By youth I don’t mean youthia but literally the real young people who are the future of any country and Pakistan is no exception. They are the real wealth of any nation as they ensure that the country would prosper and thrive in the future too and make things better.
Why is our youth so passive? No ideas? No ambition? No desire? Your answers please in comments would also be appreciated as this is an open discussion and an issue for all of us. Some of us may be part of youth in any capacity or have some youth in our households and in our circle. The you have no hopes and aspirations in a lawless society where might is right. Youth are depoliticised, religiously radicalized and brainwashed through media curriculum and by all means. The youth is being robbed of critical thinking & ability to question, in the universities. Mad about cricket and social media and deviated from fine moral and ethical values.
I see the problem as an absence of recreation and creative spaces/agency, especially in urban settings—really not much to do besides eating and perhaps some sports for boys. Like you often mention, we need unregulated, dense spaces for ideas/creativity to flourish. Don’t see this happening given how much the state interferes in our lives and how much it regulates spaces. Honestly, I find Lahore boring—there’s really nothing fun to do, and can’t even walk anywhere.
What I have seen and believed is that youth is here just to score degrees and secure a permanent job for some pretty good reasons of extra organized incentives. They don’t have any desire to think out of the box and explore avenues that produces new knowledge. This is typical going with the traditional bandwagon. Relying upon Economics, people tend to respond to the incentives. The social opp. cost of private & public sectors should be considered, I guess. Youth, acting rationally, know the power of the green number plate in Pak. We should create a better incentive structure in the private sector.
Some other factors Pakistani youth are passive are:
- No role models. Inspiration is important.
- Teachers & parents don’t encourage reading outside the school syllabus books.
- Limited opportunity 4 extra-curriculars
- Poor content in Films/drama. May sound strange but in times of need good Hollywood movies have often given me some inspiration.
- Students are not learning syllabus books and you think they will read other books. They can become successful even if they read syllabus book properly. Youth spends most of the time working, studying, on the job, making ends meet. Creative pursuits are followed when the mind is at ease. Our education system is based on rote learning and fear, it does not give room for creativity. Plus lack of guidance. I somehow feel it’s lack of good parenting which causes kids to not grow at their fullest. Only if parents guide kids about opportunities in this world, a kid will have open mind and willingness to see the world therefore learn.
Number of factors that contribute significantly but i think its an outcome of flawed family socialization & societal glorifications that dictates and expect children to follow dimensional way of life & children’s ingrained that dictation so much. Ideas alone are worthless unless you’re provided a platform for critical analysis, mentorship and guidance to take it towards implementation. we seriously lack when it comes to the implementation part. we will invest in plots but not in any business/idea. its a societal issue. Because of restrictions that education system imposing over the minds of youth as they are limited to certain course works instead this system should allow them to work progressively to have ambitions,ideas and desire in their lives.
A good teacher can inspire a pupil’s interest in the subject. In 7th grade a great Islamiat teacher had me digging into Tafseer & Sahih Hadiths at home, on my own, to impress him.
