Today’s youths are misunderstood

Tinashe Nyamushanya
Someone once said, in times of change, learners inherit the earth while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.
It is the adult who admits when times have changed, who appreciates that the youths of today have a different set of values and beliefs who will understand the youths of today. A time marked by its own set of values and beliefs ,but this is the new age, and what he lived is all but history. Youths of today are labelled as gangsters, hoodlums and crazies, just because they choose to dress in a certain way and have the freedom of speech that our parents did not have.

Remember we have the right to express ourselves.

Dressing in the latest fashion is termed extravagant and yet it is my mother who gives me the money to buy what I want.

Children of today are blamed for knowing too much about their rights. Would they rather we didn’t know so we could be subjected to abuse as those before us?

Technology has seen us advance.

With the advent of the computer and the telephone, youths are accused of not being able to manage their time. They are always out at parties, movies, watching TV, playing computer games and never seeming to do anything constructive.

In the old days, our parents would go to the field to help with ploughing. Nowadays, in the backyard is a swimming pool. Would you accuse me of lounging by the poolside if I have one?

I am sure if my mother had a tennis court in her yard, she would settle for that instead of a hoe. These are the advantages of growing up in this age, I don’t think youths should be blamed for taking advantage of the times. Adults expectations of today’s youths are too high. They expect that in this fast paced competitive world, a youth should come top of the class. This has pushed many youths away from home, as they cannot live under a light being pushed and pushed.

Living on the edge has caused some youths to ways of trying to cope with such pressure. Parents cannot understand why their child should fail when they have the latest technology. The fact is people failed in the past, they will continue to do so in the future and today’s youths are only human. Youths today are accused of stuffing cotton in their ears. On the contrary, adult advice is well taken. I think it is only that the youths of today do not settle for an instruction without an explanation. This is at times mistaken for being disrespectful and an obedient child is supposed to do as they have been told with no questions asked. The last thing that is on most youths’ minds is school, so say some people. Children of today are not interested in school, is that so?
They are just after quick money and they do not know that they have to go to school to get a job. People who say such things must learn not to accuse all other eggs of being rotten when it is only one or a few in the basket that are bad. Yes, some youths do not care about school, but for the majority, their attitude towards school is not always negative.

Many brave the cold winters and long hot summers to travel to school five times a week. Most even appreciate the opportunity to go to school as not all children get that chance. If after all I have said, some people still do not understand today’s youths, then remember that in the 60s and 70s, no one understood the teenagers with their bell bottoms, crazy afros, wigs and boys who had long hair. Youth is a phase that we all go through.

So parents, bear with the youths. Remember your own parents didn’t understand you, but you turned out all right, did you not?