Shirley Brice Heath
Margery Bailey Professor of English and Dramatic
Literature and Professor of Anthropology and
Linguistics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305
Special areas of interest:
Youth development, youth creativity, learning in
contexts outside formal education
Money, Structure,
and Goals: Youth claiming adult roles in community
organizational life
Saturday, 13.30
Much of the research on how action, cognition, and activity are socally organized in scientific and workplace settings emphasizes either adult settings or children and youth in formal educational environments. Addressed here are investigations of ways "adult" knowledge-economic, organizational, and public relational-becomes represented within youth organizations created outside of schools. Such knowledge had not been gained through direct practice or instruction, but in practice and principle, young people have their perspectives on what "makes sense" about finance, human resource issues, and operational schema. More often than not, the everyday world of young people is far removed from the work they do within those community organizations they help create and maintain. Drawn from such instances in India, Sweden, England, and the United States, data used here for illustration will indicate how principles from disparate life circumstances filter into the reflexive, interactive tasks of youth as they manage money, people, and organizational goals.