What’s With the Youth of Today?
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o what’s up with young people? To even begin to understand the answers to this question, it is important to consider how the world is changing, the forces of uncertainty and how we do community. The 21st century can be a tough time to grow up. Many of our leaders and popular media tend to have extremely simplistic responses to the challenges that face our young people: judging, blaming, and dividing. In this article, sociologist and youth researcher Dr Ani Wierenga calls out to Supernal’s readers to take a different position. Could we instead observe the changes around young people, to move beyond knee-jerk reactions and controversy and ‘watch with our third eye and listen with our inner ear’. She invites readers to stand in solidarity with young people, and to work with them, as communities, towards more generous public commentaries, and more creative solutions.
Uncertainty Today’s young people are growing up facing huge uncertainties - personally, locally and globally. The 21st century can be recognised as a time of growing uncertainty. The uncertainty is personal - ‘What is my future?’- it is communal - ‘Who are my people?’ and it is global ‘What are the futures for our planet?’ The certainties that belonged to earlier generations are disappearing fast, with research showing this correlating to high levels of stress and anxiety.
The effects of uncertainty on the youth of today In Australia, as in many Western countries, statistics show young people’s mental health problems are on the rise and suicide is one of our biggest killers. We are seeing indicators of stress in our education systems, with over quarter of high-school aged young people not attending school, and another quarter saying they do not belong there. Polls show record levels of young people reporting loss of hope about the future. It is small wonder when we hear statistics such as The Foundation For Young
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