Are You Ignoring Young People?

Many young Caribbean people are growing disillusioned as limited job opportunities, discrimination and broken political promises prevent their hopes from becoming reality. Their voices, the article argues, are either being silenced or ignored, while too many young people chase fantasies instead of developing their potential.

The article calls for greater recognition of young visionaries and entrepreneurs in business and volunteer work. It also argues that young people need positive role models who can help them confront poverty, crime, drug abuse, pollution and gender-based violence. In Trinidad and Tobago, it says, young people should have no excuse for becoming involved in crime, while organizations such as the Trinidad Youth Council, the Police Youth Club, Scouts, Girl Guides and the YMCA work to mentor those at risk of going astray.

The writer says young people have spent too long being blamed for Caribbean problems, or treated only as victims of them. Labour leaders, teachers, parents, politicians, social workers and religious leaders must address the crisis, the article says.

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Caribbean youth is profoundly alienated from agriculture and from rural life.

Schools face their own problems, including fighting, bullying, disruption, absenteeism and disrespect toward teachers. Some secondary-school students have threatened or verbally abused teachers. The article links these patterns to an abuse of freedom, family breakdown and a lack of positive role models, while pointing to the need for stronger ties between generations. Trinidad and Tobago’s Geriatric Adolescent Partnership Programme is cited as one effort to close that gap.

The article recalls William Demas’s warning at a 1970 Caribbean seminar that young people were alienated from agriculture and rural life and often felt unable to play a constructive or self-respecting role in society. It concludes that rapidly changing relationships between parents, children and peers have made the generation divide more urgent to address.

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Many of them find that they cannot play any kind of constructive or self-respecting role in their societies.