Children need more attention
- Aoyumi Jung
- Feb 4, 2022
- 13 min read
Published on 04th Feb
I want to flesh out the whole x experience before things get blurry from my mind. This is a pressing issue to Vietnam and a great experience for me so I can’t wait to share this to my blog readers! This is the heaviest topic since I facilitated in the programs of JUMP! Foundation. In January, I had an opportunity to run a Session on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 of Vietnam for grade-10 students from Punahou school based in Hawaii, the United States. The school is the one that President Obama went to back then. I was so impressed with how comprehensive their teaching curriculum is with diverse components of support for learners’ development. It was an hour-long session but it took me days to prepare for the presentation.
My learning process:
Select a relevant SDG to Vietnam.
What goals am I personally connected to and must be compelling at the moment. First of all, though studying abroad, I still keep myself posted with what is going on in my home country. I got a feeling that I am not going to talk about Quality Education or Climate Change. I wanted to challenge myself to work on something that I am not comfortable with. Secondly, violence against children has become beyond human morals in recent years when a series of heart-breaking cases keep happening across the country. This problem is not a personal issue that individuals can deal with but it is a social issue. It is contagious and gets people to follow or increase the severance of violence. It is time we need a better system to save vulnerable children who cannot speak up for themselves. Children are powerless and are at risk. They have rights to be protected which must be enacted by adults, community and society. They cannot protect themselves. Children will become adults at a point, if not having a safe childhood, will encounter struggles to grow and adapt to life.
I was concerned that I have never worked on this problem by social innovation, I might not be experienced enough to share with students about advocacy for this. In my first year, I wrote my first academic paper at GSSE on “parenting styles of Asian families” in which I analyzed 3 different parenting approaches (permissive, authoritative, and authoritarian), their related impact on child growth and advocated for an open-minded way. My professor told me to look at the perspective of readers who view my paper. They might question my identity whether I have experience in parenting and ask who I am to criticize how others raise their children. But I believe I could write about it from the perspective of a “sufferer” who experienced a disciplined/ authoritarian parenting approach by myself. That is the only time I have ever spoken about childhood trauma in a critical manner.
Then I thought to link the problem to how I was raised up as a child. I received “child discipline” almost every-day whenever I made some mistakes. My Mom set up the house with a corner to “teach” me. The chasing race happened among us and I did not seem to improve my behaviors with countless daily apologies. At the same time, I never questioned why Mom was treating me that way. I had no clue that I was being abused, though I respect and admire her in other ways. Then until a day I realized my mom’s parenting approach was not right. The discipline circle created my childhood trauma until I became a grownup. It took me several years to unlearn my childhood trauma, and recognize what it means and cope with it. But to some extent, some part of the trauma remains inside my current self. I wanted to voice this out to the kids who have a better upbringing environment, through which they might value their privilege or something they have taken for granted. Indeed, bringing up this topic to the table where children from other parts of the world is my advocacy work. Who knows some kid attending my session might come up with some solution in the future and can change the entire dynamic in Vietnam. So I went for SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institution.
2. Create a storyline and a time bound structure.
Questions I should consider like: how to have a flow of content that makes sense of something new to the audience. How to tell a story that connects to myself, that is data-based and socially relevant which can trigger the audience to think and ask questions. How to ensure the session is interactive enough within 60 minutes and still deliver sufficient content? This time, I was a presenter, but still a facilitator in which I needed to make sure students were given space to debrief in their learning experience. The most regretful piece was that I didn’t make it to share the journal link to students so that they can share their feelings, ideas and takeaways besides the questions. Learning can come in various formats which demonstrates the impacts of the sessions. I was so caught up in the Q and A and realized there was no more time for further reflection. But the suggestion was to pull up the link to the chat and let students fill in their own space. Once we work on the form for 1 minute or more, they will make time to finish it.
3. Research for Data.
I read a number of reports and articles in both English and Vietnamese to understand the challenges of the problem, what has been done and inspiring initiatives worth sharing. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to answer lots of good questions from students. I literally edited my slides almost everyday except on the weekends just to give myself some break from the topic.
4. Draft, rehearse, get feedback, revise and revise.
I got this story in my head that has created a wave of critiques among the public. But later I recognize it is missing something. I watched more news and talk shows where experts and representatives from the Ministry come together and discuss the problem to disclose what is deeper than that. What has been researched kind of stayed around in my mind so I could refer to it, and extracted some relevant figures to add on to my story to kick start the session. I had a coaching session with my program manager, and got feedback from my co-facilitators, also consulted presentation slides of other SDG sessions. It is an iterative process like design thinking. HAHA.
5. Settle down my excitement before G-time
This is one of the most intensive presentations and educational sessions for me so far. I have had a number of serious pitches, group work presentations, and experiential learning facilitation with students on various topics. To name the most common themes, there are design thinking for public social service, human-centered design practices, social innovation, leadership, social-emotional learning, goal setting and career orientation. Last year, I was a facilitator in a Social Innovation workshop for Master and Ph.D students at my faculty, School of Global Studies. I never put this experience down in any of my profile, social media or blog. I was nervous about the workshop on Social Innovation because of the knowledge and experience gap between me and those high-profile participants. The very first question when I got the job was “Who am I to facilitate?” but then when I rethink the role of facilitation, I gained back the confidence and hope. I would be a communication bridge for various individuals who have stories and expertise and need a safe space to share. I would be asking questions for them to have conversations where I could be an active learner and walk with them towards our outcomes. Back to this session, my biggest question was “What is my personal connection and specific story to engage my audience?” “Would I be knowledgeable enough to respond to students’ questions and also to understand their points?” In essence, it is ok to say “I don’t know”. We can figure out this together. ;)
What is the problem?
I am not going to put in lots of my statistical content but I will share the problem tree analyzed by the student within just 3 minutes! Impressive brainstorm and participation!
I assumed that the effects of this problem are universal and quite similar to child development wherever they are at. Yet what is different are the causes because they are contextual and culture-rooted. The problem is wicked and structural so it tides with social and economic situations as well.
I would like to list out some outstanding causes from my research which are not ALL but significantly contribute to the problem.
- Global pandemic: stress of a lockdown life with financial constraints that parents release their negativity into the children.
- Social and cultural norms: “Yêu cho roi cho vọt” (Spare the rod, Spoil the child)
which means If not punish the child when they do something wrong, they won’t learn what is right. In every 10 children aged from 1 - 14, more than 7 experience different types of child discipline. Most caregivers believe that it is necessary to educate children by punishment. The people who have less tendency to commit this are those who are from urban areas, better educated and aged 25 – 35 (Vietnam SDGCW Survey 2020-2021). Another belief is that “Parenting depends on each family, not social concerns.” It is a personal issue, not the business of the society. So the governance service usually stands less chance to intervene in this “family business”.
- Lack of education on ethics and social life skills: Society puts a higher focus on economic growth than education. Schools put a higher focus on academic achievement than ethics education. Young people who will become future parents don’t learn how to raise kids. Parents themselves don’t know that they are abusing their children and violating children’s rights. Children themselves are not aware of their own human rights.
- Losing custody of children: Custody means protective care or guardianship of someone. Custody usually means financial support. So in the case of a divorced family, even if the father is abusive, if he has better financial conditions, he has the right to raise the child.
- Poor systems: the report system is hard to access for the targeted people – vulnerable children. It is too slow to process the cases as it requires evidence or victim testimonies which end up the heart-breaking news before support is given. Lots of staff are voluntary social workers or those who don’t go through professional training.
SDG 16 and where is Vietnam in the world?
SDG 16 is about creating an inclusive, equal and just society through good governance. It strikes to end human trafficking and violence where children are of the most prioritized group. Children’s rights are vulnerable and often ignored. This goal aims to address all human rights-related problems through strong institutions and peaceful approaches. This goal has close relationship to other important goals such as SDG 1, 2, 3 (addressing poverty, literacy and well-being) and SDG 5 & 10 (reducing inequalities and gender equality). The two main focuses of SDG 16 are inclusiveness and equality which are all present in those relevant goals. This connection shows how important the goal is.
From a more systemic breakdown, SDG 16 has 12 indicators of success, also known as targets, which are ways to better manage and evaluate different aspects of the goal. The indicators go about a lot more details into legality, human rights, efficiency of government, etc. And the target that aims to address the problem I presented is 16.2: Protect children from abuse, exploitation, trafficking and violence.
In the scorecard, Vietnam doesn’t strike at a high level at all, so do the majority of countries. This is illustrated by the colors of the map such as red and orange. Yet the indicator we are investigating does not appear in the scorecard system. The system might not be able to capture this data or it is not simply updated. It is more likely that this area of data is too complex and sensitive to be collected and showcased. Indeed, there is no overall number of child abuse cases that the police don’t publish due to privacy and other deep causes.
What has been done?
From the governance level: we have a number of legislative policies on child protection and a national hotline for children 111. The question I also have is “what happens next when a child calls the line?” While we have a cultural belief that children should listen to adults, do the staff also hold on to this belief and are they really listening to the kids’ voice? It is reported that the majority of calls are made by children aged between 11-18 years old. What about those who are below that range? How are they able to make calls or seek help? Not every kid is aware of the existence of this hotline because it is not systematically introduced at school, family and community. On the other hand, there is no One-Stop-Center for child protection whereas it is available in most countries. This Center has the support of police, lawyers, doctors, psychologists, etc available for support at all times.
From a social level: the most powerful solution is to raise awareness of the public. There are parenting and “Connect with Respect” programs conducted by the UN, and part of the content has been incorporated into our new General Curriculum. The objectives seem meaningful as it goes about gender equality, how to build relationships and how to identify and respond to risky situations. But I doubt the reach level to such a large population of Vietnam and this curriculum need a lot more competent teachers who understand the content and know the active teaching approach. How to make students truly aware and care about the issue rather than forcing them to remember the concepts? Besides, there are some competitions for the young to write about “child protection and stop child violence and trafficking” which I am clueless about the results, participants as well as actual impacts.
From an individual level, what can we do?
I will leave this question for anyone who happens to read my blog.
What was surprising for me?
It was the readiness of students attending the session shared in check-in activity. They knew what country and goal that they would learn about. They asked incredible questions that I need to make more effort to reach out to experts for the answers. Their questions are so fresh and critical at how data and stories were told. Their questions touch upon points that were not even mentioned in the slide. They read the graphs and information by themselves which remind me of points I missed.
Brilliant questions of students
1, **What is something that you are interested to learn about Vietnam?**
o Current state of Buddhism
o How is Vietnam history taught in Vietnam?
o Government and culture
o I am very interested in the culture
o The difference in the current Vietnamese government compared to America
o I'm interested to know more about current affairs in Vietnam
o I am interested to learn about the culture and religions
o Do students like to advocate for change in great numbers?
o How does Vietnam relate to Goal 16?
o I would like to further my knowledge about goal 16 and how it relates to Vietnam.
o I am curious to know more about how the government works
o Political rights within Vietnam for those opposed to the government.
o What are the living conditions like in Vietnam?
o I am interested in learning more about the language and the different dialects within the different regions.
2, ***What questions do you have about violence against children?***
o Is this something more recent or has it been like this in Vietnam for a long time?
o Do the officials know about it
o Is the government doing anything now and have they improved the situation somehow, or are they not doing anything?
o What has the government been doing to help fix this problem?
o How long has this been going on? Is it more recent? What might be the causes?
o I wonder if violence against children has always been this bad in Vietnam?
o Is violence against children a thing that has been normalized by past generations?
o Is there any closure for the victims of this incident?
o Is there anything being done to help this problem?
o Why do parents feel the need to do this to their own children? Like I have a sense that they feel no sorrow for doing it.
o What happens when a child reports their abuse to the hotline?
o What can we do to stop child abuse?
o Why is it so common for family members to abuse children?
o Has the government tried doing anything about the issue?
o How often do children not recognize that they are being abused? What is the government doing to combat this?
3, ***Questions at the end of my presentation
o What are ways that the Vietnam government has spoken about these issues?
o How have you guys adapted to the pandemic to keep pushing towards solving the problem?
o Does the Vietnamese government allow NGOs/NPOs to help in solving such problems?
o Are there any consequences for trying to criticize the government?
o What are the punishments these abusers get?
o What other things does the government provide for the victims of abuse? How often are the victims recognized?
o One of the graphs in the presentation showed that the abuse peaked around ages 5-9, why is that the case?
o Educated men seem to have less inclination to think of physical abuse. Are women not getting equal education and how can educating them help?
o Since child abuse is such a commonality, how many cases on child abuse get neglected or are blown off?
Students ask a lot about the government, young people’s advocacy for social changes, Vietnamese culture and America since the beginning. Then a whole lot more came about the punishment for abusers, what happened next if kids call the hotline, equality of education for caregivers among male and female. This should be answered by a cultural way of being rather than education. My mom has higher education than my dad while she actually was more violent at me. Education is not a factor causing the difference in gender. It might be related to biological traits of how gender functions in their relationship.
What impact have I created? The success of this session for me is how students actively showed their curiosity on the topics. My initial intention is to encourage them to be curious and ask questions from the start to the end. Asking questions is the beginning of a journey to seek answers. Asking questions demonstrates the eagerness to find knowledge. Asking is caring. Asking a question can be a recognition of a certain idea or to challenge their own perception. I guess every student joined the session because they truly wanted to learn and open their mind. And they respectfully paid attention to my presentation and responded to my questions with questions back. I don’t know what the students know and what they actually realized because there was not enough time for reflection. However, I am happy with how they express their concerns for such a pressing humanity problem. I am not sure when they left the discussion space, they would still hold their questions in mind and do something about it or they might forget everything. For me, their questions are my inspiration to keep going with this advocacy work with young people.
My Appreciation I am grateful to be selected as Vietnam representative to talk about one SDG that stands out. I know we have problems with all SDGs but I cannot choose all goals. I am grateful to be in a team with Noel who is so creative and his brain can respond to situations incredibly fast. We worked together to comment on each other’s presentation and provide technical support during the session. I am grateful to have Simon feedback on my outline, the connections of points to convey messages for students. Simon is very detailed and encouraging to us. Of course, I am grateful for myself that I was so on the job to create values in my presentation, not just drafting slides and get it done. But my hope was to raise awareness, spark curiosity and empathy for the people. I love our quick JUMP! Cheer at the end of the program. Everyone takes turns to count and cheer “JUMP!”. Yes, we are jumping, jumping to reach our dreams and inspire others to realize their dreams.
p/s: I don’t put in-text citations into this blog because it is not an academic paper. This writing has both subjective and objective reasoning. The blog is not the summary of my presentation. Also, the discussion points are comprehensive enough due to the problem's complexity and my limited knowledge. So I only reflected on the highlight and what I learnt. I add the list of references that I researched and designed this presentation below. Please email me if you want to have a chat on this topic!
Reference:
https://www.unicef.org/vietnam/media/8656/file/Child%20discipline.pdf
https://vtv.vn/xa-hoi/lien-tiep-cac-vu-bao-hanh-tre-em-gay-chan-dong-moi-chi-la-phan-noi-cua-tang-bang-chim-20220122113258443.htm?fbclid=IwAR0QJDfOgKxPxUjERAF2LCfdE1q-HhBVee5pAzLtZ76agjBrAlMlQfZtQ2s
Thank you for your visit at my bloggg!
Another brilliant initiative followed by brilliant reflections from Linh!