17 Incite / Insight Spring 2018 Member’ s Corner
The 3 Ys
1.
Why might this [ topic, question ] matter to me?
Students practiced Routine 1 by selecting the topic of human sex trafficking of minors after one of the students in that particular class explained that her sister recently had been extracted from the system.
2.
Why might it matter to people around me [ family, friends, city, nation ]?
Students practiced Routine 2 by conducting research to Investigate the World. Northwest Ohio, students discovered, provides easy access for traffickers to move victims frequently due to the proximity of international waters( Lake Erie and the Atlantic Ocean) and airport( Detroit Metropolitan), a major highway corridor( I-
75) running north / south peppered with truck stops, and Amtrack trains that link New York in the east through Chicago to Denver in the west. Students gained insight into
the problem locally from a county sheriff deputy who informed them, for example, that prostitution takes place in every single hotel in our county. I brought back
to class much information about the issue at the state and national levels after attending a conference on the topic at the University of Toledo.
3.
Why might it matter to the world?
Students practiced Routine 3 by researching the problem on a global level. This included reading excerpts from the books Half the Sky and Not For Sale and watching the movie Sold and the documentary Call and Response. They learned to define human trafficking a modern-day slavery for both sex and labor and that it is the second largest crime in the world next to drugs.
RECOGNIZE PERSPECTIVE. Students had an opportunity to perform their scene for a cohort of IREXsponsored TEA fellows based at Bowling Green State University who represented 20 different countries, including Ghana, India, and Columbia. In the talk-back that followed, students learned that human trafficking exists in every country these fellows represented; they were surprised when the fellows commented after the performance that they hadn’ t realized that human trafficking is a complex, unexposed problem in the United States as well, and that it exits in most of our own back yards.
COMMUNICATE IDEAS. A portion of the workshop is reserved for students to provide information for their peers on various aspects of the problem. Students glean material from the research they’ ve conducted during the first third of the semester. This information is presented in a variety of ways. Students often make standard power point presentations. They also communicate ideas by writing satire scenes. Satire is a genre that adolescents in particular understand, enjoy, and respond to. One of these was a satirical game show in which victims were released from indenture each time company owners answered questions incorrectly relating to their business and workers.