WORKING WITH YOUNG PEOPLE
In working with young people what do you see as your role?Is it about helping young people to recognise and understand that it is notenough to just survive and that they should be aiming to be the best that theycan be? There is something in young people that is resistant to corruption andby helping young people to be true to themselves we can succeed inincreasing that resistance. People seek in life what means most to them andwe each define our purpose in life and live it accordingly. Our values shapeour actions. Young people should be helped to be free willed andautonomous, their lives should not be just about survival and recognition butabout whether their chosen path brings ultimate satisfaction.Education is not just about preparing young people to get a job but helpingthem to understand the whole purpose of life and how to free the mind frompressure, superstition and fear. Without this young people do not reach their potential. Our role should be encourage young people to do what they lovedoing instead of getting a job for security’s sake, we need to help them toopen up their minds rather than seeking conformity and the accomplishmentof society’s goals ending up acting like machines with predictable feelings andactions. The real purpose of education should be about helping young peopleto identify what they love to do. By doing what they love young people aremore content in their day to day lives, more enthusiastic which will lead tosuccess.Young people often seek celebrity, money and success, to be “someone”.Our culture glorifies ambition, achievement and therefore we are alwaysstriving for some goal which offers at the best passing satisfaction beforemoving on to anticipated source of satisfaction. This is not an intelligent wayfor young people to live because they will always be unhappy with thepresent, envious and striving….stressed! Helping young people to want lesswill lead them to be more content with what they have.Ambition involves constantly living in the future but a true vocation allowsyoung people to work in a way that is detached from the anxiety of gettingresults. Our culture is built upon competition but if young people do work thatis meaningful to them then competition is balanced with young people’s abilityand interests. We need to encourage young people to think outside of thesystem to gain inner confidence. We need to help them to remain true tothemselves not shaped by what is socially accepted or fashionable. Their focus should be on what is important to them and to improving the world theylive in rather than limiting themselves to achieving prescriptive outcomes.Young people can be encouraged to question existing ways of seeing andthinking and to develop a better awareness and understanding of their mind’s
Leave a Comment