Labor studies undergraduate students become leaders in the classroom
By: Jazmin Rivera, Community Education Specialist
On May 1, 2024, a classroom of world history students at Portola Middle School in Tarzana, California, viewed pictures of workers using large machinery to produce steel in a mill in 1892 Homestead, Pennsylvania. Young Worker Education Project (YWEP) director Nicolle Fefferman asked the students to consider what it must have felt like to work in that room—what smells, sounds, and feelings were the workers experiencing?
As students discussed their answers with each other, UCLA undergraduate volunteers walked around the classroom to support their small group discussions. This was the first day of a week-long simulation lesson on the Homestead Strike. By the end of the week, students learned about monopolies, unions, and the labor tensions of the Gilded Age.
Open-ended discussions, student-led conversations, and collaborations with UCLA volunteers and community members are hallmarks of the YWEP. Through role-play scenarios and a simulation-based curriculum inspired by historical events, students have the opportunity to act out high-stakes, worker-led decision-making.
Students come alive through these lessons. Quiet high school classrooms turn into a frenzy of passionate students itching for their moment to talk. Shy middle schoolers feel empowered to raise their hand and offer their insight, which is then met with encouragement from their peers. UCLA undergraduates, at first nervous to lead in the classroom, grow into their role as educators.
“I enjoyed being able to work with students one-on-one and get a feel for different teaching pedagogies and classroom environments,” said Marisol Mercado, a UCLA undergraduate. “I hope to use some of [the teacher’s] techniques in the future as I continue to explore my educational opportunities and education major.”
UCLA undergraduates also noted the value of having middle school students gain a deeper understanding of worker protections.
“I believe it is super important for these students to know labor history and laws regarding labor, as many of them will be going to high school and soon start working,” said Vikki Fierro, an Education and Social Transformation major.
Beyond classroom simulations with YWEP, a group of UCLA students conducted four online workshops with UCLA YouthSource, a center that offers programs for youth who reside in Los Angeles county between the ages of 14-24. Using a train-the-trainer method, UCLA students led a two-part know-your-worker-rights workshop that covered wage theft and how to read a paycheck. Every Wednesday afternoon in the month of May, YouthSource students gathered on Zoom to learn about their rights as workers, with the UCLA students facilitating the workshops drawing on their own experiences as young workers to teach the lessons. After the month was over, the workshops directly impacted nearly 50 students.
Students of LS136M ended the Spring quarter by brainstorming topics they would like to see covered in future workshops, such as “What is a union?” “How to balance school and work” and “How to take time off.” As workplace readiness curriculum is implemented statewide through AB 800—legislation that requires all California public schools to teach their students about workplace readiness and labor rights—the next generation of workers will directly engage with these questions and many more, both in the classroom and beyond it.
