Understanding and Working with Muslim Youth

WASHINGTON—Muslims constitute a significant and growing percentage of American youths. A basic understanding and awareness of Islam in the school setting could help reduce value conflicts and peer pressure to socialize into Western secular values. School social workers can serve as a bridge between Muslims and school officials to broker solutions that address the needs of all parties.

In the January issue of Children and Schools, a publication from the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), David R. Hodge, MSW, MCS, a Rene Sand doctoral fellow at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University, explores the ways in which social workers can offer solutions for conflicts between Islamic and secular discourses, as well as possible value conflicts in the school setting.

According to Hodge, the first step is for social workers to have a background in Islamic faith, to understand the five pillars that constitute the common core of the religion. These pillars are the declaration of faith, the daily performance of five ritual prayers at set times throughout the day, almsgiving, the yearly sunrise to sunset fast during the month of Ramadan, and a one-time pilgramage to Mecca.

There are also several values and practices that are most pertinent for Muslim youth—family, community, modesty, morality, and nutrition.

Many Muslim parents fear that children will be socialized into Western secular values that they believe will do little to advance their children’s well-being. Most Muslim youth want to retain their Muslim values even if they are different from Western values and culture.

However, according to Hodge, the desire of many Muslim youths to exercise their religious faith can result in conflict, especially in U.S. public schools. Prayer and fasting may be difficult without the assistance from school officials. Hodge notes that teachers may be reluctant to excuse students from class or other events when prayers should occur. Muslim youths may also experience a significant degree of peer pressure because of their beliefs. Muslim youth may be ridiculed or worse for failing to follow secular values.

As a result of elevated rates of immigration, conversions to Islam, and high birth rates, Muslims may either soon become or already have become the second largest religious population, after Christians, in the United States. Muslim youths are an increasingly vibrant component of the nation’s multicultural mosaic.

Social workers who work with Muslim youth, especially in the school setting, can be instrumental in helping Muslim students exercise their religious rights. Many problems can be alleviated by dispelling misinformation. Problematic peer interactions and lack of understanding of Islam by adults in school settings suggest a need for raising awareness about Islamic beliefs and values.

For a complete copy of the study, journalists may contact NASW Public Affairs at 202-336-8228.

Hodge, David R., "Working with Muslim Youth: Understanding the Values and Beliefs of Islamic Discourse," Children and Schools, January 2002, Vol. 24, No. 1/1-64.