Thursday 10 April 2014

Modern Teen Debate: Is Our Generation Under Threat?

Every so often, there comes a time - or rather a life-changing epiphany, which sparkles as brightly as my Tiffany-lookalike jewelled necklace - when my blood boils with a heart-pounding rage after catching wind of something which brings home a profound, unignorable meaning to me, which continues to persist in my thoughts until I can no longer bear to hold my beliefs inside for a moment longer. Call it a burning desire of some sort (when will I break my instilled habit of making references to Lana Del Rey's songs) because, like a fireplace warming one's knuckles during the midst of a cold-as-Ben-and-Jerry's-ice-cream winter, my heart burns with the anger of having something which I hold very dear under threat which, no matter how hard I attempt to focus my attention on a stress-free object, eventually needs to be addressed. And, as you will learn in a moment, the current subject of my blood pressure-rising fury will probably strike you like a bullet piercing the skin, draining you of all your faith in what controls the most meaningful thing which we humans cling to for dear life: our futures.

Thinking about life in five, ten or even a quarter of a century's time is a fair funny thing, I haste to add because I continue to find it an immense struggle to imagine myself - this teenage girl who has spiralled herself into a mess whilst trying to figure out a way to live a happy, yet not entirely spot-free existence - passing beyond the seemingly relentless realms of adolescence and morphing into an adult which, despite the fact that it will eventually occur in a mere few years' time, strikes me as one of the many daydreams which my imaginative self is prone to doing on a dull summer day. Although I haven't entirely embraced the soon-to-be-a-reality truth that adulthood will overtake my ongoing stint in puberty, I nonetheless enjoy zooming a decade or so into the future to catch a glimpse of the person - or rather woman, as the term 'teenager' will no longer apply to my oh-so-grown-up self - whom I aspire to be, as I'm sure that you cannot resist doing whenever the moment takes you.

But, at the end of the day, what I must bear in mind is that I am the one who is choosing to see a beautiful, Hollywood-perfect shot of myself in a ten years' time, which needn't count as an accurate indicator of what is likely to occur within that time period. Instead of facing up to the more probable possibility of squeezing every penny out of monthly wages - or, if the unemployment levels suddenly rocket sky high, receiving a salary which would cover all of the money-draining bills would be out of question - and waiting until middle age or even later to take my first baby steps onto the property later, I'm still at an age where indulging in the satisfying fantasy of marrying a royal prince or becoming the first woman to eradicate the poor nations of hunger counts as a potential possibility, though these dreams are slipping further and further away as I get older. The reason why? Our generation - the ones whom will certainly take control of the government and our parents' job one day in the distant future - is under terrible threat and, despite making countless attempts to get our voices heard, nobody will listen to our cries.

Before you immediately assume that I've gotten the wrong end of a pointy witch's broomstick, let me refresh your mind with the recent figures on youth unemployment in the United Kingdom (a.k.a. my native country): according to statistics released on the Parliament website last month, 912,000 youths (aged 16 to 24) are unemployed, which counts as a fifth of youths able to work in the entire country. This means that every one in five of youths don't have a job which, considering that the economy is 'supposedly' returning to normal and life's basic necessities - such as housing, bills, food, to name a few - are continuing to rise at a rapid pace, is crushing news. I was almost lost for words when I stumbled across the figures a while ago because, despite realizing the unemployment is still a massive problem in my country - and throughout the world nonetheless - I hadn't realized how badly it is affecting younger people who, if given an opportunity to hone their skills and fulfill their ambitions, could give so much to society, yet I'm always given the impression that youths are immediately shunned by their elders which breaks my heart so tragically.

Since thousands of young people participated in the London Riots across the country in the summer of 2011, I feel that people have lost faith in our generation because the very worst of us ruined the honest, hard-working reputation which we have relentlessly worked on achieving for years, which has all but destroyed most of my faith in the political system. If the government had cut short their traditional summer holidays in order to sort out the riots which plagued many parts of the country into a heated, criminal madness, perhaps part of our image could have been salvaged from the flames which burnt years' of hard work and an honest living for the poor victims of the riots, whose shops and lives were deeply affected by several yobs' vile actions. But, even if the riots had never taken place, I don't think that it would have made much of an influence on what is threatening our generation like a deadly bout of the Spanish plague: the lack of a good education.

Unless you come from a wealthy background and are in a much-envied position to afford all costs on obtaining the most elite education, this paragraph needn't apply to you, but to those youths whose education solely relies upon the government - otherwise known as a state education. From the first day we attend playgroup or nursery to the moment we wave farewell to our last shift at work before retiring, our lives always include education as a main and vital feature in whatever we do, whether it involves dozing off in Mrs Parker's dull-as-wall-paint maths class or conjuring ideas which could land you a hefty promotion in the office. But what happens if the basic foundation of education is not nurtured like a budding flower in the early years of life - when we reach an age where learning becomes an important focus - which could take us down a path of hardship, struggle and disappointment?

Achievement becomes harder than ever to obtain if we are never exposed to such an uplifting joy at a young age, and it leaves a trail of failure from which we may not entirely avoid throughout our lives. Staying true to our nature, we humans have a tendency to point the finger of blame towards ourselves if something terrible - for example, failing to pass a vital exam heavily affects our self-esteem - occurs, but sometimes we must remind ourselves that we are not always the ones at fault. If our place of education isn't up to the ideal standard, what kind of chance do we stand in fulfilling our ambitions?

Upon searching for local secondary schools since moving to my new home, I have been inundated with numerous results for schools which could potentially offer me a place, yet I have often felt disheartened at the poor selection because of one single detail: the ratings. In England, there is an education authority known as Ofsted who are in charge of rating all of the schools in the country and indeed have the power to shut any underperforming schools down, or convert them into independently-run academies, and it is because of their four-grade ratings - '1 - excellent' is the best you could achieve, whilst '4 - inadequate' immediately signals alarm bells - that I have almost spat my sip of 7Up onto the laptop in pure shock at the results staring in front of me.

Although I'm rather fortunate to reside near several popular and well-graded schools, the rest on offer are ones which I would never dream of attending in a million years', yet there is often a lack of choice for certain people who must make do with what is offered to them. How fair is it to send your child to a school which could significantly affect their learning and rob them of their chances of succeeding in working life? It angers me that these inadequate schools are allowed to carry on teaching hundreds - or, in a few urban areas, thousands - of students because every pupil is entitled to fair and highly satisfactory education, which could give them the perfect start to pursuing whatever they wish to do once their education finishes. Education is priceless, and I wish that the government and the education authorities would stop draining our country and youth of an opportunity which needs to be fulfilled.

If you believed that my rant on school education had reached an end, I'm sorry to prove you wrong because there is yet another dangerous threat hot on our heels, which has already unleashed its poison upon thousands of students in recent years: university fees. As I intend to pursue a career in journalism, attending university doesn't stand out as a massive must because one's skills doesn't necessarily have to be proved by a diploma - newspapers can automatically sense one's writing ability by what they write, so I'm not entirely bothered about going through the once-in-a-life-time university experience.

However, it concerns me that, during a time where the economy is still trying to find its feet and the majority of the population are experiencing money-related issues, students in England are being cornered into having to splash out at least £9,000 per year at most universities. Since when should we have to pay such a ridiculously high amount in order to gain an education? I recognize that taxpayers needn't be burdened by excessive fees, but universities shouldn't raise their eyebrows in surprise if students fail to pay back the interest on their loans, let alone the fees themselves. And, as the current figures of youth unemployment prove, obtaining a good degree at university doesn't necessarily guarantee at a job afterwards, which not only leaves yet another person out of work, but with massive debts which they will struggle to pay off.

At a time where education could be the only shining light in younger people's eyes, the government leave us with no other choice than to turn away from our last glimmer of hope because too few of us are blessed with hundreds of thousand pounds in our back accounts. There are many other things which could cause more damage for generation which I won't even go into, but I think that I have made my point crystal clear: without hope, younger people are left with the remains of the faith we used to place into the powers above us, who fail to treat us with the dignity and respect we rightfully deserve. A part of myself still clings to the hope of a miracle occurring, but that hope diminishes day by day as it becomes apparent that there is no visible way out of the doom which is closing in on our generation.

Will life settle itself in time before the prospect of looking for a job and entering the 16-24 sector becomes a reality, or is it a fantasy taken too far? Like yourself, I hope that I don't join the list of unemployed any time in the future. Let's pray that unemployment becomes a thing of the past for everybody.

No comments:

Post a Comment