Most Wanted: Identity

[Anastasia Romanova]

Since I am working at the Northfield High School, the students I interact with should be in Erikson’s Identity vs. Role Confusion stage. This means that they should be actively establishing a sense of their own identity in many different realms, including religion, gender roles, political views, and occupation. Since I am not in a classroom, don’t get to observe many students at once; there are generally 5 to 7 students at the Student Service Center (SSC) at once (and that’s during the busier periods. However, I have many opportunities to get to know those students one-on-one or provide individual help with the assignments. One of the students I met at the SSC is named James, and he is currently going through a crisis with regards to his future occupation. James is now a senior at NHS, and he needs to decide whether he is going to a traditional undergraduate institution, or a trade school for auto mechanics like most of his family. His teachers seem to be pushing him to go to a 4-year college because they see a lot of potential in him; however, he is inclined to follow his family’s path because it would be easier on him financially and academically. James is still quite conflicted about this decision. He is very knowledgeable about cars and would be an excellent auto mechanic, but he can’t help but wonder if there’s anything else for him out there. He knows that going to a trade school would mean living with or close to his family, and therefore being potentially stuck in this area once he graduates. James sees college as an opportunity to find yourself away from your family (avoid foreclosure, in a way), but at the same time is scared of his family’s disapproval. As should be clear by now, James is having a crisis that is very typical for Erikson’s Identity vs. Role Confusion stage. Within Marcia’s framework that is an extension of Identity vs. Role Confusion stage, I believe James would be classified as a moratorium as he is actively working through a major identity crisis and taking into account numerous personal and social variables.

Since I am working at SSC rather than in a classroom, it is difficult to see any active promotion or determent of identity development among the students who come there. Generally, the site supervisor, Ms. Battaglia, simply lets the students know what outstanding assignments they have and what the best ways to complete them are. Her other major role is assigning me or the promise fellows to work with students who need help. However, during the flex period (lunch period), the SSC somewhat transforms from its normal routine, and becomes more of a hang-out spot than a work space. Some students come there to eat lunch and spend time with their peers in a relaxed and quiet environment. I believe that the social scene and the conversations that happen at SSC during flex period might be promoting identity development. Since students are interacting with each other, they get ample opportunities to hear a different view point on the situation they are sharing or discuss an interesting piece of information they’d found out about in class. This environment of active social interactions may be helping the students to become more confident in their identity or challenge it based on the feedback that they are receiving from their peers. Such interactions may provide them with a new perspective on themselves, which I believe to be quite valuable in identity development. Additionally, even outside of the flex period, there still are some interesting conversations taking place between the staff members at the SSC and the students. For instance, one of the promise fellow (a huge civics and history buff) regularly talks to Sarah, one of the regular students, about her political beliefs and what those are based on. This might help her review her own set of values in a productive and safe way, which undoubtedly fosters identity development as well.

As to my own identity development, I would place myself in Marcia’s achievement category. I know this statement may cause some skepticism since I am only 21 years old, but I believe that my life experiences and the way I dealt with them provide a solid defense for this statement. I moved to the United States alone at the age of 14 and have been living here ever since. I had little to no parental support, and I was forced to take responsibility for all of my choices fairly early on. I experienced a lot of identity crises throughout high school and the first two years of college, and through long and frequent deliberations (with myself, with my peers, and with my family members) I managed to forge an identity that is stable and is a product of my own choices. I believe that being thrown in a completely foreign culture at a young age (particularly with no support systems nearby) forces one to expedite their identity development process. The contradictions between my home culture and the new culture quickly resulted many identity crises which gave me ample opportunities to see a wide variety of perspective on my identity at any given point. Now, I am quite certain in what Marcia wants me to be certain in as an achievement (i.e. occupation, religion, personal values, sexuality, gender) and I am fully committed to my choices in each of those areas (and beyond).

• This topic was modified 4 years, 5 months ago by Anastasia Romanova.

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