Posted 1:14 PM by Paul
Youth Today. Is There Any Hope?

As part of my job I was tasked [whoops marketing jargon] with pulling together a Youth Panel of students who were taking a vocational course [jargon for studying something that might turn out to be useful] The idea is that they work with us and act as an informal advisory group on the development of SkillCity 2005 – a big interactive exhibition I am help to run in July. http://www.skillcity.org.uk/ for more details

The fear in the office was that due to the arbitrary selection process (managed by me) they would be a sullen, inarticulate group of teenagers and not interested in education and training. This is the stereotype pushed hard by the right wing tabloids and some elements of the Labour Party. They see youth as a threat - something to be feared, manged and then controlled. Some suffer a collective amnesia about their own youthful rebellion. Others are even worse. They remember their own youthful rebellion but believe that this is no longer necessary because, after all they are in charge now... and who would want to rebel against nice people like them?

We all approached the first meeting with a bit of trepidation. My fear was that the meeting would be arkward and the young people would not be prepared to open up. We needn’t have worried. Articulate, organised and hip they were an energy surge. Afer the meeting I felt high.

A black kid for Lewisham ran his own record label and suggested making and releasing a record in the four days of the exhibition.

A young trainee chef described fast food chains as not so much cooking as “warming things up”. He wanted us to run a restaurant during the show staffed by trainees. They do this at their college and he said we could make it work. He tried out a Campari and pomegranate sauce at 6 temperatures before deciding on the right recipe.

A 16 year old girl from Leyton studying social health care turned out to be a qualified scuba diver and boat handler. She suggested having a crèche on the Saturday of the show staffed by qualified nursery nurses helped by trainees. “Think about it” she said “Where I live there is a high rate of teenage pregnancy and these girls can’t find out about courses and jobs if they are pushing a pram.” Amazingly we had not thought about that. She didn't buy magazines as she could not afford them. She read free newspapers.

A Muslim girl arrived in her floor length Hallabja and explaining that it was Eid she might have to leave a little but early to get over to the Mosque. I explained that it was not a problem if she didn’t want her photograph taken or could not give me her contact details. She smiled. “That’s quite alright,” She was in all the photos and she gave us her hotmail address.

The half day I spend with them reminded me of how if you don’t trust in and listen youth you are really finished. And the people who say, “Ah but our experience was unique. The 50s, 60s, 70s were different. Kids today have got to realise…..” are simply missing the point and missing the joy of having all your pre-conception challenged on a daily basis.

And if young people do not vote in May my guess is that this is because mainstream politicians have nothing to say to them. Not because they cannot be bothered to go to the polling station