The Young Marine Program is an organization formed to assist the American youths by teaching them the significance of self-confidence, the importance of good academic achievement, being good citizens, serving the community, honoring the veterans, practicing a drug-free lifestyle and also living a healthy life. The program also assists the adolescent youths to live a good life and be more productive to the society instead of engaging in illegal activities in the community.
The contexts of delivery used in the chosen program of Young Marine, to deliver the intended message as well as feedback from the youths are the social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat among others. The use of social media platforms creates confidence in some of the youths who may feel shy to express themselves in public (Jessor, 1993). Their colleagues on the same platform can exchange ideas and advice and in the long-run end up assisting each other. Another context of delivery is through holding face-to-face meetings with the group members where the different issues concerning youths such as adolescent changes are discussed in details. Also, the context of delivery used is holding open forums and workshops where the youth air out their views indiscriminately on what they feel about adolescent changes in regards to physical, psychological, intellectual and emotional changes. Holding workshops between youths within the same age bracket are essential since most of them may be experiencing similar challenges and from the same groups, another person may have a possible solution to an issue raised (Morris & Udry, 1980).
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Young Marine program serves the community as a whole but more specifically the youths who have disciplinary issues, youths struggling with drug and substance abuse or even the teens who have a long history of cases in juvenile courts. Most of the youths from diverse cultural backgrounds meet and share their life experiences and solve problems that may be affecting each other pertaining sexual health, drugs, and substance abuse, emotional changes, cultural practices such as Female Genital Mutilation practiced in some communities and affected them among other issues. The program receives financial support from the government, donations from kind hearted people as well as non-governmental organizations (Dusek, 1987).
The goals of the Young Marine program are: teaching the youths the significance of self-confidence, the importance of good academic achievement, being good citizens, serving the community, honoring the veterans, practicing a drug-free lifestyle and also living a healthy life. Other objectives of the Young Marine program are promoting a healthy mental, physical as well as the moral development of the youths who are signed in as members of the program. Also, the program is focused on character building as well as improvement of leadership skills and promoting a conducive lifestyle essential in fostering productive society members. Achievement of most of the organization’s goals has seen it grow over the years worldwide.
The background on why the Young Marine program is important is because of its theoretical basis, the concept of application of adolescent development in youths, the developmental tasks that the program addresses, the cultural implications of the program and how the program assists the adolescent in developing in healthy ways (Rice, 1996). Some of the applicable theories that form the basis of the program are; a biological approach that argues that nervous excitement during the adolescent period is general and cannot be affected by either time or the social context (Muuss, 1988). The theory, therefore, forms the background of the program since the adolescent issues universally affect all the youth. Another theory that forms the background of the program is Freud’s theory concerning psychosocial development which portrays the adolescents as being agitated mostly with internal struggles. The method applies to the program as the members are within are directly linked to the issues of internal struggle such as sexual desires and strong emotional feelings. Also, Erickson’s approach is another theory applicable and forms the background of the program as it critically views the factors that affect youths during their adolescent development (Muuss, 1988).
The ideas applicable in this Young Marine program are youth adjustment to physical and psychological changes, youth leadership achievements, sociability, and masculinity as well as femininity affecting the young people (Rice, 1996). The concepts focus on the self-point of view of the organization’s members and are also essential in self-conceptualizations of the adolescents.
Some of the development tasks addressed in this program are: learning on how to interact with both male and female friends, learning to accept one’s physical outlook and also keeping it healthy. Other development tasks include learning to be more self-sufficient, proper preparation of professional career or job, how to be socially reasonable, making the right decision about marriage as well as family life and learning to acquire values that determine a person’s behaviors.
The cultural implications of this program include an exchange of some cultural practices among members from diverse cultural backgrounds based on their daily practices as well as childhood to adulthood transition process. Another cultural implication of the program is the improved interpersonal relationships and respecting other people’s cultural practices.
The program assists the adolescent to develop in healthy ways through their interactions based on different backgrounds, cultural practices, and religions. The program also offers emotional support as well as psychological support that is essential for healthy development of youths within the adolescent age bracket (Morris & Udry, 1980).
Empirical research is a form of the investigation using the research as a way of gaining individuals in an organization through direct as well as indirect observation or even experience. Some of the studies done on the Young Marine project are the positive impacts of the program on the youths from different countries. An observation is made on how the youths take up the advice given through various platforms (Jessor, 1993). Another study done on the project is the financial requirements and utilization in the project in trying to achieve the objectives of the project. Also, a research study has been done on how to improve the current ways of reaching out to more youths and informing them about drug and substance abuse, sexual education and protection against sexually transmitted diseases, achieving personal and academic goals among other critical issues.
Other studies done on similar projects dealing with adolescents matters in the society are the impact of the project on the intended audience, the government influence on the project, for instance, government policies and legislation that influence the project development. Also, studies are done on the cultural and the religious influences of the project dealing with community issues such as leadership (Steinberg & Morris, 2001).
Some of the research project results say that the Young Marine project is essential in assisting the youths struggling with drug addiction, sexual desires, and disciplinary problems among other serious issues in life (Dusek, 1987). The program also supports the callow teens to pass through this stage of childhood to adulthood transition with ease under self-control, train them on practical leadership skill applicable in the near future. Also, the research shows that the training that the organization members receive during training is passed on to their colleagues at school and other social places.
In my evaluation, the strengths of this program are numerous. For instance, training the youths on leadership skills is essential in preparing for future leadership and applicable in schools where some of them are elected as students’ representatives. The strength of this program lies in the willingness of the organization’s members to contribute regarding ideas, comments, and recommendations. The ideological contribution of the members is significant in shaping the program depending on what the youths feel is important and needs priority. Also, the program is non-discriminating on the members that want to join the organization. This is a strength that is unique to this group since it accommodates all persons from all over the world despite their cultural, ethnic, race or religious background. Therefore, the issues raised regarding adolescent challenges covers almost all areas of life and gender.
The weaknesses of the program are few as compared with the strengths. One major weakness that the organization suffers is the inadequate funds to finance all its activities without depending on the members or donations. For this reason, the organization may not be able to reach out to all the adolescent youths all over the world. Another weakness that the organization suffers is the age limit for the members who wish to join the program. Mostly, only the adolescents are allowed to participate because the issues discussed affect them adults past this period may not be allowed to join. This is a weakness since some adults may find some of the teachings essential for instance leadership training among other life skills.
Given an opportunity to change this Young Marine program, I would work on the major weaknesses affecting the organization as well as put more emphasis on the strengths of the group. First, I would add the age limit for the adolescent youths willing to join the program. The reason for increasing the age limit is to ensure that more youths are accommodated in the program for their benefit. Secondly, I would create a slot for the adults who wish to join the program with the aim of acquiring leadership skill. Also, the new slot would accommodate adults who want to give advice to the youths and be partners with the organization at a reasonable fee. The reason for accommodating some adult is because they have experience in life and can offer free and valuable advice to the youths. The fee charges would serve to raise more money for the organization activities and management purposes. Another essential thing that I can do is to actively involve the government officials and donors in the administration of the program. This would be vital in ensuring that some barriers such as finances are taken care-off effectively along side other issues affecting the Young Marine organization.
In conclusion, some of the contexts of delivery used in the chosen program of Young Marine, to deliver the intended message as well as feedback from the youths are the social media platforms, face-to-face meetings with the group members and holding open forums and workshops. The program serves the society as a whole but more specifically the youths who have disciplinary issues, youths struggling with drug and substance abuse or even the youths who have a long history of cases in juvenile courts.
The goals of the program are: teaching the youths the significance of self-confidence, the importance of good academic achievement, being good citizens, serving the community, honoring the veterans, practicing a drug-free lifestyle and also living a healthy life. The background on why the Young Marine program is essential is because of its theoretical basis, the concept of application of adolescent development in youths, the developmental tasks that the program addresses, the cultural implications of the program and how the program assists the adolescent to develop in healthy ways. The program has both weaknesses and strengths. The strengths of the program are more than the weaknesses and therefore if the deficiencies are addressed appropriately, then the program can be effective in serving the community.
References
Dusek, J. B. (1987). Adolescent development and behavior . Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Jessor, R. (1993). Successful adolescent development among youth in high-risk settings. American psychologist , 48 (2), 117.
Muuss, R. E. (1988). Theories of adolescence . Crown Publishing Group/Random House.
Morris, N. M., & Udry, J. R. (1980). Validation of a self-administered instrument to assess stage of adolescent development. Journal of youth and adolescence , 9 (3), 271-280.
Rice, P. F. (1996). The adolescent: Development, relationships and culture. Adolescence , 31 (121), 250.
Steinberg, L., & Morris, A. S. (2001). Adolescent development. Annual review of psychology , 52 (1), 83-110.
