. It doesn't say how she was able to make this jump but I would lay good money it was via an access course at a local FE college. These are courses we need to learn to value. They have been the route into a second chance for many.
2) It highlights how issues that arise of our own experience, particularly parenting issues can enable us to read theory in a new way and at some points see something that others have missed. That is not to say that we should let our own experiences get in the way of using our critical reasoning skills to engage with material. However, it does mean that reflexivity can be a useful part of our tool box.
3) It's facinating how she talks about the relationship with her son being more like that of researcher and research subject. This is an approach which must involve some level of detachment and treating her son in a more adult way. The results of this type of approach appear to have been communication channels remaining open and her learning to pause a moment to react to things in an appropriate way, even when life has been difficult.
Personally I really enjoyed reading the article because I found it an article of hope.