Trends

TRENDS TRENDS IN THE WORLD TODAY. HOW THEY AFFECT YOUNG PEOPLE. QUESTIONS AND CHALLENGES FOR SCOUTING

S

STRATEGY

World Organization of the Scout Movement Organisation Mondiale du Mouvement Scout

Reprint of first edition Š 1994, World Scout Bureau Reproduction is authorized to national Scout associations which are members of the World Organization of the Scout Movement. Others should request permission from publishers.

This publication has been made possible, in part, through the support given by the World Scout Foundation World Scout Bureau P.O. Box 91 1211 Geneva 4 Plainpalais Switzerland worldbureau@scout.org http://scout.org

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.

INTRODUCTION

1

FIRST PART: TRENDS IN THE WORLD TODAY

3

2.

POPULATION 2.1 Increase in world population 2.2 Uneven distribution of growth: the “greying” North, the “youthful” South 2.3 Increasing rate of urbanization 2.4 The pressure to migrate: South to North 2.5 The refugees: an alarming increase

3 3 4 4 5 5

3.

GLOBAL GEOPOLITICAL CONTEXT 3.1 Order or disorder?

3.2 The “breath of freedom” 3.3 An unbalanced world • Gap between North and South • The North: a context of economic stagnation • Three decades of development: a balance sheet • The 1980s in the South: “A lost decade for development” • Growth of inequality, in both North and South 3.4 Ongoing concerns of the international community • Environment and development • The impact of science on society • Food and nutrition • Human rights • The dividends of peace • The city crisis • Towards a redefinition of the concept of world security • The drug problem: a worldwide scourge 3.5 Impact on young people 3.6 Conclusions: • from the geopolitical point of view • from the educational point of view

SECOND PART: YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE SOCIAL CONTEXT YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE SOCIAL CONTEXT

7 7 7 8 8 9 9 10 10 11 11 11 12 12 12 13 14 14 14 14 14 15

17

4.

YOUNG PEOPLE AND THE FAMILY 4.1 The changing family: major trends 4.2 Consequences for the socialization of children and young people 4.3 Street children

19 19 19 20

5.

YOUNG PEOPLE AND FORMAL EDUCATION 5.1 Present trends 5.2 Re-examination of the role and function of the school system 5.3 Literacy and functional literacy: a crucial problem 5.4 School failure and social exclusion 5.5 Some avenues for further research

22 22 23 24 24 24

6.

YOUNG PEOPLE AND THE WORLD OF WORK 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Present trends 6.3 Future trends 6.4 Impact on young people 6.5 Child Labour 6.6 Retirement 6.7 Some avenues for further research

26 26 26 27 28 28 29 29

7.

YOUNG PEOPLE: VALUES, LEISURE AND LIFE-STYLE 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Faith, religions, beliefs, search for the Absolute and ethical implications 7.3 The values that might influence young people 7.4 Health and young people 7.5 Leisure and lifestyle of young people 7.6 Some avenues for further research

31 31 31 33 34 36 36

8.

MASS-MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION: IMPACT ON YOUNG PEOPLE 8.1 Extent and importance 8.2 Mass-media and society: a few pertinent questions 8.3 Impact on young people 8.4 Some avenues for further research

38 38 38 39 40

THIRD PART: SPECIFIC ISSUES CONCERNING WOMEN

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9.

42 42 42 42 45 45 45

SPECIFIC ISSUES CONCERNING WOMEN 9.1 Introduction 9.2 Women and formal education 9.3 Women and work 9.4 Women’s status: undeniable progress 9.5 Women’s status: challenges to be overcome 9.6 Some avenues for further research

FOURTH PART: CONCLUSIONS AND CHALLENGES

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10.

CONCLUSIONS

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QUESTIONS AND CHALLENGES FOR SCOUTING

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REFERENCES

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“Everyone recognizes that uncertainty has become the only thing of which we can be certain.”

Ignacio Ramonet,(1) “In a world where events and ideas are analyzed to the point of lifelessness, where complexity grows by quantum lips, ...we are hungry for structure. With a simple framework we can begin to make sense of the world. And we can change that framework as the world itself changes.”

John Naisbitt, (2) “My mountain [Mount Kenya] says ‘Look wider; look higher; look further ahead, and a way will be seen’.”

Lord Baden-Powell,(3)

1. INTRODUCTION

The present paper is a supporting document for the implementation of the “Strategy for Scouting”. As a nonformal educational movement, Scouting cannot be envisaged outside the national, regional and world reality that surrounds it. It is a living part of the political, social, cultural and economic context with which it is in constant interaction. To know the world surrounding us is, therefore, vital to our role as educators of youth.

During the World Conferences of 1988 (Melbourne, Australia) and 1990 (Paris, France), Scouting approved a f i r m long-term commitment known as “A Strategy for Scouting”.

The resolutions adopted involve the entire Movement, from top to bottom, and at all three levels: national, regional and global. But how can we conceive and implement such a commitment if we are unaware of the socio-cultural environment in which Scouting has to live?

For example: • Resolution 2/90 on the growth of Scouting stated that “...the Movement should benefit a greater number of young people, particularly those most in need of the Movement’s benefit” (4). So how can we fulfil this task without knowing something concrete about the society in which we live and its ethnic, linguistic, religious, social and economic characteristics?

• Resolution 4/90 on World Programme Policy recognized that the “... Youth Programme is the principal means of achieving the purpose of Scouting and is the key to attracting and retaining members” (5). Thus, the Programme seeks to respond to society’s needs and young people’s expectations, but how can this be achieved if we do not know what those needs and expectations are. Without such knowledge, the Programme is likely to be, at best, a copy of an imported foreign plan and may not take root in the country importing it and, at worst, a package of rituals, ceremonies, uniforms and practices devoid of any real sense for the receiving society and therefore condemned to remain within the boundaries of a group which is limited in size and social impact.

• Resolution 5/90 on Adults in Scouting speaks of the need for a global, voluntarist policy in managing the Movement’s adult leaders. How can we train, support and motivate recruits if we are unable to convince them that Scouting is an attractive educational endeavour? And how can we make the endeavour attractive without first having a real analysis of our society’s strong points as well as its shortcomings and problems?

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• And how, in this era of interdependence and globalization, can we ignore the fact that some of the trends in our own countries actually come from elsewhere?

This can be true, for example, of music, or women and men’s fashions, or fan clubs for pop “stars”, or even, on a professional level, the flow of information via telecommunication networks, or yet again the emergence, disappearance or resurgence of certain values at home or elsewhere in the world.

The purpose of this document is t h e r e f o r e t o s h a r e ideas and thoughts on the environment in which Scouting is living and developing today with the leaders of National Scout Associations. Apart from practical considerations, it is also only fair to mention that such an undertaking is not without its limitations and difficulties. Perception of the world is rich and varied, and differs from one place to another. Thus, we have endeavoured to set out some sign posts along the road, but it is emphasized that they are general in nature. If they are socially and culturally applicable to your country, so much the better. If not, accept them as indications of what is happening elsewhere in the world and might even happen in your country in a few years’ time.

We should also like to draw the reader’s attention to three key-elements which are important for the general understanding of the overall picture: • Globalization and the growing inter-dependence of peoples.

Marshall McLuhan’s “global village” has become a reality! The movement of people, goods, capital, services and ideas grows by the day as TV and radio give us news of the other side of the world by the minute so that, wherever they live - North, South, East or

West - people cannot ignore how the other half live. Moreover, the “world market” is not restricted to bona fide business transactions, it is open to all sorts of illegal activities such as drug-trafficking, stolen works of art, children for adoption, living organs for transplants, etc.

• T h e accelerated pace of change. In his best-seller “Future Shock” Alvin Toffler warned us: “Change is the process by which the future invades our lives ...” The “... roaring current of change [is] ... so powerful today that it overturns institutions, shifts our values and shrivels our roots ...” “This accelerative thrust has personal and psychological, as well as sociological, consequences” (6). This has been confirmed by Albert Ducrocq in these terms: “... In the life span of one human existence there will be a procession of several civilizations...” (7).

• The dispersion and break-up of the individual. Throughout the day people are subjected to such a variety of inputs that they have difficulty in coping with it all, hence their feeling of “dispersion”, of being thrown off-centre, of having lost contact with their innermost being (8). People are often over-informed but disorientated and they find it difficult to make up their own mind rather than merely responding to outside influences.

comes and rising prices ...” and cuts in social services have weakened the “safety nets” just when the strain on them was increasing», children and young people pay a very high price (9). As will be seen throughout this document, children and young people are the first to suffer when the society in which they live falls on hard times. While unemployment is an obvious example, it is also true in more subtle and less obvious ways - for example, it is young people who are the first to be affected by the prejudice encountered by AIDS sufferers. In this context, the “first call for children” drawn up by the World Summit for Children (10) may well see its impact significantly diminished.

We are therefore going to examine this world which is in a state of profound change. Sections 2 (Population) and 3 (World Geopolitical Context) constitute the first part of the document, providing the background for the second part in which the various institutions involved in the socialization (in its wide sense) of children and young people are presented in an attempt to answer the questions: How can young people fit into today’s world? What has it to offer them now and what does the future hold for them?

To these three elements, the following observation should be added: • It is impossible to separate children and young people from the overall context of today’s world. In situations of economic stagnation or adjustment, where “... the capacity of families to meet the needs by their own efforts has been undermined by unemployment, falling inTrends - Page 2

FIRST PART: TRENDS IN THE WORLD TODAY This section is intended as a background to all the other sections because population is linked to economic growth; access to water, sanitation and health care, literacy; young people’s access to the labour market; migration, and many other factors.

2.1

INCREASE IN WORLD POPULATION

The following graph gives global and regional projections for the next few years (11).

Population projections by region (medium variant)

Population: billions

2. POPULATION

12.0 11.5 11.0

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Africa Other Asia India China Latin America Developed

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More of us than ever!

With the 1992 population already at 5.48 billion we face four decades of the fastest growth in human numbers in all history. Between now and the end of the century, we will be adding 97 million people annually -roughly another Mexico every year. With a likely population of 8.5 billion by 2025, and 10 billion by 2050, the longrange estimates show a likely world population of 11.6 billion by 2150.

The world’s population was 5 billion in 1987 and it is now around 5,480 million, which represents an annual increase of 97 million that is expected to continue until the end of the century. Therefore, the figure of 6 billion will be reached in 1998 and it is expected that in 2010 there will be approximately 6,256 million people.

With an estimated increase of 90 million people per year between 2000 and 2025, the population in 2010 will be approximately 7,220 million and approximately 8,500 million in 2025.

“Geographically, this future growth will be heavily tilted towards Asia, Africa and Latin America. Some 97% of the increase from 1990 to 2050 will be in today’s developing countries ... 34% of world population growth will be in Africa alone, with another 18% in South Asia ...” On the basis of these estimates, in 2050 Africa’s population will be three and half times bigger than it is now. (12) Trends - Page 3

2.2 UNEVEN DISTRIBUTION OF GROWTH: THE "GREYING" NORTH, THE "YOUTHFUL" SOUTH The cleavage between the North (developed world) and the South (developing world) is clearly presented in the two graphs below: the decrease in absolute and percentage population figures in the industrialized North and the corresponding increase in the developing world with a significant increase in the number of young people in the South (13).

The greying North

Changing shares

1990

The biggest change will be in Africa whose share will grow from 12 per cent in 1990 to 27 per cent in 2050.

Asian people will still make up more than half the human race, while Latin America’s share will rise slightly from 9 to 10 per cent. The developed world’s proportion will drop from 23 per cent in 1990 to 13 per cent in 2050.

As the South grows more youthful, the North grows older. In 1990, developed countries had only 23 per cent of the world’s population but 44 per cent of the people aged over 60 years old. In 2025 half the population of western Europe will be over 45 year old.

Youth shifts south

15-24 year olds in four areas

Year: 1990 Year: 2025

49.7

50

44.2

2050

38.7 39.5

15-24 year-olds, millions

40

Africa Asia Latin America

35.2 32.5 30

27.4 25.8

20

Developed world 10

0

NORTH AFRICA

EUROPE

CENTRAL AMERICA

NORTH AMERICA

2010

2020

The urbanization of the world 1950-2025

2.3 INCREASING RATE OF URBANIZATION

Population: millions

Here, the cleavage is between urban and rural areas and, as can be seen from the following graph, the increase is in the urbanization rate.

The Urbanization of the world 1950-2025 (Urban and rural population, 1950-2025, medium projection).

Source: United Nations Population Division.

9000 8500

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“Urban populations are growing very fast: by the year 2000, 77% of Latin America’s population, 41% of Africa’s and 35% of Asia’s will live in urban areas.”

This is an alarming statement if we consider that, in many developing countries, “between 40% and 50% of the population [already] live in overcrowded slums and illegal squatter settlements that lack virtually all services” (14).

The pressure to migrate

2.4 THE PRESSURE TO MIGRATE: SOUTH TO NORTH

50

These figures clearly show the population increase among young people in the developing countries and the decrease in the industrialized countries. Therefore, it is fairly safe to say that the present migration from South to North will rise significantly, especially among young people.

2.5 THE REFUGEES: AN ALARMING INCREASE “Over the past decade and a half there has been an alarming increase in refugees in the world. The total rose from 2.8 million in 1976 ... to 17.3 million in 1990” (16). Since then, everything points to the fact that the number is still growing.

Contrary to what many people in the industrialized countries believe, refugees flee “... for the most part, from one poor country to another ...”. Refugees who “have a well-founded fear of persecution on account of their political or religious beliefs or ethnic origin” are called “political” refugees. They have been joined by two new categories known as “economic” and “environmental” refugees (17).

According to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), the number of economic and environmental refugees will continue to increase in the next few years. FAO has also identified certain “critical zones” whose land and food resources will not be able to sustain their populations. To this should be added the potential impact of global warming and the consequent rise of the sea-level in some of the most populated areas of the earth (18).

49.7

15-24 year-olds, millions

With regard to poverty in developing countries, the following graph compares the 1985 figures with estimates for 2000 (15).

44.2 40 39.7 39.5 35.2 32.5

30 27.4

25.8 20

10

0 NORTH AFRICA

EUROPE

CENTRAL AMERICA

NORTH AMERICA

Over the next 35 years the number of young people will increase dramatically in some regions, fall in others.

Source: World Population Prospects 1990, United Nations, Population Division

Number of refugees (millions)

The refugee explosion 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13

Total

12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

Asia Africa

1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990

S. America N. America Europe Oceania

The refugee explosion (number of official refugees in the world by region, 1976-90).

Source: United Nations High Commission for Refugees.

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QUESTIONS RELATED TO SECTION 2

• As we have seen, “the South grows more youthful while the North grows older”.

What is the impact of this on: -

growth projections for Scouting?

-

membership composition?

-

North-South issues?

• Urban areas are growing everywhere in the world. Similarly, megacities are sometimes becoming uncontrolled.

Are Scouts always able to live “in contact with nature” and if not, what palliative or substitute measures can be taken?

• Slum and underprivileged areas present special problems in megacities.

Should Scouting be particularly present in such areas? What is the impact on youth programmes, recruitment of leaders, on funding, etc.?

• Since migration is generally from South to North, should Scout Associations in the South make special efforts to help young people to stay put? Should Scout Associations in the North help those who decide to leave anyway or those who are forced to migrate?

• With the influx of immigrants, industrialized countries are becoming multi-cultural societies, which means that additional educational programmes for inter-cultural learning and communication are required.

What are National Scout Associations doing in this respect?

• The refugee situation is reaching alarming proportions.

How can Scouting contribute to the well-being of refugee children and youth? Should special programmes be set up for them? How can Scouting encourage dialogue between refugees and the local population?

You will find at the end of this document, in the section entitled “QUESTIONS AND CHALLENGES FOR SCOUTING”, other general questions concerning the role and the function of Scouting in society.

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3. GLOBAL GEOPOLITICAL CONTEXT

With hindsight, the effect of perestroika can be likened to a tidal wave that brought profound change to the former Soviet Union, eastern and central Europe and indeed the whole world. In all truth, the global geopolitical situation needs to be carefully re-appraised, because many of our former yardsticks disappeared in 1985, and even more in 1989, a year which will undoubtedly be seen as a turning-point in the history of the 20th century.

What follows is a modest attempt to summarize the situation without oversimplifying or caricaturizing it.

3.1 ORDER OR DISORDER? First of all, a pessimistic view: “... the eagerly awaited ‘new world order’ of the speeches seems, at least at the moment, to be a vast international disorder ...” and “the accumulation, in all fields and all over the globe, of incredible problems presents a challenge that will be difficult to overcome” (19).

3.2 THE "BREATH OF FREEDOM"

Community; the world is multipolar and includes powerful regional groups or nations.

Others again believe that after a few difficult years, economically and politically speaking, Russia will fill the super-power vacancy left by the Soviet Union.

The arguments for and against each of these theories would take too long to enumerate here. For the time being, the only point on which the experts appear to agree is that, as far as the geostrategic balance of the planet is concerned, we are in a period of transition which could last for years and even decades...

• It may also be said that the triumph of the market economy has been accompanied by an extension of western-style liberal democracy. However, any such statement should not be taken at face value. For example, from the economic and political point of view: -

If capitalism appears to have defeated communism, it is still not triumphant and strong: the world economy is in trouble and we are living in a state of economic stagnation, unemployment is rising everywhere, and highly sophisticated welfare systems are crumbling (as in Sweden, for example).

-

At the same time, if communism has collapsed, the problems it was supposed to have solved are still there! And democracy cannot be built up on injustice and poverty.

-

It must also be emphasized that the shortcomings of “Western style democracy” have quickly become apparent when this type of western democracy has been imposed from outside on completely different socio-cultural surroundings.

As Ignacio Ramonet observed in October 1991: “The hour of independence has come ... The fall of the communist regimes has ushered in an era where the breath of freedom is stirring the somnolent nations. A new political order is replacing the old” (20).

Experts are agreed that, with the collapse of the Soviet bloc, the former balance of a bipolar world has disappeared, causing “deep disturbance among international society” (21).

Here, the following remarks may help to clarify thinking.

• If the experts are agreed that bipolarity has had its day, they are not yet able to explain what has replaced it. Four opinions, among others, are: the USA has emerged as the single superpower, thus the world is unipolar; we now have tripolarity with the USA, Japan and the European

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This triumph of liberalism also needs to be nuanced from the ideological point of view. “Communist ideology ... has sunk with all hands on board, leaving an enormous gap which the alternative - liberalism - is having a hard time to replace” (22). It is becoming evident that a globalized utopia no longer exists, that no one has an important new societal model and that there is a risk of politics being “... left to managers with neither social plans nor inventive political foresight” (23) at a time when society and people need coherence and vision even more than bread. Failing “collective utopia”, there is no single major mobilizing force and the world may sink into global meaninglessness (24).

3.3 AN UNBALANCED WORLD • First of all, there are contradictions to be noted. “Because of economic pressure and the need for security, groups of nations are seeking cohesion, the best example being the European Community. On the other hand, some ethnic groups are claiming their right to autonomy, to self-determination” (25).

The past decade has seen a marked rise in nationalism and a revival of the notion of identity in central and eastern Europe. In the former Soviet Union, especially the Caucasus, this can be explained by population displacements, frontier changes and Stalin’s policy of “divide and rule”, whereas in Yugoslavia the delicate framework put in place by Tito after the Second World War has now disintegrated. The proliferation of small, quarrelsome, selfcentered states, glorifying “national values” and the need for homogeneity (which can lead to “ethnic cleansing”), whose fear and hatred of others incites them to use war as a means of settling old scores, can set whole regions ablaze and pose a threat to world peace.

can become a very serious challenge to the international community, as Somalia has shown. In countries devoid of either State or administration, the “war lords” and their armed men have no respect for rights of any sort, humanitarian, international or otherwise. In such conditions, how can those who are deprived or held at ransom be helped? (26) Faced with this situation, some argue in favour of “interference on humanitarian grounds”, because of “the international community’s responsibility for the world’s suffering” (27) while others stress that “when States (or groups of States) call on ‘interference on humanitarian grounds’ to justify intervention, even when the need is real, there will always be doubt as to whether the aid is truly impartial, especially if the relief operation is carried out

under military supervision” (28).

The recent destruction of the Ayodhya Mosque in India has shown how easily, even in a country with a secular ideology and tradition, a tragic vicious circle can open up: religious fundamentalism nourishes violence which, in its turn, feeds on extremism.

• Gap between North and South The following graph shows the abyss between the industrialized or “developed” North and the “developing” South.

In this respect, three observations may be made: -

20% of humanity’s richest people share 82.7% of the Gross National Product (GNP) while 80% of humanity share the remaining 17.3%.

Global economic disparities.

Distribution of economic activity, 1989 percentage of world total (quintiles of population ranked by income).

GNP - 82.7 World trade - 81.2 Commercial lending - 94.6 Domestic savings - 80.6 Domestic investment -80.5

Richest fiths

Each horizontal band represent an equal fith of the world’s people

Poorest fiths

GNP - 1.4 World trade - 1.0 Commercial lending - 0.2 Domestic savings - 1.0 Domestic investment - 1.3

Clashes are no longer “ideological” but ethnic and clannish, and Trends - Page 8

-

The three sections at the bottom, i.e., 60% of humanity, share a GNP which represents 5.6% of the total.

-

The poorest 20% share only 1.4% of the GNP (29).

Not only is this gap enormous, it has steadily worsened in the last 30 years. As may be seen from the following graph, the ratio between the richest and poorest revenues was 30:1 in 1960 and 59:1 in 1989 - in other words, double what it was 30 years ago (30).

59.1 Income disparity between the richest and poorest 20% of the world’s population Ratio of income shares Richest : Poorest 20% 20%

45.1

32.1 30.1

• The North: a context of economic stagnation The North lives in a context of economic stagnation. Thousands of lost jobs every month swell the unemployment figures in many countries. The situation is particularly distressing for those who are out of work for a long time and often results in their social exclusion. Despite the efforts made by several countries, the number of homeless persons continues to rise and a new social class known as the “new poor” has come into being, all of which leads to the fear of a dual society (see also section 6).

Despite this gloomy picture, Western Europe is still regarded as a paradise by its eastern neighbours.

Thousands of eastern Europeans wait at the Oder-Neisse border for a suitable moment to cross into Germany. Unified Europe has to opt for one of two solutions if it wants to avoid a massive influx of immigrants from the East: either remove the main reason for emigration by offering substantial economic assistance to the countries formerly under communist regimes or try to withdraw behind a new iron curtain...

This migratory pressure on the eastern borders of Europe is reinforced by pressure on its southern borders from the Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa. This provides the extreme right-wing parties with arguments based on “national preference” which are sometimes expressed in pretty forthright xenophobic and racist slogans.

1960

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1989

Migratory pressure has also become a permanent fact of life on the southern borders of the United States of America. In this context, the creation of the North American Free Trade Association (NAFTA), which groups the USA, Canada and Mexico in a free exchange zone of

more than 350 million inhabitants, will be an interesting venture to follow.

Mention should also be made of the impact that today’s economic situation has on several European countries’ stance towards foreigners. In a period of economic stagnation, the temptation to be egoistic and withdraw into one’s shell is always there!

• Three decades of development: a balance sheet Widely contrasting assessments have been made on the three decades of development launched by the United Nations in 1960. Some critics feel they have “... misfired at the cost of wasted billions ...” (31), while others believe that significant progress has been made. For example, in developing countries, “lifeexpectancy increased by over onethird between 1960 and 1990 and is now 63 years”; “under-five mortality rates were halved over the last three decades”; and “the literacy rate among adults went up from 46% to 60% between 1970 and 1985”. To sum up, “the developing countries have achieved in 30 years what it took industrial countries nearly a century to accomplish” (32).

How can we make an assessment which, if not entirely objective, is at least unemotional? First, it is necessary to understand that a development decade can only reflect what the international community thinks of its overall objectives and methods. Thus, in the 1960s attention was focused on economic take-off and it was assumed that growth would have a positive outcome for all sectors of society. The 1970s’ primary objective was the satisfaction of “essential needs” and the 1980s stressed the importance of the people’s participation, with all development passing “... via and for the population” (33). Lastly, Trends - Page 9

the publication of the Brundtland Report, “Our common future” in 1987 alerted the international community to the inevitable repercussions of development on the environment, which then gave rise to the concept of “sustainable development” (34).

It may be asked whether there is a common denominator between the different stages of the process. It is the gradual emergence of the idea of “human development”, whose “ultimate objective is to ensure that economic growth translates into improved well-being of the people” (35). It also finds practical expression in the creation of “Human Development Indicators” (HDI), which are concerned with “participatory development where people are placed at the centre of all decision-making ... human freedom, where the creative energies of the people are unleashed to generate ... opportunities”... and “the process of human development whose main aim is to develop and use all human capabilities”(36).

This new vision of development “must be people-centred, equitable and sustainable” (37). Accompanying these three elements is a more pronounced appreciation of the “cultural dimension of development” and the relationship between culture and development.

The General Conference of UNESCO decision to set up a World Commission on Culture and Development was approved by the UN General Assembly, and the Commission is due to present its report in 1995 (38).

• The 1980s in the South: “A lost decade for development” Economically speaking, in the North there is stagnation and in the South regression, save for a very few exceptions among the “newly industrialized countries” (NICs) in Asia, the Gulf States (whose revenue comes from oil) and a few

countries in Latin America.

Accordingly, a 1992 Report of the UN Secretary-General to the Economic and Social Council recorded: “In the 1980s per capita output declined by 12 per cent in Africa and 11 per cent in Latin America. When changes in terms of trade and net factor payments are taken into account, the fall in income was even larger: a 22 per cent decline in real incomes in Africa and a 16 per cent decline in Latin America” (39).

In another report, also dated 1992, to the Economic and Social Council, the Secretary-General has this to say: “... there are no signs that the gap between the North and the South, which continued to widen during the 1980s, is beginning to narrow. This situation is mirrored at the national level, where the gap between the rich and the poor appears to be on the increase in most countries. Growing income inequalities and the lack of minimum standards of living for large segments of the population threaten political stability and often fragile democratic structures, and hamper the implementation of essential structural reforms” (40).

This same report continued as follows: “While conditions differ from country to country and from region to region, the situation which has characterized most of the developing world in the 1980s - high inflation, large-scale deficits, the burden of debt, inadequate investments, deterioration of physical and social infrastructures - is not yet giving clear signs of qualitative improvement. Adjustment programmes, adopted to remedy the macro-economic situation, have in several instances inflicted additional social hardship” (41).

The decline in the price of raw materials, the closing of western markets to goods produced in the

South, and the gap between what the South receives in the way of aid with what it can offer the North in the way of trade and interest payments on its debt has prompted economists and politicians (and not only those in the South) to ask which is more important today - “free trade” or “fair trade”. Some observers have even recommended “de-linking”, especially in the case of Africa, as the only means of rectifying an imbalance which grows steadily worse.

All of which goes to show that there is a need to create poles of development in the countries of the South which would not only be proof of the North’s solidarity but also an expression of enlightened self-interest.

• Growth of inequality, in both North and South In his report to the Economic and Social Council quoted earlier, the UN Secretary-General pointed out that “... the gap between the rich and the poor appears to be on the increase in most countries (42).

The figures given in the “Human Development Report 1992” are clear: -

“The income gap between the richest and the poorest in developing countries is often startlingly wide. In Brazil the top 20% of the population receives 26 times the income of the bottom 20% ... and at a global level the contrast is even starker and getting worse year by year” (43).

-

“Relatively few countries publish information on income distribution, so it is not possible to make a worldwide assessment.

But a rough estimate can be made for a group of 41 countries for which data are available: a calculation for this group produces a country-based inequality ratio of 65 to 1 Trends - Page 10

though once internal income distribution is taken into account, the ratio between the richest and the poorest people more than doubles to 140 to 1” (44).

In consequence, the need for solidarity is not regarded by the industrialized countries as a left-wing ideology, but as a need to preserve social cohesion and avoid a dual society. In other words, a strong society is a society with a high degree of social cohesion. As J.K. Galbraith put it in a recent lecture to the International Labour Office, “... equitable distribution of income is an economic as well as a moral imperative ...” (45).

3.4 ONGOING CONCERNS OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY An overview of the international situation would not be complete without mentioning some of the ongoing concerns on the international community’s agenda that have a direct effect on our own daily lives: 1) Environment and development, 2) The impact of science on society, 3) Food and nutrition, 4) Human rights, 5) The dividends of peace, 6) The city crisis, 7) Towards a redefinition of the concept of world security, and 8) The drug problem: a worldwide scourge. It goes without saying that each of these topics deserves close examination which is, of course, outside the scope of the present document. Moreover, the list is far from exhaustive.

• Environment and development These are only two dimensions of our use of the earth’s resources and the international community has made considerable progress in understanding their interaction.

This has also given rise to the concept of “sustainable development” which was advanced by the World Commission on Environment and Development in a report entitled “Our Common Future” (46). This report stressed that

“humanity has the ability to make development sustainable - to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. There is therefore a call for double solidarity: between members of the present generation because “sustainable development requires meeting the basic needs of all and extending to all the opportunity to fulfil their aspirations for a better life” (47) and between our generation and future generations.

An outcome of the report was the World Conference on Environment and Development (often called the “Earth Summit”), which attracted worldwide interest when it was held in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992. Two conventions were adopted: one on biodiversity and another one on climatic changes, as well as the Programme known as “Agenda 21 ”, which spelled out the measures needed to achieve sustainable development.

An international Commission on Sustainable Development has been created, but how many States have set up their own national control mechanisms or drawn up plans for action? And has there been any follow-up to the plans for mobilizing the economic community which seemed so promising? (48).

Let there be no misunderstanding: there are certainly many obstacles to be overcome. For instance, while the means for reaching agreement and taking action need to be global, political power is in the hands of national authorities and based on concepts such as “sovereignty” and “frontiers”! Further, the policies that need to be introduced will be painful and costly and they can only be implemented if governments know they can count on the population’s support. Then again, many such policies will call

for a change in attitudes, values and behaviour which, in addition to intellectual acceptance requires moral commitment (49).

But are these reasons to sit back and do nothing? Certainly not! Four avenues for the future could be to: (1) start by educating people; (2) try to solve everyday problems at the local or regional level - for example, exploring the possibility of setting up transfrontier management for such matters as waste disposal, pollution, water-treatment plants, energy resources, etc.

(50); (3) create cost-effective, replicable and sustainable microprojects which would also serve as research laboratories and prototypes; (4) establish, whenever possible, communication between NGOs, intellectuals (professors, researchers), politicians, decisionmakers in industry and business (employers, trade unions) and the mass media.

• The impact of science on society Experts agree that relations between science and society have changed radically in the last 50 years. For instance, “... whether it is understanding the mechanisms of life ... or the unfettering of nuclear forces, not to mention dataprocessing and space research, we have entered into an era ... where, for the first time, we are confronted with previously unknown responsibilities on a world scale” (51).

While few would contest the extraordinary benefits we now derive from modern technology, there are many who are concerned about the associated risks, two concrete examples being as follows: -

The computer “... having changed the office scenery is now changing our homes”. Nevertheless, isn’t that marvellous communication tool, a computer connected via telephone to a great many services, making the individual just a little more Trends - Page 11

isolated? Data coding, screening and hook-up can encroach on private life and even conjure up the kind of society that George Orwell described in his famous book “1984” - in other words, “Big brother is watching you!” (52) -

Progress in genetics has been so spectacular that we are now able to diagnose, treat and cure heredity illnesses. But the reverse side of the coin is that we have moved on from “doing repairs” to “manipulation”. Such techniques are dangerous for both the individual and the species. They revive crazy eugenic dreams. Today, parents can choose their baby’s sex; taken to extremes, it might even be possible to have a “design baby”.

The subject merits much deeper consideration than the scope of the present document allows. Nevertheless, it is important to conclude with two remarks and two questions: -

Science and technology are social activities with ethical and political considerations that we should not ignore. What is needed is a real public information effort in all countries to ensure that “... science and technology ... are better controlled via democratic means and the vigilance of all the people” (53)

-

The relationship between science and power has also been studied recently (54). As J.M. Lévy-Leblond remarks in the article quoted above, “... The ‘science map’ is more or less the same as the ‘development map’. How could it be otherwise?” Unfortunately, the appeal made by Pope John-Paul II in 1987: “... there is an ethical need of solidarity to share progress in applied technology in greater measure with the developing world” (55) - has

largely gone unheeded. That being so, how can we ensure that future scientific discoveries are not the subject of fierce confrontation between states and multinational corporations but are made available to the• whole human family?

• Food and Nutrition The International Conference on Nutrition, which was held under the joint auspices of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization in Rome from 5 to 11 December 1992, emphatically confirmed much that we already knew: 1) “Globally, there is enough food for all” (56).

2) Today, there are 2 billion people suffering from malnutrition in the world: -

“... 780 million people in developing countries still do not have access to enough food to meet their basic daily needs...”;

-

“... more than 2000 million people, mostly women and children, are deficient in one or more micronutrients; babies continue to be born mentally retarded as a result of iodine deficiency; children go blind and die of vitamin A deficiency; and enormous numbers of women and children are adversely affected by iron deficiency”;

-

“... tens of millions of refugees, displaced persons, war-affected non-combatant civilian populations, and migrants ... are among the most nutritionally vulnerable groups ...”;

-

• “... high prevalence and increasing numbers of malnourished children under five years [are common] in parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America”;

3) “... poverty and lack of education

are the primary causes of hunger and malnutrition ...” (57) This rather sombre picture constitutes a challenge that could and should be met.

Human rights In this area, there is a contradictory situation. On the one hand, progress has undeniably been made in accepting that human rights apply to all. They have become a universal requirement, as shown by the fact that 1) more and more countries have ratified the international conventions; 2) more and more countries have turned towards democracy so that at national level “people are becoming more educated and conscious of their rights”; 3) at the global level, “rapidly expanding media networks provide a steady flow of information on human rights violations”; in addition, there are organizations whose appointed task is to ensure that human rights are respected (58).

On the other hand, violations are widespread in quite a few places and in armed conflict situations they are often committed against civilians. Experts from the humanitarian organizations have calculated that, whereas only 10% of the victims in the First World War were civilians, at the present time civilians account for as much as 80% - largely because central governments are crumbling and there is a total lack of discipline among armed groups (59). Ethnic cleansing, systematic torture, the disappearance of political opponents, arbitrary executions and cruelty to prisoners are still the rule in some countries.

The dividends of peace The end of the cold war raised hope in this area and two encouraging observations may be emphasized: -

There has been a worldwide Trends - Page 12

Figure 52 Peace dividend, 1990-2000

Total peace dividend by year 2000 $1.5 trillion Peace dividend by 1990 $277 billion

Trend in military spending, 1980-84/87

all kinds, the unemployed, the homeless, the HIV positive, the addicted ... (It is) a world of violence and distress in which children are growing up” (65). Of course, the situation isn’t quite as dramatic as this everywhere, but we do read in the press of more and more places where people have to install sophisticated alarm systems and barricade themselves in at night in self-defence.

Peace dividend 1990-2000 $1.2 trillion

Actual 1990 military spending Global military spending if 1984-1990 reduction continues

1987

cutback in military expenditure. According to the latest statistics available, “the industrialized countries reduced their total military spending from a peak of $838 billion in 1987 to $762 billion in 1990” and developing countries from “a peak of $155 billion in 1984 to $123 billion in 1990” (60).

-

2000

1990

The projection in figure 5.2 remains to be confirmed, but it does offer a note of optimism in a rather negative context (61).

According to this same report, “the peace dividend opens a window of opportunity for both rich and poor nations. For the rich nations, it is a chance to direct more resources to their lengthening social agenda - drug addiction, urban violence, pollution, homelessness and strained social services ... For the developing countries, it is a chance to invest more in the health and education of their people” (62).

• The city crisis As we have already seen under 2.3 above, urbanization is growing apace all over the world. To quote the World Commission on Environment and Development’s report, “Our common future”: “By the turn of the century, almost half of humanity will live in urban areas: the world of the 21st century will be a largely urban world” (63).

In industrialized countries, many cities “... face problems deteriorating infrastructure, environmental degradation, inner-city decay, and neighbourhood collapse” (64). Here is a vivid description of the link between urban dilapidation, social exclusion and violence: “Once again the record for violent crime in 1991 has been broken in most of the large American cities. In these cities and their forgotten suburbs, the number of poverty-stricken people continues to rise. Because of the economic recession, these shady districts attract outsiders of

The problem is even more dramatic in the developing countries because of the lack of resources to meet the expanding urban population. “Few city governments ... have the power, resources, and trained personnel ...”, so the result is mushrooming illegal settlements with primitive facilities, increased overcrowding, and rampant disease linked to an unhealthy environment (66).

The city crisis is one area where theorists and practitioners converge in emphasizing the urgency for action in three areas: -

The need for a comprehensive urban development plan. Presently, government measures tend to be sectorial (taxes, pricecontrol of foodstuffs, transport, health, employment, sport, etc.).

-

The need to ease pressure on large cities by improving amenities in smaller country towns and in villages.

-

The need for closer work with the majorities of urban poor who are the true city builders, tapping the skills, energies and resources of neighbourhood groups and those in the “informal sector” (67).

It is clear that, in each of these fields, the role of youth groups and non-formal educational organizations such as Scouting can be of capital importance.

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• Towards a redefinition of the concept of world security

whitewashing dirty money: since the common factor in all such transactions is corruption, and since the most effective weapon against corruption is to be open and above board, it has been suggested that there should be “an international organization to detect transfers of shady money” (71).

With the collapse of the Soviet bloc, the whole theory of “strategic balance” needs to be re-assessed at every level (68).

In trying to determine the “future environment of world security”, (69) the analysts have already drawn attention to certain areas of concern. For example, the four heirs to the Soviet striking force - Russia, Ukraine, Bielorussia and Kazakhstan - all signed the START Treaty in May 1992. This gives rise to three sources of anxiety. First, the implementation of the agreement, i.e.: “... the actual destruction of the weapons agreed upon and the deployment of an unwieldy verification system in situ... (constitutes) a long-shot, given the disarray of what was formerly the USSR” (70). Secondly, it is known that hundreds if not thousands of the Soviet Union’s highly skilled nuclear technologists are now part of a “brain-drain” to countries which can afford to pay them salaries commensurate to their know-how. Thirdly, since this “drain” may also be true of the materials needed to make atomic bombs, we may also well ask whether some countries will be stepping up their nuclear production.

-

In conclusion, mention must also be made of the mafia connection.

The mafia knows no boundaries and in some countries it has links from the very top (e.g. decisionmakers) to the very bottom (e.g. shanty-town dwellers). Thus, we should be alert to the fact that the mafia’s redoubtable efficacy can undermine a whole society!

3.5 IMPACT ON YOUNG PEOPLE In most of the developing countries, more than 50% of the population are under 25 years of age. War, shortages caused by underdevelopment and natural disasters always hurt the most vulnerable, so that children and young people are the first to suffer.

For example: -

The recent wars in the Lebanon and Somalia plus the Iran-Iraq conflict have shown that “soldiers” are getting younger and younger, being either volunteers or recruited by force.

-

“An estimated 35,000 children under five years old die every day from lack of a safe and secure supply of food and water” (72).

-

Such a situation is likely to have an enormous influence on the future. “A lot of people have said that the 1980s were a ‘lost decade’ as far as development was concerned. The tragedy is that there is also a lost

• The drug problem: a worldwide scourge The production, trafficking and consumption of drugs is now a problem all over the world. Fighting this scourge is not an easy task and calls for an integrated approach. Thus, the problem has to be tackled: -

at the source: illegal cultivation can only be stopped by subsidizing farmers to grow crops which will give them a living wage by honest means.

-

at the levels of trafficking and

at the level of consumption: since this basically concerns young people, it is discussed in Section 7 below.

generation which will carry scars of the 1980s crisis in its body and soul well into the 21st century. If a child grows up suffering from severe malnutrition, without schooling or health care, he cannot become an adult who is able to use his capacities to the full ... Mothers who have been undernourished and deprived as little girls are also likely to transmit these same characteristics to their own children or even die in childbirth” (73).

3.6 CONCLUSIONS • From the geopolitical point of view As we reach the end of this overview, we may well ask ourselves: Are we living in a more stable, more certain and fairer world?

Each of us can reply individually on the strength of what we know about our own immediate environment (school, district, town, region, country). On the other hand, at the international level there are two factors which deserve mention: 1. The end of the cold war and East-West confrontation has opened up a number of doors.

Apart from the frenzied arms race, bipolarization created wars and conflicts all over the world and prevented international organizations from operating normally (74).

2. Places such as the Balkans and the Caucasus, and also parts of Africa, are going through a period of destructuration which must inevitably precede any period of restructuration.

Certain key-words will be helpful in understanding this period: conflicting interests, national assertion, destabilization, fractionism, revival of identity, hate and fear of the “other”, etc. The terrible exTrends - Page 14

periences of the past few months show that humanity is not going to be spared this period, but it can try to minimize the human and social cost. To achieve that, a strong presence of the international community will be indispensable and public opinion must make its voice heard.

• From the educational point of view Educationally speaking, what conclusions can we draw?

What are the consequences for our role as educators of young people?

1. The first can be summarized by quoting Naisbitt’s famous phrase: “The most reliable way to anticipate the future is by understanding the present (75).

2. To combat the disorientation, the lack of ideals, the shortsighted pragmatism and the morosity which is being fed by the economic crisis, we need to lay claim to collective utopia. In the most noble sense of the word, such utopia is embodied in “the vision of a happy, reconciled future for all humanity” (76).

Surely nothing could be more in conformity with B-P’s thinking and the ideals of Scouting than when such sentiments are expressed in commitment and service (77).

3. Ethics and politics. Confronted by the confusion of some and the apathy of others, we must proclaim the existence of a way “... in which men will be free to refuse the ungovernability of the world” (78). To do so, two complementary requirements are needed: proclaim political commitment as a vocation of service to humanity and - at the same time - call for “... an

ethical commitment which calls for a type of change which is judicious and feasible” (79).

What a marvellous appeal to the idealism of young people!

4. Growth of intolerance. “We are living in an age where the means of combating an enemy, an ideology or a belief have greatly changed. It is terrorism, kidnapping and torture which are now the instruments of destruction ... The increase in indiscriminate violence and the repeated violation of fundamental humanitarian principles have taken on agonizing proportions, particularly in ideological and racial conflicts ... where the fight resembles total warfare”...

“What will become of humanity if ideology not only prevents us from seeing a defenceless enemy as a man, but also makes us regard the innocent as an enemy?” (80).

More topical than ever, the spread of intolerance is disquieting for us all, educators especially. We must help young people to take a long, hard look at themselves, the society in which they live and the international scene. We must also share the values of tolerance and open-mindedness with them - and here Scouting, with its long tradition of promoting peace and understanding between men, is particularly wellplaced to make an outstanding contribution.

5. The world is seeking a new type of partnership and a new model for justice. As full members of the community of non-governmental organizations, Scouts have a forceful role to play.

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QUESTIONS RELATED TO SECTION 3

• Education.

What can Scouting do to help leaders and young people understand their own daily behaviour in relation to humanity’s problems ?

• The co-existence of people of different cultures, ethnic groups and religions in a given geographical space can become a source of conflict and war.

What can Scouting do to help people practice mutual understanding and live in peace with each other?

• Democracy and pluralism. Democracy is never acquired; it has to be built up gradually, day by day.

What can Scouting do to help young people to be democratic, to make democracy so much a part of their life-style that they really listen to others and try to understand their point of view?

• It has been said that “Where there is a source of injustice, there is a source of war”.

What can Scouting do to heal the wounds of humanity? to help the creation of a more equitable world order? to assist the dispossessed, the excluded, the oppressed, wherever they come from, to regain their dignity and a sense of purpose in their lives ?

• Mention has already been made of the growth of intolerance among integrists, fundamentalists, radicals and fanatics of all kinds.

How can Scouting become an agent of dialogue and peace? to help the young take a long, hard look at themselves, society and other people? to replace war by constructive discussion?

• Human rights.

How can Scouting help young people and leaders to reinforce their respect for human rights in their daily lives?

• Social welfare services have broken down in a number of countries as a result of the economic crisis, depriving the already deprived even more.

How can Scouting help the less-privileged in their countries ... and, at the same time, to avoid the emergence of a dual society?

• Confronted as it is with situations in which various problems of justice are involved: How can Scouting respond to the ethical requirement of solidarity?

What can Scouting do to establish mechanisms of solidarity wherever they are needed?

• Despite the very real progress that has been made in a few isolated cases, the North-South gap grows bigger by the day: How can Scouting take this factor into account when introducing a new registration fee system at world level?

How can Scouting take this factor into account when drawing up policies for development cooperation and establishing partnership agreements between associations in the North and the South?

You will find at the end of this document, in the section entitled “QUESTIONS AND CHALLENGES FOR SCOUTING”, other general questions concerning the role and the function of Scouting in society.

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SECOND PART:

YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE SOCIAL CONTEXT YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE SOCIAL CONTEXT

Having examined the framework of this presentation in Sections 2 and 3 above, we are now going to turn our attention to the various institutions via which young people become adults with, educationally speaking, varying success. In considering the question “how do young people join in life today?”, we must take account of all the structures discussed in the chapters which follow - namely, the family, education, work, life-styles and values and the mass media. However, in this present section we shall present the general outlines of the sections which follow.

First, it is important to look at the psychological and sociological aspects: 1. As they grow from infancy to adulthood, young people experience important biological, intellectual and emotional changes, all of which are part of their transition from dependence to autonomy. “For a young person, growing up means making choices and decisions, developing the ability to cope, finding a meaning to his or her life, getting prepared to face challenges and accept change.” (81) 2. At the same time, young people live in changing societies: -

In some countries, a great many people are trying to adjust from a rural life based on agriculture to industrial, city living, while others are somewhere between the industrial society and what is called for want of a better term the “postindustrial” society.

-

Under the combined influence of a number of factors, not least the worldwide mass media, many societies are liv-

ing a transition between a “mono-lithic” or “homogenous” type of culture and a “pluralist" type of culture.

However, in a pluralist society, values come from many sources and include, as well as the family, school and church, political parties, organizations of many kinds, the mass media, peer groups and so on. Thus, the values proposed to young people can be convergent (or similar) or contradictory...

3. It is therefore perfectly understandable that young people can feel unsure of their identity (be it from a biological, an intellectual or an emotional point of view) and their role in society.

4. We are therefore confronted with a general trend which affects in varying degree - all young people wherever they are. From an increasingly early age they are under increasing pressure to do well at school, get a "good" degree, find work, and cope with such problems as to know the opposite sex, money, health, drugs, etc. At the same time, the support provided by traditional structures tends to disappear or to lose its impact.

This engenders anxiety, even fear. Consciously or not, young people are looking for role models, not necessarily to imitate those models but to find reference points which will help them along the road. However, they are often disappointed by what they discover. For instance, adults can be caught up in their own family or social problems; they can be lonely or out of work; they can be worried about the future and whether they will be Trends - Page 17

able to maintain their professional or social status; they can also be so wrapped up in themselves that they are unable to communicate.

5. The role of an educational movement like Scouting is to help young people to live through this period of transition as constructively as possible, to help them transform their anxiety into a positive, creative attitude - and here adults have an irreplaceable role to play.

6. Because of its purpose, principles and method, Scouting is well equipped to fill this role provided it is practised in a committed and authentic way. However, in the light of the purpose of this document only a few examples will be mentioned here.

• Faced with the very real problems they run into today, many young people feel “alienated”, “outsiders”like foreigners, that there is no room for them in their own society. This easily leads to feelings of discouragement and hopelessness, hence the temptation to escape via marginality or violence.

idea of what is going on in the world. Scouting's international dimension enables young people to become “world citizens” in the true sense, well-equipped for life in the society of tomorrow with its urgent need for dialogue between peoples everywhere.

• The growth of individualism in various forms is a common characteristic of many presentday societies. The difficulties of daily living, the accumulation of commitments and the frantic pace of big-city life can mean loneliness. Young people need an adult to talk to and a group of friends with whom they can share their experiences, good and bad.

A small group such as a patrol within a Scout troop provides an ideal setting to answer these needs, a real community for young people, which can also act as a launching-pad for the adventure that young people need to escape from routine and boredom.

• The “globalization” of the world and its problems has already been mentioned several times, which means that we all (especially the young) have to adopt a global approach in order to appreciate the complexity of today's situations.

• That same community of life can make a considerable contribution in helping young people to experience a harmonious relationship between the past, the present and the future. Indeed, “no tree can remain erect or live without roots, even though they may be invisible. To know one’s predecessors and their times is to know one’s own roots and the soil that nourished them. The more one knows oneself, the easier is to live the present, which prepares the future, to the full” (82).

Thus, Scouting encourages young people to have roots in their local and national environments as well as a general

• The growth of intolerance in all its shapes and forms is a matter of concern all over the world. Scouting shows young

Deeply marked by the spirit of its Founder, Scouting has an attitude of optimism and determination. B-P himself encouraged young rovers to “paddle their own canoe”.

people how to take a long, hard look at themselves and the way their society operates, to be tolerant and broadminded. As B-P himself put it: “As Scouts, it is our business to find out the other fellow's point of view before we actually press our own. We want a great, broad-minded outlook in every direction”. (83) • The more uncertainty grows and there is plenty of it in the world at the moment - the more adults need to help young people to behave in accordance with tried and trusted principles and values which are not imposed by external constraints but based on personal reflection and commitment.

The reinforcement of inner strength - what B-P so aptly described as “character building” - enables a young person to affirm his personality, to take decisions and accept the consequences, and to seek positive solutions to his problems. Once again, this is an area where Scouting is wellplaced to make a major contribution.

We are now going to examine the interaction of young people within the different social institutions with which they are involved.

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4. YOUNG PEOPLE AND THE FAMILY

In almost all cultures, the family is considered as the “basic social unit”.

We must therefore study how this unit operates if we are to understand the process of socialization of children and young people.

4.1 THE CHANGING FAMILY: MAJOR TRENDS “Sociological studies show that family structures have undergone considerable changes since the beginning of the century” (84). Three major trends have dominated this evolution: 1. The transition from the extended family to the nuclear family Although many traditional cultures still cling to the extended family model with its network of help and support from relatives, the nuclear family model is gaining ground all over the world under the combined pressure of industrialization, urbanization and the consumer society.

2. The diversification of “family” models The concept of “family“ is used here in its broadest possible sense, including “couple“ relationships of different types.

-

in some countries, homosexuals live together as “couples” and seek social and legal public recognition of their status.

3.

Growing instability of the family tie

While almost worldwide the family is still considered as a “reference standard”, demographic and sociological studies show an increasing instability of the family tie. In some industrialized countries (e.g. the USA) nearly one marriage in every two ends in divorce.

4.2 CONSEQUENCES FOR THE SOCIALIZATION OF CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE Have these trends affected the socialization of children and young people?

In some countries, yes, even though the family continues to be considered as crucial to their harmonious development. But there has been a weakening of the family structures themselves (lack of communication, for example) and of the influence of family life on the education of children and young people.

-

father, mother and one child

-

man and woman without children

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one-parent family (usually, a mother with a child or children)

-

“open marriage” (more couples live together without getting married)

In industrialized countries, mainly in urban areas, parents are permanently stressed. This can be caused by dual careers, pressure to climb the social ladder, threat of unemployment, redefinition of sexual roles, professional and social demands on their time, etc., so that they often arrive home exhausted and unable or unwilling to talk to their children, much less to impose upon themselves the effort of enforcing rules of behaviour for them.

-

“trial marriage” (more couples, mostly young, live together for a number of years before deciding whether to marry, to continue as an “open marriage“ or to separate)

The remarriage pattern also means that children move from one family to the other for short or long periods (weekends, summer holidays, and so on).

-

increase in the number of re-married couples.

In the pre-industrial societies, the family shared many activities with its extended circle of relatives and

The classical nuclear family (father, mother and children) is becoming smaller and new “models“ are emerging in various cultures - for example:

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the surrounding community. In modern society, the family is no longer a unit of economic production and the workplace is separate from the family setting. Relatives live in the countryside or a different city where, in many cases, they too are subject to the same pressures! Thus, it becomes more and more difficult for children and young people to find an adult with whom they can identify or even talk to. Is it not surprising, therefore, that in many cases they cannot find the cultural heritage which the family is supposed to transmit or firm values to abide by? They lack a sense of “identity“ and a secure starting point in life: lack of rules, of references, of barriers (85).

From the macro-social viewpoint, these patterns account for the increase in the number of people living alone.

The statistics of several countries show that up to 33% and sometimes even 40% of big-city populations live alone, which explains why many experience “a pervasive feeling of solitude and anxiety” (86). Social scientists have also associated this trend with the increase of depression and sleeping disorders.

4.3

STREET CHILDREN

It would be unforgivable if this document failed to mention the problem of the street children which has developed so alarmingly in the past 10-15 years that it is now the subject of close attention by both international governmental and non-governmental organizations.

To start off, here are a few factual observations: 1. “Homelessness among young people is very much an urban phenomenon and is by no means restricted to poor countries. Although the majority of homeless young people are living on the streets in the South, there are many sleeping rough in ... Europe and in the United States ...” (87)

2. “Homelessness creates an underclass, enhances the underclass that may already have existed and, combining newly-poor and always-poor together in one common form of penury, assigns the children of them all to an imperilled life” (88).

3. “Child abandonment is a global problem, involving a wide range of ages, from infants to young teenagers ...” (89). “The homeless young include orphans, refugees and migrants. But many are runaways who leave home because of unacceptable conditions in the family ...” (90). As Father Javier de Nicolo has put it when talking about the street children in Colombia, “The gamine is a child whose response to the life of poverty and despair is to emancipate himself or herself. This, in essence, is an act of survival ...”

(91).

4. “City dwellers of the 20th century have become accustomed to the sight of children and young teenagers sleeping on the streets ... Such children have become part of the urban landscape and rarely inspire pity, let alone action” (92).

5. Most street children become integrated into a street group or gang. Because of the dangerous nature of life in the streets, “... the group functions as a viable alternative to the family” ... and provides peer relationships which are “supportive, cooperative and pleasurable ...” within the harsh realities of street survival (93). Many groups specialize in “entertaining pedestrians ... picking pockets, shining shoes ... stealing, prostitution or drug trafficking ...” (94). It is also clear that “homeless young people are vulnerable to exploitation by unscrupulous adults and it is often adults who first attract them into criminal fraternities” (95).

cal and mental healh... The homeless circulate day and night through the city... and the insecurity of the environment is reflected in the youngster’s emotional instability...” In addition, these children face extortion and brutality from the police and “...maltreatment by adult prisoners when they are jailed...” (96).

Nevertheless, “many homeless young people cherish the independence and freedom they gain by living outside the family and outside society’s norms... (and) they may be better off financially...” (97). It is important to note that “the legislative and policy frameworks affecting homeless young people are normally repressive rather than protective or supportive”. In many cases, State residential services or family reunification prove to be unsuccessful, so that the alternative appears to be the provision of “... supportive services such as health care, non-institutional shelter and unionization and schooling at work ... with the maximum possible participation of the client population in the identification of needs, planning and execution” (98). Such measures, coupled with increased representation and advocacy plus the recruitment and training of street educators, would appear to provide part of the answer. However, this would be “... extremely demanding ... in terms of financial resources and personnel”.

(99) Meanwhile, experimental schemes are under way in many countries. Again, this is an area where cooperation between governmental services and non-governmental organizations at national level, together with the support of the international community, could help to alleviate the situation.

“Street life can be extremely damaging to the young person’s physiTrends - Page 20

QUESTIONS RELATED TO SECTION 4

• Are National Scout Associations aware of the increasing diversification of family models? Is this diversification reflected in association’s youth programme, training, publications, image, and so on?

• The growing instability of the family link in many parts of the world presents a serious challenge to youth organizations such as Scouting. Are there particular measures to be taken to diminish its effects on children and young people: - concerning the age of leaders?

-

concerning the ratio adult leaders / young people?

- concerning the identity of children and young people: helping to build a sense of pride and worth, to build relationships based on personal trust?

• Is there enough time available at unit level to provide opportunities for children and young people to talk to adults, to enjoy being together and undertaking activities together?

You will find at the end of this document, in the section entitled “QUESTIONS AND CHALLENGES FOR SCOUTING”, other general questions concerning the role and the function of Scouting in society.

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5. YOUNG PEOPLE AND FORMAL EDUCATION

It is important at the outset to clarify a terminology question. There is no universally accepted definition of education: sometimes it is used mainly as the “transmission of knowledge”, sometimes it includes the “transmission of values” and sometimes even the “conditioning of behaviour”. We have endeavoured throughout this section to use the word “education” in its broadest possible sense, keeping “formal education” or “schooling” for the school activity. Obviously, this is not always possible when using quotes, but we trust the wisdom of the reader to make the necessary difference.

5.1 PRESENT TRENDS To start with, a quantitative assessment: “More and more time in peoples’ lives is being devoted to education...Nearly one out of five persons alive today is either a pupil or a teacher in a formal educational institution” (100).

There is an increasing awareness that formal education takes place in a social setting. In order to understand it, we have, therefore, to look at it in the context of the global picture. The trends presented below appear in a certain sequence, which cannot claim to be the only one possible, since they are all interrelated.

• Modern education has extended the period of transition from childhood to adulthood, and this extended period leads to frustration among youth. This frustration is attributed to the fact that they are deprived of a meaningful social function at a period of their lives where they have the capacity and the motivation to exercise it.

• Education is now being seen more and more as a life-long process.

Part of the learning process takes place in institutions (such as the school) but an increasingly important part takes place in a much less formal way.

The concept of “open schools” and

“open universities” that has developed in many countries goes along those lines: an attempt to free students from the conventional restraints of education and to encourage them to develop themselves, at their own rhythm. Different formulas are being developed to combine school and work and to offer opportunities for students living in remote areas of each country (i.e. University courses by correspondence, etc.)

• Education is no longer seen as a “one-way process” (the “teacher” having all the knowledge and transferring it to the “learner”) but as a two-way process, where dialogue takes place and the learning process arises largely from the curiosity of the learner. Furthermore, the focus, which was formerly placed on the “teaching” is now placed on the “learning”. Thus, the “World Declaration on Education for All” adopted by the Conference of the same name, held in Jomtien, Thailand, in 1990, states: “Whether or not expanded educational opportunities will translate into meaningful development -for an individual or for society- depends ultimately on whether people actually learn as a result of those opportunities, i.e., whether they incorporate useful knowledge, reasoning ability, skills and values” (101) In this context, it has been pointed out that “Having access to the computer, for example, leaves young people in complete control of the learning situation, and that is an essential factor in the process of achieving autonomy” (102) • Non-formal education is playing a larger role, very particularly in developing countries and in rural areas.

• Youth participation. There seems to be in many countries a tendency to establish “school councils” or similar bodies, which enable students to express their views Trends - Page 22

to their teachers and to their parents.

• Along the same lines, the concept of a learning community has emerged. Participation is , obviously, considered as a source of enrichment for young people but also (and increasingly) for adults as well. Therefore, repeated calls for adults to change their perspective and consider the demands for youth participation not as a “threat” but rather as an opportunity for personal enrichment.

• There is a widespread feeling in many countries, which is difficult to substantiate in terms of statistics or reports, that school nowadays concentrate its attention far more on “instruction” than on “education” with the consequent deficit of “citizenship training”. One reason for this evolution might be the heavy curriculum. A competitive society, combined with the fast growing body of knowledge imposes on teachers the need to transmit more and more factual knowledge, thereby devoting most of their time to “teaching” and little or none to “educating”.

It should be noted in this respect that sometimes there is a wide difference between the “declaration” and the “reality”. One talks about “education” while practising “instruction”. Some specialists have pointed out that this is difficult to avoid, as long as the system remains competitive and result-oriented.

• Finally, in spite of problems, shortcomings and insufficiencies detected almost everywhere, it should be noted that the formal educational system remains in most countries a powerful factor of social mobility.

5.2 RE-EXAMINATION OF THE ROLE AND FUNCTION OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM • A radical position. There has been

in the past decades (and very particularly in Latin America) a radical challenge launched against the school system. Some specialists, in the line of Ivan Illich, have talked about “the fundamental irrelevance of the school institution” and have suggested the need to “de-school society” (103). Because of the very nature of this document, it is impossible to discuss such radical positions here.

• A less radical re-examination of the role of the school system has come, however, as a result of two converging factors: a) the structural changes taking place in the economic life, and b) a re-appraisal of the role of education in the context of human development.

In the past - and still in some countries and in some sectors of economic activity- the “life time job” was the general rule. In the present context -and even more in the future- it is certain that young people have to be prepared for a great degree of mobility.

Some futurologists have calculated that around 50% of the jobs that people will practice around the years 2020 have not yet been invented!

In many countries, there has been a progressive “widening of the scope” of children’s education, which is no longer seen only as a way of preparing young people with professional competence to make part of the “labour force” of the country but rather preparing young people who are able to live happy, balanced and successful lives, including , of course, the possibility of finding a job through adequate professional qualification. (It can be argued, of course, that the ideal and the reality are far removed from one another!)

In this approach, the school tends to be considered as a “human resources development centre” whose main function would be to provide students with a certain number of basic elements, including:

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basic arithmetic operations and the logic for calculation,

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an understanding of the systemic nature of the world ( from the combined points of view of space, time and issues)

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one or several languages,

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the ability to learn (or “learning to learn”), that is, the ability to store, retrieve and process information, integrating it into a global view,

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the development of the moral conscience,

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the development of imagination and creativity, and

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the development of critical faculties,

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the development of social skills necessary for effective participation in democratic decisionmaking at all levels.

For that reason, specialists stress more and more that the fundamental aim of education is to unfold the identity of every child, and see it as a “...personcentred, planet-conscious learning” (104). This entails a trend towards the progressive decentralization, diversification and individualization of the mass education system, thus making it more responsive to specific needs and to changing situations (105).

At the same time, characteristics of the ideal student are seen as: “curiosity, enthusiasm, creativity, flexibility” (106) and the world is seen as the “real” school for everyone, following the prophecy of Marshall McLuhan “Someday, all of us will spend our lives in our own school, the world. And education -in the sense of learning to love, to grow, to change- can become not the woeful preparation for some job that makes us less than we could be but the very essence, the joyful whole of existence itself” (107).

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5.3 LITERACY AND FUNCTIONAL LITERACY: A CRUCIAL PROBLEM The global picture shows that “The total number of illiterate adults in the world, according to UNESCO’s most recent estimates, peaked at around 950 million just before International Literacy Year (1990), and the number is now falling” (108). This corresponds to a worldwide adult literacy rate of 73.5% in 1990. Obviously, there are significant differences between industrialized countries, where the rate is 96.7%, and developing countries, where the rate is 65.1%. Within the developing countries, the highest literacy rates are to be found in Latin America and the Caribbean, with 84.7%, followed by Eastern Asia with 76.2%. The lowest rates correspond to the Arab States: 51.3%, Sub-Saharan Africa 47.3% and Southern Asia 46.1%. The least developed countries taken as a whole represent only a literacy rate of 39.6% (109).

While the progress experimented in the past twenty years is encouraging, the Report recognizes that “...several decades may yet be needed before illiteracy is effectively eliminated in all regions of the world”. The rate projected by UNESCO for the year 2000 is 78.2% (110).

However, there is an increasing concern about “functional illiteracy” in both developed and developing countries. According with UNESCO’s 1978 definition “A person is functionally literate who can engage in all those activities in which literacy is required for effective functioning of his group and community and also for enabling him to continue to use reading, writing and calculation for his own and the community’s development” (111).

There are two major sources of concern in this respect. First, the Report recognizes that “...a majority of countries in the world still have significant proportions of their populations below even the original threshold of being able, with understanding, to read and write a short

simple statement on one’s everyday life” (112). Second, it is important to take into account the difference in literacy thresholds, which may vary from an agricultural society to a highly industrialized one. However, it is important to recognize that “...As individuals pass through the different phases of their lives they experience different learning challenges, which their literacy skills must enable them to meet in a flexible and dynamic manner” (113). Different evaluations made in the USA and other industrialized countries show that young people who graduate from high school (or equivalent level) are far below the level that would allow them to perform satisfactorily “...in an economy increasingly shaped by technology” (114). This means a new challenge, particularly for industrialized countries, in an increasingly competitive world environment.

5.4 SCHOOL FAILURE AND SOCIAL EXCLUSION At the present time any examination of formal education is made in a context of anxiety about growing unemployment on the part of both young people and their parents.

It is important that we all take a careful look at the link between school and work since it has been noted in both industrial and developing countries that “success at school does not guarantee success later in life but poor performance at school does frequently lead to poor performance at work and even social exclusion”.

Thus, the problem of not being able to keep up or dropping out has become a matter of universal preoccupation. Here, another observation is of importance: unless we can provide the least favoured young people with back-up facilities, we will be preparing them for social exclusion.

In this respect, several countries have arranged special study programmes at either the school itself or in a local community centre, and while it is too early to draw definitive conclusions, it

does seem that such schemes offer at least the following advantages: -

children from less favoured homes can be helped to do better at school,

-

a young person can be put in touch with an “older brother” (a national serviceman, say, or a voluntary worker),

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children are shielded from the danger of the streets.

5.5 SOME AVENUES FOR FURTHER RESEARCH 1. In the past few decades, people in industrial societies have tended to see their lives as having three phases: study (learning), active life (working), retirement (taking it easy), but there is every reason to believe that this pattern will be the exception rather than the rule in the future.

For instance, there is the possibility of “alternating”: after a certain number of years of study, people would work for a few years, then study again and so on. This practice has been called the “multiplication of sabbatical periods in life”.

What does seem certain is that there will be increased dovetailing of theoretical training and practical experience and that “tailor-made training courses” will be featured in the future (115).

2. Influence of TV on the attention span of children. It is important to realize that in many industrialized countries (and, increasingly, in developing countries as well) children spend several hours a day in front of their TV screen.

There is, therefore the need to help them adopt a critical attitude about the “medium” and the “message”. This point will be further developed in section 8 below.

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However, there is already a point where the impact of TV on formal education can be measured. Some recent studies suggest that (at least in industrialized countries) the “attention span” of children and young people is far more limited than before. Some teachers affirm that “children can concentrate their attention on a given subject only for five minutes” (which is the time of a video-clip), after which, they shift their attention to another subject...”

3. Reports and magazine articles from several countries in the Asia-Pacific Region, USA and Europe suggest that violence at school is on the rise almost everywhere.

“Violence and arms at school:

QUESTIONS RELATED TO SECTION 5

makes everyday the press headlines in USA.” This has led to the installation of metal detectors in High Schools in Los Angeles.

However, this seems to be a reflection on the general violence in society: “Violence in society at large is touching the children, as victims, as perpetrators, whether they understand the consequences of their act. (Violence) is very much all around us” (116).

4. ßLast, but not least, it is important to mention the establishment of the “International Commission on Education for the 21st Century” created by decision of UNESCO’s General Conference in October

1992, under the chairmanship of Jacques Delors, President of the Commission of European Communities. The Commission will deal with such central questions as: “What kind of education do we want and for what kind of future society? What kind of citizens do we wish to educate so that they may have values and reference points in common and share in the wealth that is so unequally distributed today?”. This Commission is expected to report in 1995 (117).

Bulletin No. 2 of the Centre for Prospective Studies and Documentation of the World Scout Bureau has published a commentary on the “World Education Report 1991”.

• What is the image of Scouting in your country / in your region? Does Scouting project the image of an educational movement or rather a purely recreational image?

• If it is the “recreational image”: what can be done to correct that image? Change the substance (youth programme, adult leader training, etc.)? Initiate an intensive public relations effort? Any other suggestions?

• Is Scouting involved in research studies, task groups, publications or any other means where it can improve its educational image?

• Are educational authorities in your country interested in Scouting. If yes, to what extent? If no, why?

• Have there been any research studies in your country to analyse the type of values proposed by different educational institutions such as the family, the school system, the different churches or religious communities, different NGOs, etc.? What have been the results of those studies?

You will find at the end of this document, in the section entitled “QUESTIONS AND CHALLENGES FOR SCOUTING”, other general questions concerning the role and the function of Scouting in society.

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6. YOUNG PEOPLE AND THE WORLD OF WORK

6.1 INTRODUCTION First of all, it is important to remember that economic activity has undergone vast change during the 20th century for example: -

-

-

The primary sector, agriculture, now produces more with fewer workers, thanks to technical progress. The number of people employed in agriculture in the industrial countries is declining steadily and their contribution to the GNP, percentage-wise, diminishing in consequence.

The secondary sector, industry, has made great progress this century: increased productivity, automation and meeting the needs of the consumer society have made this sector the prime mover in economic growth. Today, some people talk of the progress in microelectronics as the “second industrial revolution”.

The tertiary sector, services (banking, communications, offices, tourism, etc.) have seen an enormous increase in demand in the past few decades. In Europe alone, those working in this sector totalled 55% in 1990 as against 30% in 1950 (118).

ployed, or 7.1%, in 1991, and projections for 1992 foresee a rate in excess of 7.4%.

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“In the longer term, one of the most worrying aspects in the industrialized countries is that they have always had high unemployment, even during periods of sustained economic growth and this is a new and highly disturbing phenomenon” (119).

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Increased part-time employment: this, when a matter of choice, usually constitutes an improved quality of life and is, therefore, desirable. However, this does not seem to be the case at the moment when “... many workers are accepting temporary or parttime employment simply because they cannot find permanent jobs” (120).

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Insecurity of employment, like part-time work, is gaining ground in the industrialized countries: examples are temporary or fixed-term contracts, working for employment agencies, freelancing, working at home, etc.

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The flexible firm is a trend that is being adopted by many enterprises to save the costs of fulltime staff. Such firms “employ a nucleus of permanent staff surrounded by a precarious team of temporary workers, outworkers and subcontractors...” (121).

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The combined effects of unemployment (especially long-term) and insecurity of employment can lead to social marginalization.

The “new poor” in Europe have already been mentioned while the situation in the USA is the subject of comment in 6.4 and 6.5 below.

-

Without having actually been confirmed as a general trend, it seems that in many industrialized countries the crisis has provoked a drop in trade union membership. If this proves to be the case, it will add a disturbing new element to all the

Thus, there has been a radical change in balance and position for the three main economic sectors in recent decades.

6.2 PRESENT TRENDS The globalization of economic activity is a trend which has progressively gained momentum in the past few decades. This is shown by the growing internationalization of the industrial strategy of the big multinational corporations.

Since unemployment is now the major problem, the following remarks may help us to understand its extent and conditions.

-

Unem p l o y m e n t i s gaining ground in practically every industrialized nation. OECD statistics reported 28 million unem-

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other factors contributing to “social disintegration” (122).

The developing world. The ILO report “World Labour Report 1992” paints a rather negative picture whose four main characteristics may be summarized as follows: 1. “In many developing countries governments are pursuing structural adjustment policies by trimming their expenses and privatising their economies.

2. “Many developing countries also continue to suffer from widespread underemployment and a low return on labour.

3. “Thus, a rising proportion of the world labour force is working in the informal sector or employed under flexible labour contracts.

4. Lastly, as already mentioned in Section 3, “World Geopolitical Context”, “widening income gaps between countries are heightening the pressure for workers to migrate ...” from South to North (123).

6.3 FUTURE TRENDS

It appears today, in the light of studies made in several countries, that automation eliminates more jobs than it creates.

In addition to its economic cost, unemployment also has a high social cost: it is destructive, not only for the individual (especially when he is out of work for a long time) but also, taken to extremes, for the entire social system. It is estimated that, in certain countries, for every person unemployed two or three others are affected!

The experts are not agreed on the short and long-term forecasts. However, two trends seem to be emerging: (1) even if economic growth returns in the next few months, it will not be as substantial as it was in the three decades following the Second World War, and (2) even if there is moderate growth, it will not create the same number of jobs (125).

Consideration must therefore be given to ways of adapting to this situation.

Some of the suggestions which have been made are as follows: -

It is clear that, if more wealth is generated without generating jobs, unemployment will become endemic, unless, of course, a change in outlook and innovative solutions can be achieved.

The world is undergoing an incredible scientific and technological revolution, a complete mutation, offering advantages in many fields: “the introduction of industrial robots reduces the risk of accidents and health hazards caused by dangerous operations”, “monotonous tasks ... will disappear in favour of more creative activity”, and “the production boom will reduce working time” (124). However, it has to be said that this change also has quite serious drawbacks: the machine devours the work. Automation, robotization and productivity gain have become the key words in industry’s need for competitivity. For a long time economists have stated that the process of automation should create jobs.

-

Study flexible schemes to redistribute working hours. Examples: work “à la carte”; half or three-quarter time plus compensation (to be defined) for the remaining time; 4-day week; alternance of work and training for a specific purpose (languages, etc.); progressive reduction in working hours between 60 and 65 years of age (to be devoted to: more leisure, training apprentices in the same firm or elsewhere; joining a cooperative project, etc.); two half-time positions - one work, one social service (in a cooperation agency, an NGO, etc.).

Consider as work (and therefore remunerated) anything that meets a social need: (a) constructing, repairing and installing social housing; (b) improving the lifestyle of the most unfavoured communities (public parks, children’s playgrounds); neighbourhood jobs: looking after elderly people, very

young children, schools, etc.

- Make work tax-free, i.e., wages and salaries would be exempt from tax but activities considered as “negative”, such as the consumption of energy over a certain limit, pollution, waste disposal, stock exchange speculation, etc., would be heavily taxed.

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Study ways of re-organizing urban living: e.g., different working hours, a more rational use of public transport (why does everybody have to travel at the same time?).

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Give the unemployed a chance to speak up for themselves: recognize that there is almost nowhere in the world where they are given the chance to be represented as a pressure group; explore ways of organizing this through employment agencies, the creation of a newspaper, etc.

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Revalorize our concept of the term “business undertaking” to mean a community of working men and women with a social objective rather than a mere economic “protagonist” or “producer”.

Banish disparaging terms as “cheap labour”, “staff streamlining”, etc.

-

Re-examine “hyper-productivity” policies. Consider that the improvement of productive gain is not an end in itself (save, perhaps, in sectors exposed to strong international competition).

-

In the long term, some experts see the increase in unemployment as a threat to democracy provoked by a breakdown in social consensus. From the viewpoint of the man in the street, it could be thought that countries are well managed but badly governed or not governed at all. This takes place in a general context of political opacity in which there is talk of mechanisms such as international markets, the stock exchange, rates of interest, the devaluation or revaluation of currencies and so on. It is Trends - Page 27

therefore not difficult to imagine that populist and nationalist movements exploit such a situation to the full.

•

Estimations of Geographical Distribution -

In Asia: “...up to 11% of the total labour force in some countries...”

-

In Africa: “... countries are reported to have up to 20% of their children working ...”

6.4 IMPACT ON YOUNG PEOPLE Unemployment both in general and among young people in particular is now - and, unfortunately, is likely to remain for months and even years to come - the most important problem facing not only individual countries but also the international community as a whole.

To measure its importance, we need to bear in mind that the social cost and destructive effect of unemployment mentioned earlier are particularly applicable to young people, especially those looking for their first job.

The link between unemployment and social marginalization has already been emphasized. When this is compounded by urban decay, it becomes an alarming social problem in some countries, as demonstrated above (see Section 3, “The city crisis”) (126).

•

“Latin America is the most urbanized region of the developing world, so children here are more likely to be working in cities. Up to 26% of children in some countries may well be working ...”

-

In the industrialized world, the report quotes Italy (leather industry in the Naples region), Spain (agriculture) and the United Kingdom. In the United States, “the majority of child workers are employed in agriculture and a high proportion of these are from immigrant families” (129).

6.5 CHILD LABOUR As stated in the “World Labour Report 1992”: “The exploitation of child labour is one of the most disturbing aspects of the international labour scene”.

•

•

“Domestic work ... is one of the largest ... users of child labour in urban areas”, followed by factory work ..., small handicraft enterprises, ... selling newspapers, ...prostitution” (133). “Prostitution is a job for both boys and girls”. In Europe and North America, runaway children are the most likely to sell their bodies and in some Asian countries (e.g., Thailand) the situation “... has been aggravated by the expansion of mass tourism” (134).

The following table “From work to exploitation” summarizes the characteristics of children’s work (135).

•

What Children Earn “Most child workers ‘earn’ nothing at all”, that is, they work to repay a debt or receive payment only in kind, but “... even those employed as wage labourers can receive pitifully small amounts for many hours of work” and in any event they “... work for less than adults”. Paradoxically, even though “they may be paid relatively little, children can make a substantial contribution to family income” (136).

Work and School The relation between work and school is more complex than might seem at first sight. According to the ILO report, with “... primary school enrolment rates as low as 27% in Burkina Faso and Niger, for example, the chances are that many children are spending their days herd-

Work and Conditions of Life “Most child work is agricultural.”

However, even among rural peasant families, “... many parents have to send their children to work in mines or in small factories - making matches or carpets...” (132).

Why do Children Work?

“Most children work because their families are poor.” “In the developing countries rural working children will often help parents maximize the meagre output from their family farms.” “In urban areas children are more likely to work for wages outside the home - generally having been sent there by their parents.” In some countries in South Asia, children (and their families) are “trapped in debt bondage.” It goes without saying that “such practices may be illegal, but they remain widespread in certain countries - sustained by ignorance, fear and intimidation” (130).

Contrary to what might be thought at first sight, unemployment also affects young graduates. “The unemployed in Africa tend to be young and educated. Unemployment is often highest for those who have completed secondary education, but graduates too can have problems finding suitable employment” (127).

A basic problem is that “statistics are difficult to come by; most of these children are unpaid family workers, or are in the informal sector, or are working illegally - invisible to the collectors of labour force statistics. But the total number is certainly in the hundreds of millions” (128).

-

ing cattle or goats”. However, “many working children, probably the majority of those in the cities, also go to school”, and in many cases “... children actually work in order to go to school” (e.g., Kenya) (131).

•

The Cost of Child Labour First, there are the risks: children can be crushed by cars, or infected with HIV, or victimized (and even killed) by the police.

“But there are also subtler and Trends - Page 28

FROM WORK TO EXPLOITATION : SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF CHILD LABOUR • WORKING TOO YOUNG - children in developing countries often start factory work at the age of six or seven.

• WORKING LONG HOURS - in some cases 12 to 16 hours a day.

• WORKING UNDER STRAIN - physical, social or psychological, in mines, for exemple or sweatshops.

• WORKING ON THE STREETS - in unhealthy and dangerous conditions.

• FOR VERY LITTLE PAY - as little as $3 for a 60-hours week.

• WITH LITTLE STIMULATION - dull repetitive tasks, which stunt the child's social and psychological development.

• TAKING TOO MUCH RESPONSIBILITY - children often have charge of siblings only a year or two younger than themselves.

• SUBJECT TO INTIMIDATION - which inhibits self-confidence and self-esteem, as with slave labour and sexual exploitation. more insidious effects. Poor children are generally malnourished already, but their work then increases their energy requirements and their calorie deficit” and they become “victims of malnutrition and disease”. Physical health hazards include “bony lesions and postural deformity attributable to ... carpet-weaving” and damaged eyesight for those “working ... in microcomputer factories and embroidery”.

expect when they have reached the end of their “active life”?

There are also social and psychological costs. When children are separated from their families, their social interactions are restricted because of their long working hours ... and they can also face adult hostility. However, “heavy though the price paid by individual children may be, one must also add the cost to society as a whole: a diminished contribution in the future from adults whose health, education and energy have been sacrificed during their childhood” (137).

As a result, we are faced with real societal problems. What kind of social security will the State be able to guarantee? Who will pay? Only those who are employed (by deductions from their salaries)? Or everyone (as part of their income tax)? How can we make people who are economic protagonists (i.e., employers or employees) and consumers at the one and same time, aware of their responsibility? And so on.

6.6 RETIREMENT A study on the world of work would be incomplete without some comment on the third part of the life-cycle: retirement. What can today’s youth

In most of the industrial countries, the social security and old age pension schemes are in difficulty or will be in a few years’ time. The reasons for this are threefold: the ageing population, earlier retirement plus the exponential increase in medical expenditure which is itself due to the overconsumption of medicaments and the astronomical cost of advanced medical techniques.

It is clear that problems of social solidarity between the generations (or problems of breakdown of social solidarity) are involved, which takes us back to the question: what type of society will we have in the future?

It goes without saying that if the situation is difficult for the industrialized nations, it is desperate for the developing countries where social security is almost non-existent save in a few cases and even then only for certain categories of staff such as the employees of State or parastatel organizations and employees of a few enterprises which are exceptions to the rule.

6.7 SOME AVENUES FOR FURTHER RESEARCH First level of reflection: it may be said that, at the end of the 20th century, our civilization has found technical solutions to the question of producing goods and services, but it is at the human level that the problems occur, i.e., from the viewpoint of social organization, who produces? what? who benefits from the social product?

Second level of reflection: how can real solidarity be achieved between the different economic agents, producers and consumers, the North and South, indigenous workers and immigrant labour, farmers, industrial workers and employees in the service sector? between generations: children and youth, the working generation and the retired? And so on.

Third level of reflection: how can we set up a just society and, consequently, face up to all the individualisms and all the corporatisms without constraint, both nationally and internationally? Are there other ways of organizing society? If so, which? What are the premises? And what experiences at the “micro-social” and “macro-social“ levels should we take as our inspiration?

Such questions clearly go far beyond the scope of this document. However, they do constitute the great challenges that Man is facing at the end of the 20th century and which, if not resolved, will be a huge burden for the upcoming generations.

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QUESTIONS RELATED TO SECTION 6

• Unemployment has destructive psychological consequences for the young. What, then, can Scouting do to help those who are out of work to overcome the negative consequences of their situation? to help them find jobs? Can Scouting plead the cause of unemployed youth?

• What can Scouting do to help the young rediscover the meaning of "free time" as opposed to "alienated time"?

• People will take earlier retirement at a younger age. Is there a role for them in Scouting and, if so, what is it?

• Flexible schemes of redistributing work time are beginning to take shape in several countries and some of Scouting's voluntary workers are likely to benefit from such arrangements. What can the Movement do to turn this to good account?

You will find at the end of this document, in the section entitled “QUESTIONS AND CHALLENGES FOR SCOUTING”, other general questions concerning the role and the function of Scouting in society.

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7. YOUNG PEOPLE: VALUES, LEISURE AND LIFE-STYLE

7.1 INTRODUCTION It is only right and proper that the limitations of the discussion on this theme should be admitted right away.

Other sections may well have shortcomings, but in section 7 this is even more valid.

The problem stems from at least three factors: 1. It is impossible to separate young people from the general values of their society. As discussed above in “Young people in the social context”, young people are part of a society and they are in permanent interaction with their social environment. How, then, can we “detach” them from that society for analytical purposes?

2. The second drawback is the lack of information on a global scale and the lack of comparative statistics.

Thomas Forstenzer (UNESCO staff member and Editor of “Youth in the 1980s”) “has pointed out the general lack of adequate information on young people globally and the failure to record accurately data on youth migration, unemployment, underemployment, health or housing. Nor is there much tangible information on what he refers to as “burning youth issues” such as runaways, male and female prostitution, alcoholism, functional illiteracy, teenage pregnancy or suicide” (138).

3. The third element hindering the presentation of a global picture is that more often than not the descriptions used are vague and obscure. Probably the best example is the “cultural revolution of 1968”. Almost without exception, this is mentioned in every book on young people, but there is absolutely no clear explanation as to what that “revolution” was actually all about: was it a young people’s revolt against “global society”? or against the “consumer society”? or against a political system which they considered to be so “sclerotic” as

to be incapable of change? or against the domination of pedantic adults? There are as many interpretations as there are authors!

Still taking the same example, it may also be said that that particular “revolution” was polycentric: it certainly broke out in Paris, but it also broke out in Berkeley in California, in Rome, in Brussels and in Tokyo to mention only a few of the places involved.

Like a stone thrown into a lake, the shock waves reached different countries at different times ... and, like the ebb and flow of those waves, appeared, disappeared, reappeared with differing temporal rhythms in the various countries ... In such a context, how can one attempt to make a methodical interpretation of 1968?

In the light of such difficulties, it might be asked why one should attempt to undertake the exercise at all? There are at least two good reasons: first, because a document on the trends influencing young people today would be incomplete without a section on values; secondly, because a provisional synthesis, some guidelines, or a few pointers, however imperfect, can create an heuristic effect and help to establish, by accepting or rejecting, the tentative explanations presented, a new synthesis or another proposal.

7.2 FAITH, RELIGIONS, BELIEFS, SEARCH FOR THE ABSOLUTE AND ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS The overall panorama is exceedingly complex and books, to say nothing of encyclopaedia, intended to throw light on it could occupy whole libraries.

However, we shall endeavour to present a certain number of guidelines, simplistic though they be when compared to the complexity of the issues involved.

• First of all, a few figures to set the scene. The world’s five biggest Trends - Page 31

religions - Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and natural religions (animism and others) - together account for almost 4 billion members. If we add the next five (Sikhs, Judaism, Confucianism, Baha’i and Shintoism) we reach a total of almost 4.1 billion people or approximately 75% of the earth’s inhabitants (139). There is little point in dwelling on the relative imprecision of these figures, but it is worth noting that they tell us nothing about the degree of intellectual acceptance of religious beliefs nor about the degree of religious practice.

• General context: the western world lives in an increasingly desacralized and pluralist context. While this can also be said of much of the rest of the world, there are major if subtle differences in certain developing countries.

Nevertheless, “... for a great many Christians, Jews, Moslems, Hindus and Buddhists, religion is the structural element in their lives” (140).

• The three main monotheist religions (Christianity, Islam and Judaism) appear to be confronting, to varying degrees, two opposing currents: one, called progressive, which seeks to adapt faith and ethics to the modern world, the other, called integrist or fundamentalist, which tries to maintain tradition intact by rejecting all the so-called “pernicious” and “negative” aspects of “modernism”. In the case of Islam particularly, “the failure of the transposition of western models to Moslem countries has favoured Islamic revival” even if it is impossible to clarify whether it is “moderate” or “hard-line” (and to what extent), and whether it is dictated by the “comeback of the religious dimension” or by a “cultural” reaction to western patterns (141).

• For the Roman Catholic and Protestant Churches, the process of

secularization (that is, the recognition of the autonomy of the temporal domain in relation to the religious domain) is being accompanied by a process of religious revival which, depending on the country, is more or less confirmed.

• A 1988 study reported that “... a very significant proportion of young people today in Europe (i.e., in western Europe at that time) has no connection at all with any organized Church or spiritual community. This does not mean, necessarily, that the quest for meaning and the search for a spiritual reality are not present at all in their lives, but they tend to adopt non institutionalized ways of expression” (142). We may well ask if this situation does not also apply in other regions of the world. They are indicators that would lead to a positive answer while others go in the opposite direction.

• Reference has already been made to the ideological vacuum and absence of reference standards now prevailing in the eastern European countries, where some churches have been severely criticized for having compromised with the former Communist regimes. Official atheist indoctrination has also left very serious after-effects. There are, however, here and there, indications that show a religious revival or, at least, a revival of religious practice.

• To complete the picture, attention should also be drawn to a new development in the western world known as the “privatization of religious sentiment” whereby there is growing disassociation (even among practising believers) between a feeling of belonging to a particular Church and the acceptance of its ethical norms. There is an “individual appropriation” of ethics

whereby “everyone chooses what he wants to believe” (143).

• Before concluding, a few more brief remarks: -

The dialogue between religions has promoted some degree of rapprochement at various levels. For instance, there is the ecumenical dialogue between the main Christian denominations plus the discussions between the major monotheist faiths. In 1986, more than 100 representatives of the world’s major religions met together in Assisi to pray for peace. Unfortunately, however, any attempt at rapprochement almost always runs into a number of sizeable obstacles.

-

The past few decades have seen a proliferation of sects “with a corresponding increase in their membership and economic potential. Some of them mix traditional rites with unprecedented spiritual practice and are in fact ... flourishing economic enterprises making huge profits” (144). It would seem that as long as they are able to offer their followers moral support and highly emotional experiences within a tightly-knit community, such movements will continue to prosper.

-

One of the biggest paradoxes of religious belief is that while all the major faiths proclaim the intrinsic value of peace, there have always been “wars of religion” or wars where religion has been one of the driving forces in permanent conflicts or sporadic flare-ups.

-

Buddhism, “... with its contemplative teaching which invites people to existential wisdom and its aptitude for assimilating modern schools

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of thought, will inevitably find many followers in tomorrow’s world...” (145).

In conclusion, an open question: are people now looking for supernatural experience? Without reliable data, it is impossible to answer, but what does seem certain in this troubled period is that people are more and more disorientated and disconcerted, as they look for happiness and a sense of purpose in their lives, for themselves, for others, of life in society, of the Absolute.

Because of their search, the role of the different spiritual families will undoubtedly expand in the future.

• The New Age The exact origin of this movement is not really known, but it began in the USA in the 1970s and has now spread to most parts of the western world. “The basic idea is that, on the eve of the year 2000 when the astrological sign of Pisces gives way to Aquarius, humanity will enter a new age of spiritual and planetary awareness, harmony and light, and profound psychic change” (146).

The New Age is “a new paradigm”, a new way of looking at things, “a kind of intellectual structure which allows us to understand and explain certain aspects of reality” (147). “This vision will also encompass studies on the transformation of the brain, the specialization of its hemispheres, psychedelic effects, the hidden powers of the spirit, humanist medicine and transpersonal education as well as Zen Buddhism, the Book of Wisdom, Christian esoterism or Soufist meditation ...It is a grandiose programme” (148). New Age ideas are to be found throughout the western world, particularly in business circles “in the form of techniques for the development of human potential...” to help businessmen to “... increase their efficiency by

‘over-

7.3 THE VALUES THAT MIGHT INFLUENCE YOUNG PEOPLE

It is still too early to draw any conclusion about this paradigm which is in full swing. Some have seen it simply as an answer to the existential anxiety of modern man, while others maintain that “... with the New Age, irrationality has come in through the front door”. Others again stress the need to distinguish between some of its techniques “... which have their own authenticity and their own value” and the more or less explicit assumption that there will be a kind of “... world supra-religion in the Aquarius era...” (150).

It should not go unheeded that there is an expanding and flourishing market for such manifestations. Here is a trend which should be carefully watched!

A value is an “internal, stable attitude which orients behaviour” (152).

Thus, it may be said that it is values which influence the way a person conducts himself in life. Likewise, social groups such as Scout troops or football teams, or a society or even a generation can all have their own set of values.

‘re-energizing’ and dimensioning’” (149).

• Rise of spiritism, astrology, alternative medicine and occult sciences Whether a consequence of the New Age or not, everything points to the fact that there is growing interest in spiritism, astrology, numerology, alternative and holistic medicine, techniques for exploring the conscience, spiritual healing, sophrology, telepathy, tarot, fortune-telling and an almost inexhaustible number of other clairvoyant practices. It would, of course, be simplistic and belittling to tar them all with the same brush, but the fact remains that, quite apart from the anxiety of our times, this interest is indicative of two very important trends which should not be ignored. At the end of the 20th century, Man appears to be rejecting the epistemological boundaries between “science” and “parascience”. The very same man who takes the expertise of institutional science for granted seems to be more receptive to other systems of thought (151).

Values, therefore, provide a way of “reading” society. We may well ask ourselves whether young people have any universal values today and if there are any particular values which influence the way they behave. We will try to answer this question by suggesting one or two ideas for consideration, but unfortunately there is no conclusive answer.

First, it is necessary to reiterate what was said in section 7.1, and that is young people are not a homogenous social category. Generalizations such as “young people are idealists” or “young people are materialists” are, at best, projections of adult thinking, perhaps even wishful thinking, and cannot be taken as statements that can be confirmed by sociological research.

• The following table shows the general trend in changing values from the 1980s to the present time. However, it is included here purely for heuristic reasons, that is, to stimulate reflection. It is therefore left to the reader to decide whether some or all of these trends are present in his country and how or whether they influence the young people who live there (153).

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A TRANSFORMATIONALIST'S VIEW OF VALUES SHIFTS IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY FROM

TO

-

considerations of quantity (“more”)

considerations of quality(“better”)

-

concept of independence

concept of interdependence (of nations, institutions, individuals, all natural species)

-

mastery over nature

living in harmony with nature

-

competition

co-operation

-

doing and planning

being

-

the primacy of technical efficiency

considerations of social justice and equity

-

the dictactes of organizational convenience

the aspirations of self-development in an organisation's members

-

authoritarianism and dogmatism

participation

-

uniformity and centralisation

diversity and pluralism

-

the concept of work as hard, unavoidable, and a duty

the concept of work as purpose and self-fulfilment, recognition of leisure as a valid activity in its own right.

7.4 HEALTH AND YOUNG PEOPLE The World Health Organization (WHO) has defined health as a “state of complete mental, physical and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (154).

We shall review the global picture concerning the health of young people, starting with three important remarks: 1) The health problems of young people differ sensibly from those of children. Children -particularly in the early stages of their development- tend to be more vulnerable to disease. They need the protection and care of their families and a supportive environment. Young people tend to have “...more intense relationships with peers and adults outside the family as new challenges are met and new responsibilities assumed” (155).

2) There is evidence to indicate that there is “... a clustering of health-

enhancing or health-damaging forms of behaviour that become progressively more ingrained through the years of adolescence” (156).

3) Finally, there is also strong evidence to indicate that the behaviour of young people will determine not only their own present health but also “...their subsequent health in adult life and the health of their future children” (157).

What are the main issues involved and the main trends in this field?

We shall present them in a very brief summary: • While “in most developed and many developing countries the age group 15-24 years has relatively low mortality rates” (158), a number of health problems appear (very particularly in poorer areas or communities) in adolescence as a sequelae of: - infections and malnutrition during childhood;

- repeated cycles of diarrhoeal and respiratory disease - tuberculosis or rheumatic heart disease (159).

• Accidents account for 20% to over 60% of deaths among young people, with generally higher rates among males (160). “Accidents occur on the road, at the workplace, in sport and at home.” While many behavioural factors can contribute to accidental injury, “...it is often a combination of risk-taking (by young people) with an unsafe environment that leads to injury” (161).

• Sexual behaviour and reproductive health. While sexual behaviour -within the norms accepted by each society’s religion and culture- is considered as an important dimension of the human being and an expression of the individual’s personality development, major concerns arise from the increase in “premarital sexual activity among young people” and its possible consequences such as “contracting a sexually transmitted disease (STD) or HIV infection leading to AIDS” or the risk of unwanted pregnancy.(162) • The use of alcohol. The trends can be described as follows: 1) “Over the past 30 to 40 years increasing percentages of young people have started to drink alcoholic beverages, their alcohol consumption has increased in quantity and frequency, and the age at which drinking starts has declined.

2) Problem drinking increases with age in adolescence and is more common in males than in females” ; 3) “Distinctions that once separated cultures, sexes and social classes are vanishing as young people in developed and developing countries alike are increasingly using and abusing alcohol” (163).

• The use of drugs. Here are the trends: 1) The use of drugs, which was “...restricted to relatively small numbers of specific geographical areas has become epidemic in many Trends - Page 34

parts of the world, especially among the young”. 2) “The average age of drug users has declined in recent years and 3) ...multiple drug use has become more common” (164).

It should be added that “The injection of drugs has brought with it the new lethal health hazard of HIV infection and subsequently AIDS through the sharing of needles with infected persons” (165).

• Suicidal behaviour. The trends are as follows: 1) “...suicide rates among young people appear to be rising throughout the world in both developed and developing countries, more than in all other age groups”; 2) “In most countries suicide ranks after accidents as a leading cause of death among the young”; 3) “Young men commit suicide much more commonly than young women who, however, attempt suicide with much greater frequency” (166). Disruption of normal family relations, pressures arising from isolation, urban migration, intense competition at school, and unemployment, together with drug and alcohol dependency and mental instability have been blamed for suicides among young people. However, it appears that increased suicide rates are related with the concurrent presence of several of those factors (167).

• Intentional injury. Trends: 1) “...social violence appears to be dramatically on the rise...One indication of the spread of violent acts is homicide statistics. Data from the United States are particularly disturbing, showing that 4-5 young people under the age of 18 are murdered every day and 3-4 are arrested for murder”; 2) “Adolescents are twice as likely as adults to be the victims of crimes, and ten times more likely than the elderly.

While these statistics are notably high, they appear to reflect a worldwide upward trend” (168).

• The use of tobacco. The trends are: 1) “Tobacco use by young people is widespread in all parts of the world...and is increasing in developing countries, especially among girls. 2) At the same time, there is evidence to suggest that it is decreasing in those developed countries which have long-term smoking control programmes” (169). 3) There is strong evidence to suggest that “...by increasing the price of cigarettes by 10%, governments can reduce smoking by about 4%, on average. For teenagers, who have the most to lose from smoking, the success of this strategy is even greater: a 10% rise in the cost of cigarettes reduces consumption by an average of 10%” (170).

• Eating behaviour. Trends: 1) “In many of the poorest countries of the world, malnutrition is a result of lack of access to nutritional foods, not an inadequately balanced diet”; 2) Diet has a profound effect on general health. Thus, “Decrease in the fat, sugar and salt content

of many “modern” diets will ...have a major impact on cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and diabetes” (171); 3) “Concern about obesity is particularly acute in adolescence; (this) is demonstrated by the increasing prevalence among girls in some countries of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa” (172).

• Two concluding remarks: 1) There is strong evidence to suggest the interrelationship of problem behaviours and their close relationship with the social environment. A few examples: link between youth unemployment and stress, youth unemployment often cited as an important contributing factor in drug use and alcohol abuse, alcohol-induced violence, and many others (173).

2) Need for an integrated approach. An observation made

by WHO: “While a plethora of

REAL CIGARETTE PRICES AND CIGARETTE SMOKING AMONG CANADIANS AGED 15 TO 19 Percent

Price Index (1979 = 100) 280

50

240

40

200 30

160 120

20

80 10 Teen Smoking 0 1979

1981

1983

1985

40

Tobacco Price 1987

1988

1991

1993

0

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legislation in virtually all countries affects the lives of young people -e.g. minimum age for marriage, alcohol consumption, the purchase of cigarettes, licence to drive, age for military service, conditions for obtaining contraceptives, a termination of pregnancy, or minimum age for leaving school- it is rarely coordinated with the health of young people in mind and is often a source of conflict between the young and the authorities” (174).

7.5 LEISURE AND LIFE-STYLE OF YOUNG PEOPLE This section reviews some of the trends that are considered to be part of the “youth culture” vis-à-vis the rest of society.

• Generation gap? One point of view: “The conflict with parents so often described in western societies as the “generation gap” is perhaps more imaginary than real.

It is more common to find young people and their parents sharing the same fundamental values. The differences are likely to occur in relation to more ephemeral subjects...such as style of dress and taste in music” (175).

• Ethical questions, such as “what is human life and human dignity”? remain at the forefront of heated debates in many countries.

Others are: What are the roles, respectively, of the State and individuals in this regard? To what extent should individual decisions be regulated by law? (e.g., the pro-life/pro-choice conflict).

• Much has been written and said about the “sexual revolution” which seems to have begun towards the end of the 1960s. Here, the essential elements appear to be threefold: the desacralization of the sexual act, the assertion that “everyone has the right to pleasure “ and the use of contraception. The latter, which makes it possible to

disassociate the sexual act from procreation, has contributed in no small measure to a much greater behavioural freedom. For all that, the sexual revolution affects different countries and different sociocultural backgrounds in very different ways, and it is clear that the anonymity and lack of restraint of an urban culture encourage a freer approach on many accounts, including sex.

• Is romantic love making a comeback? It has been mooted that, because of AIDS, sexual behaviour is turning more to loving tenderness rather than loving sex, but without data to work on, it is difficult to know. To complicate the issue still further, recent surveys have shown that young people tend to mix up “love, desire, pleasure, tenderness, sex, flirting, seduction” and so on, which casts some doubt on the findings of such inquiries (176).

• For many industrial countries, it is only to be expected that homosexuals will step up their claims for recognition of their rights, both individually and as organized groups, especially as they constitute a sizeable economic force (177).

• Leisure. There are two trends here: youth culture is becoming increasingly commercial and entertainment is becoming more passive (178). These, together with peergroup pressure, produce a move towards conformity, promoting the image of fashionable things to do in order to be “with it”.

“Massification” is the name that sociologists have given to this trend towards passivity and conformity.

It is worth noting, however, that sport and music are still reported as being favourite leisure pastimes for young people in several national surveys.

• The consumer society. Many of the above-mentioned trends appear within the context of what has

been called the “consumer society”. We have already drawn the attention of the reader on the challenge it presents for young people: for those in the affluent North (passivity and lack of creativity) and for those in the deprived South (behavioural patterns which do not match with the capabilities of countries to satisfy them, thus creating frustration and resentment).

In conclusion: One, it is impossible to draw a clear dividing line between young people and the rest of society.

Many of the trends mentioned above are present in society as a whole and influence the attitudes and behaviour of young people to a lesser or greater extent. Two, no assurance can be given that any of these trends has a worldwide impact, and it is up to each country to examine whether and how they influence its society.

7.6. SOME AVENUES FOR FURTHER RESEARCH First of all, a general observation on the acquisition of values: socio-psychological studies have shown that young people cannot be “taught” values by adults. They have to experience them with adults. Such a joint apprenticeship with committed adults enables young people to live an adventure and to transform their dreams into reality. “Social science researchers firmly believe that the development of the adolescent is assisted by an increased involvement in responsible, task-orientated activities outside the home, which bring him or her into contact with adults other than their parents” (179). Since this is an area in which Scout educational method amply reinforces studies on the importance of young people’s participation, it merits further and fuller consideration (180).

• In this respect, the importance of the role of NGOs of all types and particularly grass-root level organizations, cannot be overemphasised. They play a very important role in the effort of associTrends - Page 36

ating young people and involving them in the decision-making process in their own communities. This has proved to be essential in such varied fields as environmental awareness, community involvement and development education. The question is: has this role been fully recognized? The NGOs in general acknowledge their duties towards the community but they need community support to operate successfully!

QUESTIONS RELATED TO SECTION 7

• It has been assessed clearly that “Much of the burden for healthenhancing behaviour falls on the adolescent or youth themselves, who must increasingly take, and act upon, decisions of an educational, vocational and personal nature with major health consequences for the present and future” (181). Hence: the need to help young people make ethical choices and to relate present behaviour with long-term health

consequences.

• Although AIDS is a worldwide problem, research efforts are undertaken nationally - and one may quite legitimately wonder why. Competition being the golden rule of our economic system, each country wants to defend its own markets, but is this acceptable in such a serious and urgent situation? Would it not be better to pool knowledge and resources from many countries?

• How can youth movements help adolescents in their transition to adult life? What type of life-skills are useful in today’s world?

• The young are looking for a meaning to life: meaning of happiness, self, others, life in society, civic or political commitment, the Absolute. How can Scouting help them in their search?

• Lots of young people are looking for a social commitment which will give them a feeling of being of service to their communities. Can Scouting, as it is practised in the Scout Associations, offer a firm ground of commitment to develop a spirit of service?

• With regard to health matters, it has been said that “adolescent behaviour sets the pattern for adulthood”.

What type of patterns should Scout leaders set their groups concerning drinking, eating behaviour, smoking, etc.?

• In many countries, violence - in cities, in schools, etc.

- is part of everyday life. What can Scouting offer in this respect? to the young? to the community?

• Here is a remark that a young man made during a round table discussion: “The sociologists said we were going to have a society of leisure, but what we’ve got is a society of anxiety”. What can we say in reply?

What can Scouting offer him?

You will find at the end of this document, in the section entitled “QUESTIONS AND CHALLENGES FOR SCOUTING”, other general questions concerning the role and the function of Scouting in society.

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8. MASS-MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION: IMPACT ON YOUNG PEOPLE

8.1 EXTENT AND IMPORTANCE If there is one change which symbolizes progress and the cult of performance and speed, which are keyfactors in understanding the times we live in, it is taking place before our very eyes in the field of telecommunications. As Ignacio Ramonet has observed: “... under the effect of all these thousands of information networks which transmit, in real time, millions of data and statistics from all over the world and which interconnect telephones and computers, television screens, printers and fax machines, the world seems to be in the grip of an “agony of information” (182).

And this phenomenon is affecting us all. “Throughout the world, in developed as in developing countries, the mass-media exert an increasingly powerful influence on people’s attitudes and behaviour. With recent advances in telecommunications, the media have become even more pervasive, so that scarcely a corner of the world is untouched” (183).

Indeed, the mass media’s impact is so strong that even UN agencies have realized that movie stars can serve as “Goodwill Ambassadors” on their behalf to draw the public’s attention to the dramatic living conditions of many of the world’s trouble spots.

Many research papers and articles have stressed the need for public opinion to critically examine the interconnection between transnational corporations in different fields, including mass media control. It is obvious that multi-media empires with industrial and commercial interests are not neutral and that, because of their enormous power, their influence can be very positive or very negative (184).

8.2 MASS-MEDIA AND SOCIETY: A FEW PERTINENT QUESTIONS The whole question of the mass media’s relationship with society has raised a number of issues (and prob-

lems), some of which are discussed below. The selection is, of course, far from exhaustive.

• Is television a factor of the world’s intelligibility? Yes, to the extent that it provides information, but television does not “provide an organized and structured view of the world” (185).

For the communication experts, we are over-informed but often disorientated. To counteract this, it has been suggested out that events reported in the news bulletins should also be given coverage in magazine programmes to place them in a more global context. The role of schools, youth organizations and NGOs in helping the public to digest the news has also been mentioned.

(See also 8.4, Some avenues for further research.)

• The public’s emotional reaction to television. The pictures presented by the mass-media, particularly television, can have a tremendous emotional impact on public opinion and viewers’ approval or indignation can become very forceful in a positive or negative manner which, if it falls into unscrupulous hands or is manipulated purely for commercial ends, can cause considerable havoc.

The most blatant exploitations of this emotional response are the reality shows which, under various names, are screened on practically every channel and every continent. The producers claim they are providing a social service because the public has a right to information, but in actual fact the reality show is an entertainment. “Reality shows distort the facts to make a drama” and in the USA it has been estimated that “...

50% of network prime time movies these days are breathless dramatic rewrites of yesterday’s headlines” (186). The communication experts point out that “family relationships are being turned into Trends - Page 38

commodities” and that reality shows “... stem from narcissism and nombrilism ... because no attention is given to what happens in the person‘s social environment”.

Be that as it may, the popularity of these reality shows is reflected in the ratings and explains their not inconsiderable commercial success.

• Is television a culturally enriching or impoverishing factor? This being an area where opinions are very divided, it would probably be unfair to reply “yes” or “no”. The experts have pointed out that the quarrel between public television and private television is more or less a thing of the past because most countries have now come to the conclusion that pluralism is the answer. However, where the existence of several channels means that audience competition is fierce, we may legitimately ask whether programme content does not become standardized and, therefore, culturally impoverished as a result.

It goes without saying that this is a question for national appreciation, since it clearly falls outside the scope of a global document such as this.

• Viewer behaviour. The same question (cultural enrichment or cultural impoverishment) can be examined from the point of view of the viewer. Studies in various industrial countries have reported that, following the advent of remote control devices, there is now a new type of viewer known as the zapper, who grazes from channel to another (187). Obviously, this is also an impoverishing factor, but here it is not the fault of the transmitter!

The following are two of the many explanations that have been advanced: “the life-span of a news

item is much shorter than it was ...”(188) and children’s attentionspan is less than it was, sometimes no more than a 5-minute video-clip. Because the two are probably linked, some authors have spoken of the “generation of the glance, the instant, the emotion” (189).

• Media and cultural colonialism. Thanks to satellites, the developing countries can receive television programmes from the industrial North, whose way of life has little in common with local reality. For example, consumer patterns are presented that are incompatible with the needs for development, but they raise expectations which, being impossible to satisfy, cause increasing frustration, especially among young people (190).

• What are the values conveyed through TV? It is difficult to give a global answer, but here are some indications: - “Drinking is seen as a way of appearing to be adult, a view which may be encouraged by the example of older family members and media idols” (193).

- “The heroes of youth are generally found in the world of entertainment and sport, seen and heard throughout the world across language and cultural barriers. While many popular idols set a good example for young people, those who use drugs are given wide publicity” (194).

-

“Advertising is one very important aspect of the media.

Examples abound of commercial interests promoting unhealthy products, particularly tobacco and alcohol, at times through questionable exploitation of spuriously attractive lifestyles” (195).

-

“In addition, the same unhealthy products are often promoted through the sponsoring of sporting and cultural events. The media can also glamorize unhealthy and risky behaviour, exploiting the dreams of young people and glorifying violence and irresponsible sexuality” (196).

8.3 IMPACT ON YOUNG PEOPLE • Teenage viewing. Statistics from the USA show the following: “Thirteen to eighteen year old average 3.1 hours of TV viewing each weekday and 5.9 hours on the weekend; young teens (1315) watch significantly more TV than older teens (16-18) (Source: Management Horizons) (191). By the time a young person turns 18, he or she will have spent almost two years of his/her life in front of the tube. In other words, by age 18 he/she has spent: 17,000 hours watching television; 11,000 hours at school; 1,160 hours at the movies (Source : Première) (192). Even if these statistics cannot be extrapolated, they do point to a trend which is valid in many industrialized countries - namely, young people spend more time watching television than they do in the classroom.

• It should also be emphasized that the proliferation of TV games and competitions, some of them offering large sums of money as prizes, cannot fail to reinforce the growing taste for games of chance in society as a whole and the lure of easy money (see also 7.5 above).

• However, mass-media and especially TV can also be very posiTrends - Page 39

tive instruments in the education of young people. A few examples: -

-

Young people need positive role models. “Prominent public figures, whether sporting, political, religious, artistic have a significant impact on young people’s attitudes and behaviour... Responsible media can reinforce the positive image of such individuals” (197).

Mass media can promote positive values and responsible citizenship, harmony between communities and solidarity with the rest of the world through attractively presented educational programmes and a real and effective partnership between media and other sectors of society: health professionals, youth leaders, NGOs, grassroot level community organizations, and so on.

examine avenues for research on matters as varied as the transformation of the industrial civilization, the electronic revolution, information techniques, biotechnology and all the changes that are taking place in politics, the art of warfare, and international relations.

Understanding this “cultural world” where the very concept of “reality” is evolving thanks to the synthesis images which create “virtual reality” out of nothing - will be a tremendous challenge for educators on the eve of the 21st century (201) for its impact on formal education will be both significant and far-reaching (202).

8.4 SOME AVENUES FOR FURTHER RESEARCH Marshall McLuhan’s “global society of information” is already a reality.

Some find it worrying, others are enthusiastic. Either way, it is a social reality which commands attention, hence the need to explore its possibilities and its dangers to the full.

These have been presented by the futurologist Alvin Toffler, in his latest book “Powershift”, whose theme is “the creation of a new system of power, which is in the process of replacing that of the industrial past” (198). It is a “system of creating totally unprecedented wealth, based on knowledge and communication, which establishes strongholds of power all over the world” (199). Over and above the power stakes, Toffler gives us a “... global image of a new civilization whose presence takes on planetary proportions” (200).

It is in such a context that we must

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QUESTIONS RELATED TO SECTION 8

• The powerful effect of the mass-media, particularly TV, has raised a number of concerns. Are we always aware of the media’s impact ? Do we evaluate their possibilities and dangers objectively?

• The right to unrigged, unbiased, honest information requires civic awareness. What can we do to promote the latter? What is the role of the school, the associative world in general and Scouting in particular in developing the capacity of youth to judge and decide for themselves?

• Radio and television can point the way to knowledge and maturity. They can also be disruptive influences.

How can we help young people to choose intelligently?

• Do television programmes and computer games cut short the dialogue between parents and children or can they contribute to it? And to what extent?

• Television has been accused of encouraging passivity and conformity among young people. Is this true? If so, what sort of active and intelligent pastimes can be suggested instead?

• Young people are surrounded by obtrusive advertisements urging them to buy without thinking. How can we teach them that they can avoid being lured into the publicity trap?

• Helping young people to handle new devices and equipment encourages them to become more independent and self-confident. What can Scouting do to help them familiarize themselves with technical innovations?

You will find at the end of this document, in the section entitled “QUESTIONS AND CHALLENGES FOR SCOUTING”, other general questions concerning the role and the function of Scouting in society.

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THIRD PART: SPECIFIC ISSUES CONCERNING WOMEN 9. SPECIFIC ISSUES CONCERNING WOMEN

9.1 INTRODUCTION Practically every book dealing with the future contains a chapter on women. John Naisbitt, for example, has chosen an eloquent title: “The 1990s: Decade of Women in Leadership” (203) and Thierry Gaudin an even more eloquent one, “The Century of the Woman”, (204) while “Future Vision” ranks women as the first “changing force of influence” in the USA in the 1990s (205).

As we have already seen, women play a very important role in all of the areas that have been examined in the present document - population, family, education, etc., to name only a few. However, it is felt that, in the light of the specific problems women encounter and the discrimination and/or marginalization they experience in certain countries and cultures, in both the industrial and developing worlds, a separate section should be devoted to their needs and concerns. This will make the presentation more coherent and avoid repetitions.

9.2 WOMEN AND FORMAL EDUCATION The current trends emerging from UNESCO’s “World Education Report 1991” may be summarized as follows: • “The majority of the world’s outof-school youth is female ...”.

• “In most regions, girls are underrepresented in enrolments at every level of formal education ...”.

• However, “over the last two decades, the gap between male and female enrolment ratios in firstlevel education markedly narrowed in sub-Saharan Africa, the Arab States and Southern Asia”.

• “At the second and third levels ... there was not the same narrowing; still, the enrolment ratios for females relative to those for males

improved in virtually all regions and especially so at the third level in Latin America, the Caribbean, Northern America and Europe and the USSR.” • “In poor families in poor countries, boys often are given first claim on whatever limited educational opportunities are available...”

• “Drop out during the primary grades is higher for girls than for boys in a majority of the countries in Africa and Asia for which data are available.”

• The report draws three important conclusions - namely: 1) “In a global perspective, the challenge of equal educational opportunity for girls is gradually becoming less a question of access to any education at all than that of access within education to the same range of opportunities open to boys.”

2) “In a majority of developing countries, the opportunities for girls to advance beyond the first level of formal education to the second and third levels are still significantly less than for boys, although countries in the Latin American/ Caribbean region tend to be an exception to this rule.”

3) “In most of the developed countries, the broad quantitative disparities between males and females in educational access and participation have largely been removed and current debate is focused mainly on issues of socialization and the relationship between the type of education received and gender differences in labour-market opportunities” (206).

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Womens’s economic activities rates, 1990

Norway (1990) United-States (1989)

Bulgaria (1985) Ex-Soviet Union (1989)

Algeria (1987) Zimbabwe (1987)

Pakistan (1990) Philippines (1990)

Chile (1990) El Salvador (1990) 0

20

60 40 % of women active 15 years and over

80

100

Source: Census/Surveys In the industrialised countries most women are economically active. In the developing countries a large part of the labour force works in agriculture, and it often depends on cultural and social perceptions whether women’s agricultural work is considered an economic activity.

9.3 WOMEN AND WORK The “World Labour Report 1992” focuses special attention on what it describes as “the world’s largest disadvantaged group, women”.

Some of its findings are given below: • “... the proportion of women who work - who are ‘economically active’ - can vary greatly from one region and one country to another”. This is set out in the table above (207).

• In the industrialized countries, women can take up almost any type of career and are now serving in the armed forces and the police, piloting civil aircraft, etc.

According to statistics, “about 75% of women workers ... are in services, 15 to 20% in industry and around 5% in agriculture” (208).

Those who work in manufacturing are concentrated in the “wom-

en’s industries” (clothing, footwear, textiles, etc.) and “are usually on the lower rungs of the employment ladder” (209). However, in most of the industrialized countries, “the share of women among managerial and administrative workers has been rising faster than their share in total employment - particularly in the United States, Canada and Sweden”. “More women are also starting their own companies” (for example, they own 25% of businesses in the United States), but they “... do not usually make it to the top of large corporations” (210).

• In eastern Europe and the former USSR, the noticeable trends were the high rates of female participation for some decades and the very poor degree of access to top managerial positions.

• In the developing countries, “...women make up a smaller proportion of the official labour force (31%) than they do in the industrial countries (40%). But many women actually work in the informal sector unseen by many collectors of statistics. Indeed, during periods of recession and structural adjustment their numbers are believed to have gone up. As men have lost their jobs in the formal sector, women have been forced to seek informal sector employment to maintain the family’s living standards...” (211).

In some African countries, “women make up 80% of the food producers”, and in South-East Asia they “have usually been confined to repetitive assembly-line jobs in industries like electronics, food-processing, textiles and footwear” (212). “The lowest official Trends - Page 43

rates anywhere in the world are to be found in the Arab countries ... where there are considerable social, cultural and sometimes legal barriers to women working outside the home” (213).

• Working women often encounter a plurality of difficulties and disadvantages, for example: -

“... the jobs they do are more likely to be part-time, precarious and low paid”.

-

“Women ... confined to parttime work often miss out on benefits such as maternity leave as well as on opportunities for promotion”.

-

“Women in the industrial market economies are also more likely to be unemployed than men...”

-

and “... women still earn typically between 50% and 80% of men’s wages” (214).

• “In developing countries women also earn less than men, though they tend to do better in the public than the private sector.” However, “women in developing countries, whether in agriculture or in the cities, have generally fitted any work around family responsibilities” (215). In West Africa, for example, women are predominant in market trading and street vending.

• The “double burden”: As the table below shows, “if housework is taken into account, women work much longer hours than men in most parts of the world” (216).

At the heart of the problem is a cultural tradition which is firmly rooted

in many countries, industrial and developing alike: the woman’s role is not merely confined to the biological process of reproduction, it also embraces the social reproduction of the family, i.e., housework, food preparation, responsibility for bringing up the children, etc. “Men are not physically disqualified from such tasks, yet they do seem to disqualify themselves culturally” as shown by studies undertaken in such dissimilar countries as Poland, Japan and the Nordic nations (217).

To summarize, in the field of employment, women have been and are disadvantaged in certain countries and at certain times, since they can be, and are, excluded from certain types of work, passed over in favour of men for promotion, paid less for equal work, and shoulder the “double burden” of doing household chores in addition to their work outside the home.

Women’s and men’s total worktime (including housework), 1990

North America/Australia

Japan

Western Europe Women Men

East Europe and Ex-SU

Africa

Latin America & Caribb.

Asia

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Hours worked per week Source: The World’s Women 1970-1990, UN If housework is taken into account, women work much longer hours than men in most parts of the world.

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As discussed in 9.4 below, the international community has become increasingly aware of these issues and many countries have now introduced legislation to abolish the most flagrant forms of discrimination. On the other hand, suggested “positive discrimination” in the form of job quotas for women in certain fields has aroused considerable controversy in a number of countries.

Decade - the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW).

-

9.4 WOMEN'S STATUS: UNDENIABLE PROGRESS Women have been fighting for the recognition of their status at all levels and the right to participate fully in society for many years and on several fronts: political and civil rights; marital authority over women in areas such as domicile, parental responsibility, guardianship; common law marriage; divorce; protection with respect to motherhood; and, of course, the right to work (see also 9.3 above) (218).

• The international community has played a key role in promoting the status of women in three important ways: by providing a legal framework, by bringing the issue to the fore and by giving impetus to the process. Thus: -

-

-

“... the ‘equal rights of men and women’ were enshrined in the Preamble of the United Nations Charter..., establishing gender equality as a fundamental human right for the first time in history” (219).

The United Nations designated 1975 as “International Women’s Year” and convened a conference on the subject of women’s rights, as a result of which 1976-1985 was proclaimed the “United Nations Decade for Women: Equality, Development and Peace”.

Two UN bodies devoted exclusively to women were also created at the beginning of that

-

In 1979, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

This entered into force in 1981 and has now been ratified by over 100 States.

In 1985 a World Conference to Review and Appraise the Achievements of the United Nations Decade for Women was held in Nairobi, Kenya.

Delegates to this assembly adopted a project entitled “Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women to the Year 2000” whose implementation has so far been very uneven (220).

• International women’s movements whose objective is to further the cause of women (such as, for example, WAGGGS) have had an important impact in their spheres of operation.

• A number of the initiatives contained in these international declarations have found their way into national legislations. For all that, the practical implementation of the law runs into many obstacles and calls for constant vigilance.

9.5 WOMEN'S STATUS: CHALLENGES TO BE OVERCOME • Politically, women can now vote in most countries in the world, and it is perhaps worth mentioning here that, at the end of the Second World War, they were franchized in only 31 countries!

(221). For all that, there are still many practical obstacles hindering their participation in politics

and access to decision-making roles.

• The situation with regard to formal education and work has been examined in 9.2 and 9.3 above.

• “The media continue to portray the female image as an attractive feminine body whose role, even in the best of cases, is that of a man’s companion” (222).

• The violence encountered by women - be it rape, sexual harassment, enforced prostitution, the importation of girls from developing countries to industrialized countries “under the dubious cover of so-called marriage bureaux ...” (223), or the widespread distribution of pornographic films and magazines exists almost all over the world and is even on the upswing in some places.

9.6 SOME AVENUES FOR FURTHER RESEARCH • It seems clear that what is needed is a complete redefinition of the social roles of men and women. Without support and commitment on men’s part, progress will be very slow and difficult.

• Despite the remarkable legal and social progress they have made, women still have to break down an enormous amount of prejudice and preconceived ideas. This cannot be achieved “... simply by amending the law but by a slow change in outlook and mentality” (224) - a challenging task indeed as the 21st century dawns!

• As we have seen in 6.3 above, one possible way of overcoming the structural crisis of unemployment in the western world is “to consider as work (and therefore remunerated) any activity that answers a social need”. We have also seen that, generally speaking women earn less than men Trends - Page 45

which means their pensions are smaller. Therefore, should we not also accept that the work of women in the home also answers a social need - for example, their education of children? And if so, shouldn’t the value of this role be recognized and remunerated?

Human and Ecological” (227).

If we accept this hypothesis, the new orientation of culture will be detrimental to so-called “masculine” values and favourable to “feminine” ones. It is therefore a trend to be followed attentively.

• The 20th century has seen women Nobel Prize winners and women Presidents and Prime Ministers.

It has seen them triumph in such varied fields as physics and chemistry, arts and letters, philosophy, education, literature, the cinema, economics, journalism and even, in 1963, in outer space.

It is obvious that each of these achievements represents “a victory over time-immemorial prejudice” (225). It is also obvious that each of these achievements is an encouragement for women everywhere. It is high time that we focused attention on the most disadvantaged women: those who live in developing countries, in rural environments, in extreme poverty; women who work in the informal sector, women who belong to national or ethnic minorities, etc. If global progress is to be made in the next few years, it is to the plight of such women that attention should be turned!

(226).

• A move towards cultural re-orientation? Some futurologists have thought up puns to describe the present evolution in culture.

Since, in their view, today’s culture is “hyper-expansionist”, they have given it the acronym “HE”.

The new emerging culture, on the other hand, will be characterized by “... a radical change of direction involving decentralization, ecological concern and supportive human relationships globally”, and has therefore been baptized “SHE”, which stands for “Sane,

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QUESTIONS RELATED TO SECTION 9.

Throughout this section we have seen that the road to equal partnership between men and women will be long and difficult requiring long-term educational effort. In this context: • What are the challenges facing Scouting worldwide, nationally and within each national association?

• What impact will there be on the design and implementation of our programmes?

• How can we effect this equal partnership between men and women: - at grass-roots level: units, groups?

- at intermediate level: districts, departments, regions?

- at national level?

- at regional and world levels?

You will find at the end of this document, in the section entitled “QUESTIONS AND CHALLENGES FOR SCOUTING”, other general questions concerning the role and the function of Scouting in society.

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FOURTH PART: CONCLUSIONS AND CHALLENGES 10. CONCLUSIONS

Having come to the end of this presentation on trends that can have an influence on young people in today’s world, here are a few reflections by way of conclusion.

• As the Introduction emphasized, most of today’s problems are global. Whether they concern the economic situation, the price of petrol, migration, security, AIDS, drugs, the models portrayed by the mass media ... the list is endless ... they are no longer “national” or “regional” problems, even though they may affect one particular country more than another at any given time.

However, this does not absolve us from trying to solve them, because solutions exist at all levels: local, national, regional, and global. Let us take inspiration from the French ecologist René Dubos’ maxim: “Think globally, act locally”.

• If we want to change the world, we must adopt a voluntarist perspective and approach. As Gaston Berger has said: “We should invent tomorrow, not wait for it to happen” (228), to which we would add futurologist Willis W. Harman’s observation: “The future is shaped by our perceptions of the problems of the present and the actions taken in response to those perceptions” (229).

• Scouting engages young people and adults in a constructive dialogue which translates into action. The privileged instrument of that dialogue is the Scout Programme, and it is via their daily experience of the Programme that the spirit of Scouting becomes a reality for Scout units throughout the world.

At the same time, the Programme should provide an answer to some of society’s needs and the needs

and aspirations of young people.

These vary from one country to another, but basically there is the same need for autonomy, of being able to be self-reliant, of becoming the architect of one’s own development. A young person needs to discover the world, to discover himself, to test his own potential. He needs to have access to knowledge and competence, to understand the real world: what his parents do, how society actually works. He needs gradually to acquire an active role in social life and, through that role, a status and a place in society.

Such expectations (which are not always expressed in so many words but keenly felt by young people) can be vented positively or negatively. The Scout Programme contains the germ of the response to these expectations, provided it is not conceived as a package of activities and rituals inherited from the past, but as a new and regularly updated pedagogic instrument. Thus, the develop-ment of the Youth Programme is, for both the Movement as a whole and each country in particular, a crucial objective.

Faced with a situation of general disorientation, morosity and pessimism, many sociologists maintain that adults need to propose adventurous activities to young people. Scouting is well placed to undertake this role, providing it knows how to renew itself and retain the educational intuition of the Founder while also concerning itself with the problems confronting today’s youth. Is there anything more exciting than building the future? ... building it together with the young? and to join forces with them in search of a better future for humanity?

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• The Anglo-German economist, Ernst Friedrich Schumacher, whose books “Small is beautiful” and “Good work” have sold in their millions all over the world, liked to quote this passage from St John: “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going” (230).

To which he added: “Therefore, it is not in my power to make the wind that will take us to a better world blow, but I can at least hoist the sail and be ready to take advantage of it when it does rise” (231).

• The slogan of one French insurance company ran as follows: “Decide your tomorrow today” (232). In fact, there is nothing “magical” about being on the threshold of the year 2000. The future is conditioned by events and trends and our attempts to change it must begin right away!

That this has been understood by the organizers of the 1995 World Scout Jamboree in the Netherlands is clearly demonstrated by the slogan they have adopted “The future is now” (233).

And that future presents a great challenge to those who have chosen to become educators of youth within the Scout Movement. How can this be summed up in one single phrase? We need look no further than the Founder’s “Last Message”: “Try and leave this world a little better than you found it” (234).

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QUESTIONS AND CHALLENGES FOR SCOUTING

The following questions have been drawn up as a complement to those given at the end of Sections 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. They can be used for individual or collective consideration at various levels in each country: local, regional and national level. They can also be used internationally for a seminar or a meeting. This is why they have been deliberately couched in very general terms, deeper study being left to each person or group and their use to the context required (a General Assembly, a National Council, a seminar, a meeting of the National Programme Committee, the National Training Committee, etc.).

1. If the situation (at world level, in your country) is as described in this document: what type of Scouting would help you to find solutions to the different aspects of this situation?

2. With the rapid changes in present day society, youth cannot “reproduce” the society of their parents.

How can Scouting help them build a society which is closer to their ideal and their need of an ideal?

3. How can the Scout Programme help young people: - to become autonomous?

- to become the architects of their own development?

- to maintaining their free, personal commitment to the values contained in the Law and the Promise?

- to develop physical, intellectual, social and spiritual capacities harmoniously?

- to feel responsible towards themselves, towards others and towards their communities?

4. With regard to the adults in the Movement: - are they living testimonies of the Scout ideal?

- do they personally enact the Movement’s values in their daily lives?

- are they attentive to young people’s needs? do they listen to them? question them? help them to find answers to their questioning and requests? are they committed to a relationship of confidence and trust with them?

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5. Are Scout Associations models of democracy and open-mindedness themselves?

- is the voice of youth duly recognized and represented?

- do women hold positions commensurate with their numbers and importance in the Association?

- do the sectors which look after the under-privileged or the marginalized (the handicapped, street children, etc.) receive the necessary attention?

- do the structures, systems and attitudes reflect a spirit of dialogue?

- does communication flow? Can each voice, particularly discordant ones, make itself heard?

6. What are the relationships between Scouting and

society?

- does the Association operate like a “ghetto” or is it “open-minded”?

- are analyses made from time to time of the society, its institutions, the values it portrays? what practical consequences emerge from the findings? are they applied?

7. A look towards the future - does the Association think about the future? does it prepare it? how?

- are there any concrete plans? have they been drawn up with the involvement of different sectors of the Association (or at different levels)?

- if someone from outside looked at your Association, what impression would he have? does the Association have a sense of purpose and hope? or does it live from day to day?

8. Please think about all these questions and about your answers. How could your answers tie in with the

Strategy for World Scouting?

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(1)

Ignacio Ramonet, article “Un Monde à Reconstruire”, in dossier “Nouvel Ordre, Rebellions, Nationalismes”, Le Monde Diplomatique, Mai 1992.

(2)

John Naisbitt, “Megatrends, Ten new directions transforming our lives”, Warner Books, New York, 1984. p. xxxi et xxxii.

(3)

Baden-Powell, The Scouter, March 1939, in Mario Sica, “Footsteps of the Founder”, Editrice Ancora Milano, Milano, 1984, p. 151.

(4)

“Resolutions of the World Scout Conference 1922-1990, Supplement”, World Scout Bureau, Geneva, 1990, p. 139.

(5)

“Resolutions of the World Scout Conference 1922-1990, Supplement”, op. cit., p. 141 and 143.

(6)

Alvin Toffler, “Future Shock”, Pan Books Ltd., London, 1970, p. 11.

(7)

Albert Ducrocq, “Le futur aujourd’hui, 1985-2000", Ed. Plon, Paris 1984, p.8.

(8)

Melvin Seeman “On the meaning of alienation”, American Sociological Review, No. 24, December 1959, p. 783-791, quoted in: Leonard Broom and Philip Selznick “Sociology, a text with adapted readings”, Harper and Row Publishers, New York, Evanston and London, p. 481.

(9)

(10)

(11)

Article “UNICEF alarmed over transition” in Development Forum, Vol. 19 No. 6 and Vol. 20 No. 1, November 1991-February 1992, p. 1 and 18.

UNICEF, “The State of the World’s Children 1992” section “Summary of the issues”, published for UNICEF by Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. no indication of page.

United Nations Population Fund, (UNFPA) “The State of the World Population”, New York, 1992, p. iii.

(12)

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(13)

United Nations Population Fund, (UNFPA), Press Dossier: “The State of the World Population 1992”, op. cit., p. 1

(14)

United Nations Population Fund, (UNFPA) “The State of the World Population”, op. cit., p. 16, and Dossier “Impact of Population Growth on Nutrition”, in “Nutrition, the Global Challenge”, International Conference on Nutrition, World Health Organization (WHO) and Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), Rome, Italy, p. 8.

(15)

United Nations Population Fund, (UNFPA) “The State of the World Population”, op. cit., p. 21.

(16)

United Nations Population Fund, (UNFPA) “The State of the World Population”, op. cit., p. 20.

(17)

United Nations Population Fund, (UNFPA) “The State of the World Population”, op. cit., p. 19 and 20.

(18)

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(19)

Eric de la Maisonneuve, dans sa critique du livre de Pierre Lellouche “Le nouveau monde, de l’ordre de Yalta au désordre des nations”, in Revue Futuribles, No. 168, Septembre 1992, p. 57.

(20)

Ignacio Ramonet, article “Palestine”, in Le Monde Diplomatique, Octobre 1991, p. 1.

(21)

Eric de la Maisonneuve, op. cit. p.

58.

(22)

Eric de la Maisonneuve, op. cit. p.

58.

(23)

René Passet , article “Mérites, mythes et limites de la rigueur”, et Edgar Morin et Anne-Brigitte Kern, article “Vivre l’Europe en confédération”, dans Le Monde Diplomatique Novembre 1991, pages 12 and 13.

(24)

Melvin Seeman, “On the meaning of alienation”., op. cit., p. 481.

(25)

Eric de la Maisonneuve, op. cit. p. 58.

(26)

Alec Feuz, “Temps Présent”., TSR, 15 Octobre 1992.

(27)

Bernard Kouchner, “L’heure de vérité”, France 2, 14 Février 1992.

(28)

Article “Les périls du droit d’ingérence humanitaire”, Cornelio Sommaruga, Président du CICR, “La Tribune de Genève”, 4 Février 1993.

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(29)

“Human Development Report 1992”, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford, 1992, p. 35.

(30)

“Human Development Report 1992”, op. cit., p. 34.

(31)

Stephen Smith “Des 'guerres par procuration' aux guerres africaines?” in “L’Etat du Monde 1992”, Edition La Découverte, Paris, 1991, p. 592.

(32)

“Human Development Report 1991”, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford, 1991, p. 25 and 14.

(33)

“Human Development Report 1991”, op. cit., p. 14.

(34)

Gilbert Rullière, “La croissance soutenable” in “Journal de l’Année, edition 1992”, Ed. Larousse et Le Monde, Paris, 1992, p. 238-240.

(35)

“Human Development Report 1991”, op. cit., p. 14.

(36)

“Human Development Report 1991”, op. cit., p. 1.

(37)

Rapport au Conseil Economique et Social, Rapport du Secrétaire Général à la session de fond de 1992 “Renforcement de la coopération internationale pour le développement: rôle du système des Nations Unies”, E/1992/82/ Add.1, 26 Juin 1992, page 5.

(38) (39)

(40)

(41)

UNESCO, DG/Note 92/35, 11 December 1992.

Rapport au Conseil Economique et Social, Document E/1992/47, Rapport du Secrétaire Général “Coordination des Politiques et Activités des Institutions Spécialisées et Autres Organismes du Système des Nations Unies” A/ 46/454, tableau 2.

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