Recent sad events and alarming statistics on the local youth front are very disturbing. This newspaper reported on its front page (May 9) that three young football players are being arraigned in court for alleged corruption. It also highlighted the never-ending warning that one third of all boys are obese.
On page three we were once again informed of the exceptional drop-outs in tertiary education in spite of the progress registered in the last two years. At a time when tertiary education in Malta is presented by the State on a glittering silver platter, with the abolition of all fees as well as a hefty stipend, the envy of every European state, this situation raises a lot of questions.
Cocooned in the soft cotton wool of luxury and hedonism , our pampered younger generation gives credence to the great Greek classical philosopher Socrates who once remarked about the opulent Athenian youths whose parents shunned work as being degrading and ignoble.
Socrates presents a dismal picture of this scenario: “Young people now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority, they show disrespect to the elderly and love chatter in place of exercise.”
By their nature youths could be very energetic and exceptionally ambitious under the tutorship of good leaders and role models
This indolence brought about the fall of Athens and later the decline and fall of Rome. When last November I dubbed our youths with the challenging indictment of “fattened bellies and undernourished minds”, I was taken to task for being very severe on our younger generation.
In fact, my recommendation to introduce some kind of compulsory military service for youths between the ages of 18 to 24 did not go down well with some readers, even though I suggested just a two-year period.
In such a milieu the adoption of moral values in our youths in a fast-changing society is the only way forward for a Maltese rebranding in which we all can play our part. Social scientists believe youths and young adults would be sufficiently prepared to meet today’s daunting moral and physical challenges if they manifest the following behavioural characteristics:
• If they develop a strong desire to move up the ladder by dint of hard work and fair play. Unfortunately we have instilled fear in the inherent values of competition and emulation obliterating any latent spark of ambition. The craze for egalitarianism has gone too far, stifling any attempt by our youths to stretch themselves, as described by poet Robert Browning in this famous line: “A man’s reach must exceed his grasp; or what’s a heaven for?”
• If they nurture the virtue to be idealistic, this resulting from the values passed on to them at an earlier age by parents and other role models in society.
• If they feel an eagerness to follow these role models.
• If they are capable of surmounting the frequent frustrations and anxieties as their idealism confronts the cold realism of today’s existence.
By their nature youths could be very energetic and exceptionally ambitious under the tutorship of good leaders and role models. In their exuberance they invariably desire to change things or situations overnight, as quickly as possible and in the shortest possible time.
It is in their nature that “they want it all and they want it now”. Endowed with these characteristics young people can be helped by present-day leaders to reduce to the barest minimum their frustrations and anxieties in society by activating a sense of motivation in order to bolster their mental strength and vigour for positive change.
School refusal and drop-outs, crime and obesity have social patterns in specific zones. It would be helpful to know the exact localities and the incidence of these realities.