Pyramid

This past Friday evening I went and listened and met the author of the Freedom Writers Erin Gruwell. She talked about teaching in a very poor and dangerous inner high school in California about 12 years ago. She talked about her classroom with a room full of students who found the stages of Maslow challenging and nearly impossible to achieve. They strove for basic needs, safety and some kind of feeling of belonging. She found it challenging to teach students who struggled with daily basic needs. They had no desire or interest in going up the pyramid of needs. Therefore they were stagnated and unable to be taught the desire to learn and achieve.

The first step in the pyramid of need is hunger, thirst, and fatigue. When Erin Gruwell first met the class, she realized that many of them came from single mother homes, lived in poverty and were starved, and thirsty. Most of them had eaten little for days.

The second stage in the pyramid is safety. None of the students in the class felt safe. They walked the streets outside their homes and on their way to school in fear everyday that they would get shot down and die at a young age. Many had already buried many close friends and relatives due to gang fighting.

The third stage in the pyramid is belonging. These kids would join gangs, even though they knew that illegal activities could get them arrested or worse killed. Their desire to belong was so great it over rode their judgment because it gave them a sense of belonging to a group. Any group would make them feel like they belonged somewhere. Many of them were gang members and actively participated in gang warfare..

The fourth stage is esteem. These students had never reached this level of Maslow. They were striving so hard to get the lowest levels met that self esteem and self respect were alien concepts for them. They felt worthless and not worthy and felt that an early death would not be a bad outcome. They had no constructive chances for recognition in achievement, feeling valued, or gaining respect from others.

The fifth stage is cognitive. Her class had never read a complete book and some of them even had difficulty reading at all. They did not see the value in such activities and it made no sense to them to value learning activities. Their learning consisted of street life and learning street wise techniques.

The sixth step is appreciating order and beauty. Their lives had no order or beauty. They had constant discord in every aspect of their lives and finding beauty living in development housing of an inner city can make it difficult to see or be able to recognize any beauty.

These students had no change to achieve the last step of the pyramid unless something drastic changed in their lives. Self actualization to find self fullment and realizing their potential were totally unreachable for them. The transcendence need of helping others to achieve was impossible for them to obtain. They were unable to achieve themselves let a lone help others or recognize that there may even be any possibilities.

After listening to Ms. Gruwell it came obvious to me that Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs has been a successful step process for me. I have always had basic needs met and never have felt hunger or cold. I have been raised in a rural and safe home environment. I have always felt loved by my family and friends. I have been able to join many clubs and go to social events at school that make me feel connected socially. I feel self esteem through achievement in awana club by being a member and than a leader for others, high school, and my work study job. I have a strong sense of accomplishment. I feel that I have self respect and respect from others in my daily life by being able to do community service and attend college. I am able to appreciate beauty on a daily basis. I have been taught to observe nature and appreciate the four seasons. I enjoy my digital art class that I am taking with the creativity of projects and being able to express my self. The last stage of self actualization and transcendence which is helping others to achieve their full potential is a stage that I have not yet achieved. This will come with more life experience and maturity. All of the steps of the hierarchy I strive to succeed at each day.