Youth and the Challenges of the Modern World
YOUTH AND THE CHALLENGES OF THE MODERN WORLD
INTRODUCTION
For a discourse as this, it is pertinent to define who a youth is. There are several varying opinions concerning this matter as different definitions exist.
In Africa, like developed countries, nations draw a line on youth at the age at which a person is given equal treatment under the law. This age is often eighteen years in many countries and once a person passes this age, they are considered to be an adult. However, the actual definition of the term youth often varies from country to country. While for the United Nations General Assembly and the World Bank, youth are those persons falling between the ages of 15 and 24 years; for the Commonwealth youth is the age bracket between the ages of 15-29 years. For countries, the age could be extended to 35 years and that obtains in Nigeria. This is the age bracket we will work with, 15 to 35 years.
We can however also define youth as the period of development and growth.
CHALLENGES FACING YOUTH
Irrespective socio-political systems and race, it has become quite glaringly obvious that the modern youth is up against challenges that never existed in the past. News headlines like, ‘Youth in turmoil’, ‘Unrest among youth’, ‘Youth in revolt’, ‘Suicide rate among youth increase’ are not just journalistic inventions but a reflection of the state of modern society. Young people today are exposed to an all-round erosion of values and the wreckage of their dreams. They have been influenced by the philosophies of ‘individualism’ and ‘existentialism’, lessons they learnt not at any formal training class, but from the society they were born into. Deprived of the opportunity to develop intel¬lectually, many suffer from the problem of subjective isolation and estrangement. The cream of the country, the youth finds itself uncared and un-solicited for. It is under these trying and turbulent circumstances that we find in a country like ours a proliferation of crimes
INTRODUCTION
For a discourse as this, it is pertinent to define who a youth is. There are several varying opinions concerning this matter as different definitions exist.
In Africa, like developed countries, nations draw a line on youth at the age at which a person is given equal treatment under the law. This age is often eighteen years in many countries and once a person passes this age, they are considered to be an adult. However, the actual definition of the term youth often varies from country to country. While for the United Nations General Assembly and the World Bank, youth are those persons falling between the ages of 15 and 24 years; for the Commonwealth youth is the age bracket between the ages of 15-29 years. For countries, the age could be extended to 35 years and that obtains in Nigeria. This is the age bracket we will work with, 15 to 35 years.
We can however also define youth as the period of development and growth.
CHALLENGES FACING YOUTH
Irrespective socio-political systems and race, it has become quite glaringly obvious that the modern youth is up against challenges that never existed in the past. News headlines like, ‘Youth in turmoil’, ‘Unrest among youth’, ‘Youth in revolt’, ‘Suicide rate among youth increase’ are not just journalistic inventions but a reflection of the state of modern society. Young people today are exposed to an all-round erosion of values and the wreckage of their dreams. They have been influenced by the philosophies of ‘individualism’ and ‘existentialism’, lessons they learnt not at any formal training class, but from the society they were born into. Deprived of the opportunity to develop intel¬lectually, many suffer from the problem of subjective isolation and estrangement. The cream of the country, the youth finds itself uncared and un-solicited for. It is under these trying and turbulent circumstances that we find in a country like ours a proliferation of crimes