A collective responsibility: The youth is the hope of our motherland

Friday, 17 June 2011 06:02

Written by Aaron Benedict De Leon

This coming Sunday, June 19th, marks the 150th Birth Anniversary of our National Hero, Gat Dr. Jose Rizal. Most of us have come to study, know and recognize Rizal’s life through his works, acts and even his love affairs.

But for the youth, Rizal has left generations that succeeded, a challenge that has forever been echoed by the older ones, that “the youth is the hope of our motherland.”

I will not try to enumerate how many times past young generations have failed to live up to this promise, nor will I try to over magnify the extent of their failure, but instead, pass on something more to those who burden us with that thought.

Has the older generation accorded opportunities and ways for us to realize that life long dream of Rizal’s? Have we been provided the resources which would hone our capacities as individuals? Have we been given the means so that we could fulfill that endless promise bestowed upon us?

The youth has forever been stigmatized as a failure in the eyes of our countrymen, yet, what most people don’t realize is the abundance of chances they get for example, to have access to universal quality education. I have no intention to pass the blame to the government, but my intent is simply premised in the fact that it should be a collective responsibility between families, the government and the private sector, to uphold that principle.

How can the youth be economically productive agents if there are too few jobs available for so many graduates and those young individuals who are currently unemployed? Again, I’m not passing the blame to the market conditions; rather, I’m more focused towards increased public-private-educational partnership which should exist in order to facilitate an environment of creating opportunities.

My idea is simple. Let’s not play the blame game as we commemorate Rizal’s heroism and just pass on responsibility without adequate support and resources. We have been treated by past generations to this kind of practice, and at this particular time, we cannot afford to follow the same path.

Concretely, the work should begin with dialogue. Dialogue is a powerful tool to connect conflicting, yet valid ideas from all sectors that have a hand in the development of our youth sector. The youth’s energies should not just be focused on antagonizing stakeholders with senseless and pointless rallies, but instead should be directed towards finding ways for the older generation to buy in to their ideals. Meanwhile, the government and in some ways, the private sector, should make themselves available not just for dialogue, but also to new thoughts and ideas, which have an encompassing interest to their own.

In crafting the educational curriculum, for example, youth groups and student sectors must only act to intervene, and not direct government agencies on what should be taught to our students, because their experience and expertise do not match their expectations.

In crafting university/collegiate guidelines on student organizations, youth associations from within the campus should be the ones primarily involved in negotiating with internal stakeholders, and not those who come from the outside spectrum. Those from the outside spectrum should only act as a consultative body, not as the direct victim.

Meanwhile, in the provision of student aids like libraries and other capital intensive technologies, the youth groups and student sectors should have the greater influence in that regard, because these things are intended for them, and not to the owners or administrators of the school. The owners/administrators must only intervene in terms of safeguarding and protecting the institution from abuse or misuse.

Our posturing and positioning in various issues is what will help us create more apt solutions that will benefit the greater constituency of the youth sector. In this regard, we are able to provide young people sufficient opportunity and regulated controls to balance their interests, talents and the rules that exist to govern their behavior.

At the end of the day, we all have a collective hand in the eventual success or failure of the youth.

We have a collective responsibility in creating and reinvigorating that hope for the youth, which may have been lost for many years now.

Now is the time, or we may never witness the hope and its realization in our lifetime, even if we are young or old, as we are now