Why do we have such a problem with listening to the young? Why to we seem to instantly discredit a persons work when we find out that they are youthful? Why do we seem to think that they have yet to have experience enough to make their opinions credible?
Even though relatively young myself at 24, I am afraid I too have suffered from this instant dismissal but just recently, having been very inpressed by the thoughts and thinkings of some younger individuals, I have rethought my position and would thus like to put forward a case for listening more to the younger generation.
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A case for giving the young a voice
The young may lack experience, of this there is no argument generally speaking, but then, is that such a crutch for them, one that disables them to the degree that their thoughts and opinions are discredited.
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I would argue that this inexperience, contrary to being a crutch, is actually their greatest asset, one that should be greatly admired and commended.
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The young are in a very fortunate position, they have yet to have been molded by the worlds way of thinking and therefore their thoughts are much less fixed. Over time, as much as we might want to reject it, we are all molded by our experiences, by the thinking of others and that of the world. Free thinking becomes more of a challenge as the years go by.
Young minds in contrast are malleable and rebellious; they question everything and are more adept at exploring life and why things are the way they are. They are yet to be molded by the world, they are still yet to be fixed in their thinking and crushed by the worlds way of thinking. The young are in a unique position that generally they are still exploring life with more gusto then maybe we do when older and set in our ways.
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The young are still searching for identity, belonging and answers and this aspect of their lives forces them to dig deep, to explore and to delve.
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Read some of the ideas and thoughts of the younger bloggers and you will see what I mean. Exceptional thinking that does not except the world angle on things.
A world with just the young doing the thinking would not work, experience most definitely has it’s place and should be respected. In the same breath however let us not be so quick to sweep the opinions of the young under the rug as too inexperienced or different to matter.
If you are a young blogger, I would love to hear you opinions on this case. Maybe we could get some discussions going and bridge the gap between the younger generation and the old.
16 Comments
Oftentimes, young people lack the wisdom to understand the many aspects of life. And grown-ups (mostly politicians) often use this lack to manipulate their mind. I’m 35 years old and I have many mistakes when I was young. I thought I knew what I needed to know but I was wrong. I had a different urge then, and I was careless in making decisions. Still, I learned from my mistakes.
The young mind is much more open to new ideas and is much more creative in there thinking. As we get older our mindset becomes much more fixed and the ability to access free thinking becomes much more impaired.
Sadly all to often our young generation squander this great gift by stifling it with drink and drugs and mindless activities such as watching TV, playing on the Xbox or play station games (I’m not saying recreation isn’t important is just we seem to have swung to far into a recreational culture). However, there are still many of our young generation that get the balance right and I believe we should embrace this untapped valuable resource and bring them into our companies management structure and our governments to inject the much needed new ideas and new wisdom into our society.
We seem to confuse wisdom for life experience. In may experience some of the wisest people I have met have been 19, 20 or 21 years old.
I am 25 years old and find I my thoughts and opinions get dismissed, especially in the work place.
However, I think the reason this happens is that they feel threatened by someone younger, more vibrant, energetic and more access to technology and life experiences than any age group has ever had.
I think that the one thing younger people can bring to the table is energy and eagerness, and that older generations could actually benefit from this and use it to their advantage by channeling that energy into the right direction.
@ Lionslinger: Interesting thought. How about a follow up post. I would love to read about some of the mistakes you have made and learnt from when you were younger to help give us some youngsters some guidance.
@ Aidtofreedom.com: Good points James.
@ HI Nazim. Good Point. Basically I got into blogging as an avenue for creativity. This blog is slightly different in that I am also using to explore some of the projects I am working on such as Pictomins and shortly a book concept. I also love life design and life planning and getting to read the works and ideas of others and then use them to create my own ideas on the subject is something that brings me a huge amount of joy. Look forward to having a follow post from you. Keep up the good work.
@ Stylethroughintelligence: and the younger generations could use the olders wisdom to our benifit definately.
Hey Jonny
Great post and love the look of your site.
This is something I’ve been thinking about recently – some great bloggers I’ve come across have been 17 – 25 and there was that story on British news about the 16 year old who sailed around the world. I think society can be guilty of not expecting as much from younger people, but I think when you’re younger you can be less ‘socialised’ by society (in a good way) and see the wood for the trees!
Hi Jen,
Thanks for the comment. I’ll have to check out the round the world story, sounds awesome.
[...] is a guest posted from Nazim of the Grow Exponentially Blog in response to the “A Case for Listening To Young Minds Not Yet Shaped By the World” article. Nazim is an incredibly talented young blogger who writes articles on The Pursuit of [...]
Interesting topic – I have a lot of sympathy with your point of view. I’m 34 – I think I’m young but perhaps you’re thinking about people in their twenties! Yes, young people should be listened to more; they are very passionate and can display startling clarity of ideas.
I have to say though that at 34 I feel that I have more of worth to say now than I did 10 years ago. It’s difficult to put my finger on it but I’ve just had more time to process experiences and meditate on what they mean. Some older people become ‘set in their ways’ but a great number also become more broad-minded.
I think the opposite plea is also moot – that we should spend a lot more time listening to the oldest in society than we do at the moment. Old people get ignored just as much as young people.
Hi Sally. Thanks for the comment and I definitely agree that we should listen to the older generation more than we do. For some reason we think that we will not make the same mistakes that they did or that somehow their lifetime was a simpler one. How nieve we are.
This is a comment from one of my good friends Chrissy who cannot get her computer to work.
Jonny you have cracked a code of the structures of oppression dear friend that many are oblivious too. You are so SO right on the fact that young people have untainted minds from social, political and I would add educational conducts of oppression that allow them to question and think with fresh perspective and hopefully untainted hearts.
However most young people are trapped in a mindset within our education system which does not allow them to think for them selves or give them the time to meditate of what they have learnt and totally process it, let alone put their thoughts into action. They are taught the ‘Top down approach, (within youth and community cycles) where by they are taught to take in information from educators, politicians, and structures that hold Britain and our world together, which influence their lives. They are just taught to learn and use the information when is required. I am not knocking our education. What we learn is greatly valuable to our lives and I am grateful for it. I am however looking at how we are taught, not what we are taught. This top down approach is called the ‘Banking System’. Young people are not taught to question or to have the confidence in their own minds and consciences to see what is truth, creatively brilliant and wise due to the way they are taught information, but too much questioning is dismissed. This mindset has been passed down for generations and only the few who go to really high private schools or boarding schools are thought a different way, too think critically and question. Why because you need that mindset for positions of authority, power and leadership. With this teaching the rich have more of a chance of reaching real areas of influence such as political or top business positions. This keeps the rich rich and the poor poor. Oppression.
Young people were not taught to think critically or to question about the choices being made around me that affect them and us greatly (unless they have the opportunity to go to university, even then some struggle to analyse and think with their own pure ideas). When often many of life’s political arguments can be found in the straightforward truth of a young person or even a child “truth is spoken though the mouths of babes”. I find it shocking that the word government means ‘for the people’ yet how can this found statement mean ‘for the people’ if many aren’t taught the basic mindset of really processing and critically thinking which enable powerful decision to be made. There for not allowing them to make decision, like this one, Democracy fails and oppression thrives. Especially if the next generation are being silenced though the banking systems mindsets to not question because ‘what do they know, their opinions don’t matter’. They are too young to have an opinion or thought, WHAT A LIE, if you didn’t have an opinion you would be so young to remember. How will they have confidence to make decision and stand up for themselves without a fight of the mind; Not being able to speak your opinion where it is necessary may oppress or crush the soul and personality as they are not being able to grow mentally, working thinks out for themselves, realising their own self confidence of their decisions and beliefs and having the opportunity to stand up for these rights and opinions that may in turn lead our nation into a greater more equal democracy and life.
Also though life being so fast too, means that people don’t always have time to sit and process through other commitments ‘just a comment’. But that’s some other debate. Well Gibaud you ask what my comment (or rant!!) so I gave it. Keep up the good work chappy and keep fighting. Love Chrissy
This is a topic I deeply associate with. Even though this post is quite old, please excuse me as I cannot refrain from expressing my opinion.
I’m 15. I have been an avid blogger for a year, but right now, I’ve decided to shelve blogging for the time being (school work). I plan to start a blog early next year. I say all this because I’m probably the kind of guy you were talking about when you wrote this post.
And you’ve hit the nail on the head with this post. I keep an open mind as much as possible. But even now, I’m starting to dislike the education system which puts too much damn pressure on us students. And the very intelligent politicians tell us that we are supposed to be the future of the nation.
After going through some great blogs, I have decided of the life style I want for my self. A laptop, a back pack, a guitar and the open road.
Cheers
Ajay
Ajay,
Hello mate. For a young person you sound very much clued in. I am sure good things will follow you in the future my friend. Keep in touch and let me know how it is going.
Johnny,
It feels great to see someone with some respect for the thoughts of the young. All the best in all your ventures. If you ever come to India, do drop me a line!
Hello Ajay, thanks for your comment and as it happens I have just flown into India yesterday – Bangalore to be more precise and will be travelling the country for the next 3 months. Let me know where you are and if I am passing maybe we will be able to meet up.
All the best mate.
Wow, you are in India? Your going to have the time of your life. Guaranteed. I live in Chennai (Tamil Nadu), so if you come over here, send me an email or something. It would be great to meet you.
Some must visit places in India are the Taj Mahal (probably on your list), Brindavan Gardens and Mysore palace, both in Mysore, pretty close to Bangalore, ~120 kilometres. Marina Beach in Chennai is supposed to be the 2nd longest in the world, so may be you would like to check it out.
Try the south indian cuisine. If you like spicy food, it is definitely one of the best in the world. Even if you don’t, there are plenty of non-spicy stuff.
Happy Traveling
Ajay
Sounds awesome. I am only just getting used to the pace and the feel of the place but am very much loving every minute of it. Will definitely get in contact if I am near Chennai way.