Young people and society

Young people and society

INTRODUCTION

Young people are a very important part of our society. Many people underestimate them. They take a huge part in the cultural transformation of our country. They are also a big contribution for the country, since they are the cornerstone of a beneficial economy. They are revolutionary,free, independent who want to be treated as adults,criticise their parents and try to find their place in society.

Nowadays young people are more educated,experienced, self-confident and more concerned about global issues such as social, economical, ecological and financial which might be the result of their good access to modern technologies which they can’t imagine their lives without e.g. mobile phone or computer.Their are well-motivated by their dreams (they have their goals and they try to reach them) and they care about their education, career, health, family and hobbies. So they are often hard-working,trying to do their best at school, but on the other hand they enjoy their free time,doing hobbies because they realize that only relaxed and healthy people can be successful

that´s why they invest a lot in their health by doing sports and eat healthy food and many of them,especially girls are on diet.

CHARACTERISTICS OF YOUNG PEOPLE

There are two cathegories of young people:

1. TEENAGERS (from the age of 13 to 19)
2. YOUNG PEOPLE (from the age of 20 to 30)

• TEENAGERS

Appearance:

Image is for many young people really important, sometimes it expresses their opinions, attitudes to society, music, which they listen to. To them it´s a kind of self-expression and during this stage they are creating their own personality affected by famous people, idols which might be sometimes a bad example. Some of them wear clothes, which they like, feel good in and they aren’t interested in fashion trends, but some follow these fashion trends so that they want to be “in”. There are also teeneagers who create their own image and create a special group with their own ideals and opinions. They can buy brand new clothes or from second.hand shops or if they are creative and skilled enough they can sew their own clothes.

Punks wear heavily-decorated leather jackets, often adorned with metal studs, buttons, patches, pin badges and spikes. Their ripped jeans are held together by safety pins; safety pins,spiked dog collars, and razor blades are also used as jewellery. Some punks wear tight "drainpipe" jeans, plaid/tartan trousers, kilts or skirts, T-shirts, and footwear such as Converse sneakers, brothel creepers, or Dr. Martens boots.Some punks cut their hair into Mohawks or other dramatic shapes, style it to stand in spikes, and color it with vibrant, unnatural hues.

Rockers have a softer appearance than the punks, they wear torn jeans and leather jackets without pins and sneakers or boots.

The usual appearance of Gothic style is deathly pallor, backcombed long black hair, ruffled cuffs, stovepipe hats, fishnet stockings, black leather thigh boots, [and] witchy eye make-up."the ensemble accessorized with religious, magical or macabre jewellery (bone earrings, rosaries, pentacles, ankhs, skulls), typically made from silver.black velvets, lace, fishnets and leather tinged with scarlet or purple, accessorized with tightly laced corsets, gloves.

Metalists wear combat boots, studded belts and bracelets, bullet belts and black trousers and t-shirts with their favourite bands on it and have long hair usually worn loose or in a ponytail. Accessories: chains, belts, spike bands,earrings and maybe also piercing.. 

Emo style is represented by unique hairstyles. Generally emo girls sport short, black-dyed hair with colored streaks.Coming to cloth styling and accessories range of emo styling, girls generally sport short skirts with high boots or tight jeans with flat buckles. Emo Boys make a style statement in loose cargoes or tight jeans depending upon the length of their T-shirts. A tight flashy T-shirt boasting of favorite band snd hoodies.Body piercing can also be observed in emo styling.

Stakers like to wear flat hats, more colourful clothes, loose jeans, shirts and leather or textile bracelets and sneakers.

Hip-hoppers wear loose jeans and loose long T.shirts and flat hats and silver accessories that sparkle and shine.

Girls wear mostly shirts or T-shirts and jeans, especially very popular hip trousers, then skirts (it depends on the weather) and also different kinds of accessories such as earrings, bracelets, necklaces, rings, chains, belts, tattoos, but only henna tattoos, and sunglasses on the top of head, watches aren’t so necessary. Very typical for girls is also make up and dyeing of hair. Boys wear tight and lose clothes such as sweat shirts and jeans, in which they feel very comfortably. Some of them dye hair and wear earrings but only one.

Formal wear: Boys wear suits ans shirts with ties and girls dresses or costumes and skirts with smart accessories golden or silver.

Hair accessories: Banana pins, bun holders, hair clamps, hair barrettes, hair clawa, hair combc and sticks, headbands,etc.

Make-up:more significant for night or party-red lips, darker eye shadows, heavier make-up, mascara and powder. For everyday use and at school they prefer light make-up.

Also they like being fit and attractive – girls want to be slim and boys want to look fit and have strong muscles – that’s why boys often go to the fitness centre and girls are often on diets because they want to loose weight.

Qualities:

VIRTUES: Young people are very open-minded and tolerant towards other nations and cultures. They are well-educated, because they realize that only smart and educated people can be successful. They try to be independent and are very ambitious and positive about their future they are very cheerful and optimistic. They are confident, friendly and communicative so they are not afraid from the society and from making friends and meeting new people. At work or at school they can be very hard-working, industrious and flexible. Even though adults can´t see it, yes, they can be even careful, responsible,modest, obedient,attentive and self-controlled. They are helpful and caring as far as their beloved ones are concerned.

VICES:

They are going through a difficult period of their lives when their body and way of thinking starts to change what may lead to emational insecurity, they start to be more emotional, moody,quarrelsome and bad- tempered due to the awakening hormones.

Adults consider teenagers as lazy,irresponsible, selfish, disobedient, stubborn,easy-going, not sensitive enough and according to them the young don’t appreciate things. Their attitude to adults is rude, they are cheeky, they talk back and can be very nasty and noisy.

On the other hand, sometimes they are quiet, not so talkative because they feel self-conscientious

Their interests and lifestyle:

School: They spend most of their time at school or at home doing their homeworks, preparing presentations or projects, writing essays or studying in the library or at home. At this age they attend secondary grammar schools or are applying for their university studies. They try to get grant, a scholarship. Despite the lack of free time they have, they even try to work.

Part-time job:They find part-time jobs for their weekends or afternoons and also mostly they take summer jobs to earn money to buy new fashionable clothes, the newest trendy gadgets, to save money for school fees at universities or simply to have enough to go out in the evening and so they could afford to hang out with their friend and enjoy the nightlife in the city.

Free time: As you can see, they really have a little free time, so they appreciate every second of it. They can spend their time doing both active and passive leisure activities. They can take up a sport they are interested in which keeps them fit and helps them to regain energy to continue in their work or studies or they can stay at home and relax next to the computer playing games, reeding books, browsing on the Internet, cooking or be creative and go in for amateur painting, drawing, dramatics or create models. Those who are keen on learning can attend computer courses or language courses to improve their skills. The most popular and common form of relaxation of the youngsters is music which influences them most through their idols who bring with their music trendy fashion, characteristic behaviour and extravagant lifestyle. Many capable and talented teenagers found a band and play music instruments or sing and dance.

Their social life: is closely connected with their interests since they spend most of their time with their friends who usually influence them at this age the most. They just go window shopping, playing darts,eat out, go bowling, have a drink, take fitness classes, clubbing to the disco,gambling on slot machines or just meet their friends and idle their time away in the anonymous crowds of people. They can also visit clubs and societies, amateur dramatic groups, debate clubs, film societies, dance clubs and special interest societies focused on e.g. Art, astronomy, local history,etc

It is important for them to get on with their friends well, to find love and be successful and accepted by the society.

Travelling: Today teenagers have more opportinities to travel abrouad which broadens our minds and horizons. However, it is not a cheap way of learning about new cultures, traditions.Not everyone can afford it, but they have a lot of opportinities to work and study abroad, to travel, earn money and study at the same time. Sometimes they go abroad only for a couple of months to gain experience, to see other cultures, meet new people and improve their language skills.

Many young people in Europe take ´time out´ or ´gap year´ after leaving school or college and before taking up their university place or starting a job training programme or career. This is the time to broaden their horizons, to experience life away from home, do new things, develop new skillsand become confident and independent. There are two european Union programmes which promote cooperation and exchanges in education and training: SOCRATES and LEAONARDO da VINCI .

SOCRATES aims to enhance European co-operation and increase access to the range of learning. It builds upon established EU programmes, such as ERASMUS (Higher Education) and LINGUA, COMENIUS(for schools), Open and Distance Learning and Adult Education.

LEONARDO da VINCI is aimed at vocational training policies and programmes through transnational placement for young trainees, young workers and university students, plus pilot projects to develop innovative approaches to the vocational training and guidance of young people. It also includes vacational training , lifelong learning, university enterprise cooperation and language skills.

Influences: At the early age they are influenced by their parents, however later due to conflicts they alienate from them and listen to their friends instead. They are also influenced by their teachers, mass media and especially by famous and successful sportsmen, singers and fashion models. Later, when they start working they are also affected by their colleagues and boss.

Voluntary jobs: Many of them work for charities and NGO´s help the disabled and homeless or collect money for starving people in Africa and join different organizations. So they are concerned about global issues, but thex feel that adults don´t listen to them. They concider them irresponsible, cheeky, rude, immature and work-shy.

Their values, dreams, ambitions and priorities

Values: They value family most, than friends, because they realize that bad relationships can poison their lives. Also everyone of us wants to be successful – at school, later at work as well as in private life. They value their hobbies, free time, health,education, global issues and experiences.

We have our dreams and wishes that we would like to fulfil. For young people it is very important to make right decisions.choosing the right partner for the whole life. Now it’s the period when the first experience with love comes. We dream about an ideal boyfriend/girlfriend who should be intelligent, good-looking and nice. They also invest in their health by doing sport and are on healthy diets, eat healthy food, because they realize that only healthy and relaxed people can be successful.

Priorities and ambitions: They have their goals and they try to reach them. I think that everyone wants to have a good job with prospects of promotion. Want to buy a house, have a car, become independent, to travel a lot and later to settle down and have family and children who he or she will be able to look after.

On the other hand, today´s youth have a more materialistic approach to life. For them money is the most important, their career. They prefer gaining luxury such as a car, a house or flat to moral principles, values, family and relationships.However, there are many exceptions. The desire and search for money can result in loneliness, depression, drug or alcohol addiction, even suicide, family break-ups, destroyed relationships between spouses,classes, colleagues and friends.

GLOBAL ISSUES: Young people at the age of 20 till 30 start to be more caring and less self-centered and are more concerned about the global problems of poverty, disease, the pollution of our environment, racial discrimination, nuclear and chemical weapons and terrorism. They organize demonstrations for peace and fight for equality. Many of them work for charities and NGO´s help the disabled and homeless or collect money for starving people in Africa. Also they are concerned about social issues such as debts, high cost of housing, living, school fees and of starting a family. Politics interest them too.

Problems that teenagers face:

At school: Even though it is the place that should have a positive and educational effect on young people, sometimes it might become the cause of their suffering and worries. There are different kinds of issues they have to cope with from peer pressure to act a certain way, bully and lack of motivation to bad sleeping habits, stress and poor self-esteem. They might have personal issues with a teacher or another student, problems at home or they just simply feel the need to please friends or other students. They can solve these problems by trying to cope with them, which might not be easy so it´s not a shame to see a psychologist

A difficult stage and bad influence: Even though these kids are raised well, during this period of their lives when they get often cross with their parents, they search for other examples and idols for them and ignore their parents´ attempts to warn them. There are lots of famous people that are bad role models promoting an unheathy lifestyle leading to slim figure which means usually to anorexia, rude behaviour, an extravagant lifestyle, and bad habits such as addiction on drugs, alcohol and cigarettes.

DRUGS: we should doa lot to warn young people aganst the risks taking drugs may have.

Drugs help the user enter the atered state of consciousness marked by positive feelings-empathy for others and extreme relaxation. It also helps to eliminate anxiety and have pain-supressing effects. They are an inevitable part of night club life. It is estimated that up to half a million young people in Britain take drugs every week. They might be seriously dehydrated which may lead to organ failure and even death because they keep dancing all night long and their bodies overheat.

Generation gap:

When the kids become teenagers, problems appear. One of them is this generation gap between kids and parents or kids and grandparents. The main reason is the dissimilar scale of priorities of both these generations.

PARENTS about children:

-are only interested in music, fashion and friends.

-don´t respect the older generation, Think they don´t need any advice.

-their kids have other opinion, ideas, fantasies or priorities.

-they complain about their awful hairstyles, clothing, music-which is deafening, behaviour-they are rude, they talk back, they are cheeky, disobediant and use bad/vulgar language

-they refuse their advice, because they are stubborn and they think they are right.

-they refuse to spend free time with them.

-don´t study enough and don´t think of their future.

TEENAGERSabout parents:

-they see them as children all the time.

-are too conservative, stick to traditions,say how different young people are today.

-they insist on their opinion and they don`t accept theirs, because they consider them to be immature and incapable to create their own views.

-are always criticising young people, don´t like their clothing, hairstyles, music their friends.

-say they are lazy, easy-going,unwilling to work hard.

Underestimate them and don´t respect their individuality.

-would be satisfied if they spent all their leisure time on studying or helping them.

-they don`t give them enough freedom, because they are worried about them.Interfere too much.

-they don`t give them enough money, because they are afraid they would spend them on alcohol, cigarettes or in the worst case on illegal substances.

Teenagers think that their parents worry too much about everything and demand too much discipline. However, they just want to protect them and give them advice since they are more experienced. They want them to be successful and happy in their lives. Young people feel this is interfering in their privacy and freedom. They feel they are limited, still treated as children. 

They often try to revolt or oppose by using various forms of protest like ignoring, doing the opposite of what is expected, telling lies, pretending obedience and respect to them. 

To find a compromise they should communicate more. Scolding children all the time is not a solution, but letting them do whatever they want is not good either.

Radical movements:Only a small number of young people join radical movements like skinheads propagating fascism, extremism, nationalism or fight against international companies like antiglobalists. These groups may become dangerous in the future but nowadays their influence on young generation is relatively small.

• YOUNG PEOPLE ( from 20 to 30)

Characteristics

Young people between twenty and thirty are a bit different. Most of them have finished school and have found a job or building up their career so they are earning a living. Their problems are different from those of teenagers. They are adults and so they have to find a place to live. Many get married, find a place to start a family so they spend their free time with them looking after children and doing household chores so they become more aware of social problems. They are more concerned about the global issues f poverty, disease, the pollution of our environment, racial discrimination, nuclear and chemical weapons and terrorism. They organize demonstrations for peace and fight for equality. Many of them work for charities and NGO´s help the disabled and homeless or collect money for starving people in Africa. Also they are concerned about social issues such as debts, high cost of housing, living, school fees, financial crisis, lack of affordable housing and of starting a family. Politics interest them too.

Frustration,worries and future plans

The popular view of young people is taht they are selfish, work-shy and uninterested in how their country is governed but in fact a new survey shows that they are conscientious, idealistic and care deeplyabout important issues, but feel they have no voice.

They are concerned citizen keenly aware of their civic duty to vote in the next general election despite their disillusionment with politics. They worry about the future of National Health Service, crime and school, not trendy ´youth´ issues such as legalizing drugs. They like to save their money, but are shouldering heavy debts.

The most intriguing findings relate to politics, where the message is that young people are alienated from politicians, but not from the issues. They claim that the main parties are so much alike that it doesn´t make much difference who is in power and that political parties have nothing to say on the really important issues. Sometimes they join a political party trying to make a difference themselves.

Almost half think that their parents´ generation has no idea what it is like to be a young adult today. They feel their grandparents are unaware of what it is to be young in the 21^st century.

They are put under pressure to get ahead in the rat race and jobs for life that their parents are used to doesn´t exist for them anymore. Their parents didn´t have to worry about finding a secure job with prespects of premotion, but today´s youth need to change jobs to boost their career prospects. Many of them leave their countries and try to find a place which encourages young people and enterprise. A decent income is what matters and many of them start their own business.

They are not very optimistic about the social preblems that never seem to be dealt with properly. We still have homeless people, the NHS doesn´t seem to work no matter how much money is thrown at it and more and more old people don´t have adequate pensions. They worry about losing their job or about ending up doing a dead-end job and try to get on the property ladder before it´s too late.

They would liek to be well educated but are not satisfied with the state of education in our country, so they often save money to go abroad.

THEIR CONCERNS IN POINTS:

• Ensuring equal rights for everyone, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, colour or religion.

• Redistributing wealth from the richest to the poorest
• Addressing the causes of global warming
• Ending globalization
• Ending the arms trade
• Increasing the amount of aid we give to developing countries
• Improving the National Health Service
• Reducing crime
• Raising standards in schools
• Improving public transport.

LOOKING FOR JOBS

Young people in their final year of compulsory education in Britain receive a Learning card which offers them a wide range of education and trainig options. Apart from Modern Apprenticeship and National Traineeship, TECs also offer a wide range of flexible opportunities to acquire NVQ´s at Level 2 and 3.

All unemployed young people between 18 to 25 may contact Employment Service advisers who will help them finding a new job. There are schemes devised for those who have been out of work for long periods who have special difficulties.

The European Social Fund makes a major contribution to vactional training. The Employment Community Initiative targets groups that have specific difficulties in the employment market. It aims to improve employment opportunities.

Another option is to become self-employed. There is a great nimber of organisationswhich offer grants like the Prince´s Youth Business Trust-helps to set up their own business by providing advice grants and loans. Its primary goal is to help people to fulfil their ambitions, improve their skills and make a real contribution to their community.

COMPARE ADULTS AND TEENAGERS!

-clothing

-qualities (more experienced, skilled, aware of social problems, etc.)

-values

-fears and frustration

-ambitions

MY FUTURE PLANS

WHO WAS I INFLUENCED BY?

YOUNG PEOPLE AND SOCIETY

Outline

1. CHARACTERISTICS OF YOUNG PEOPLE

• their appearance
• their qualities
• their lifestyle
• their interests
• their values, priorities, dreams, ambitions and attitude to different things

1. THE POSITION OF YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE SOCIETY

• their rights
• their duties
• opportinities for work, study,etc.

1. GENERATION GAP

• teenagers X adults
• solution

1. NAGATIVE PHENOMENA OF YOUNG PEOPLE´S LIVES

• drugs, violence, gambling,crime
• lack of consideration, aggressiveness, lacohol
• radical movements

1. INFLUENCES ON YOUNG PEOPLE

• What and who are they influenced by?

1. YOUNG PEOPLE AND THEIR FUTURE

• expectations
• dreams, fears and aspirations

1. YOUNG PEOPLE AND THEIR FREE TIME