Young people with values

It is a serious mistake to identify youth with violence, drugs, alcoholism and, in

general, everything negative.

Speaking of youth. I usually point out two basic mistakes that should not be made. First, fawn over

them, overcoddle them, overprotect them, simply accepting what they say and want. Plato already said

it 24 centuries ago with these words: "When parents get used to letting their children do it; when the

children no longer take into account what they say; when teachers tremble before their students and

prefer to flatter them; when, finally, young people despise the laws because they no longer accept the

authority of anything or anyone above them, it is the beginning of tyranny and the end of pedagogy".

Recently, I have participated in La Seu d'Urgell in a conference organized by the Ministry of Education

of the Generalitat of Catalonia and I had the opportunity to listen to many interventions by primary and

secondary teachers expressing their more than reasonable discomfort and concern for this way of

educating. to the new generations.

But the second big mistake is to identify the young with violence, drugs, alcoholism, partying and, in

general, with everything negative. Thus, today's young people have no values, they only think about

having fun, eating silly soup at home, where they don't even leave with boiling oil. Our young people are

individualists, without solidarity values.

I would like to dedicate these lines to this second mistake, to begin by saying that young people are the way

they are because of the society in which they grow up (individualistic and which sacralizes personal well-

being, the supreme value of the majority of the adult population), that their values They are, to a large

extent, a reflection of those of adults, that there is no youth, but young people, with very different values

from each other and, the vast majority, with values similar to the values of their own parents.

That is why, when two years ago, the Obra Social de La Caixa called me to participate in a program that had

the title of this article, I was immediately interested. The objective is to bring to light that there are also

young people with values. Through a call open to all young people in Spain, this time 921 projects were

presented, and a jury decided the four best, from among those previously selected in each autonomous

community. I myself am a member of the jury, along with three other professors, a representative of the

Spanish Youth Institute, the president of the Spanish Youth Council, a journalist, a member representing

each of the winning youth teams of the call of the previous year and a representative of the credit
institution, I can testify to the heat of the deliberations and that, in more than one case, the voice of the

young people (half of the jury) was able to overcome the gray hairs of the brainy professors. But perhaps a

brief summary of the four winning projects will illustrate better than my words. The first two, among

adolescents from 12 to 18 years old. The next two, among young people between 19 and 25 years old.

In the so-called Adapted Hiking, in Castellón, the work of 20 young people from Scout Group 377 is

promoted, who carry out nature walks adapted to older people, normally people admitted to a residence. At

the same time, the relationship between the ages, so necessary in our society, is strengthened.

The Solidarity Music initiative arises from a group of seven young people from a Tenerife institute. They

have created a music and dance group with young sub-Saharans and North Africans who arrived in Spain in

small boats and residents in reception centers, seeking to improve the levels of social integration of young

immigrants, as well as promoting mechanisms of understanding and tolerance on the part of the young

canaries towards "the other".

Another prize went to five young volunteers from the Ludàlia Foundation who, since 2005, have reached an

agreement with the Luz de Gas nightclub in Barcelona to have a space to meet the support needs of young

people with intellectual disability. Thus, some 150 young people with intellectual disabilities enjoy an

inclusive leisure option every Sunday from 5 to 8:30 p.m. to promote personal and social relationships in a

space for dance, music, expression and interaction.

FINALLY, the fourth selected project is carried out in Madrid. A group of 12 young volunteers carry out a

socio-educational project with the Alcalá-Meco Penitentiary Center.

The young people offer specific attention to some prisoners between the ages of 18 and 21: literacy

workshop, drug addiction prevention, social and labor insertion, leisure and free time, accompaniment of the

young people after their release from prison...

On Thursday, June 5, the seats of the Senate, with its president, Javier Rojo, in front, were filled with these

young people, their parents, educators, the representatives and promoters of the idea and its implementation,

and we, the members of the jury, for the awards ceremony. I barely saw a reflection of the act in the

media. Of course, no young person had attacked a teacher, his mother, or his classmate. These lines want to

testify that there are also other young people. With very positive values.

Emeritus Professor of Deusto