Don’t let our youth go to waste

In the wake of all the news today, I can’t seem to stop thinking about what the next flash report will be. The decision for the Nurse’s Board Exam Retake is still pending, the Guimaras Oil Spill investigation is still on its way, Mayon Volcano’s episodes of eruption has not yet ended, the PIATCO claim for NAIA 3 is never ending, the PDEA issue of stolen shabu within their premises still lingers, while the Opposition group continues to fight the Arroyo government (although quite weak at its stands). Congressman Cayetano has not learned his lesson. Like the main mouth, I mean like the main man in the Opposition, Francis "Chiz" (or Cheesy) Escudero, such young men who have brains enough to make a fool of themselves! Sayang! These young politicians who once brought us hope and a spray of freshness in the political arena are now breaking our hearts. Be careful, too much idealism may destroy you – balance your ways. Wag padalos dalos!

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Speaking about our youth in a different context, I am worried about what is happening to them in this generation. I hope we don’t let our youth go to waste. All these pop culture and media frenzy has liberated them too much.

I was having dinner with friends the other night and we were talking about how the teenagers and young adults nowadays dress up so casually. In our top universities and colleges, school uniforms are not required anymore. I am sure they have a dress code although I have a strong feeling the professors do not strictly impose them.

In the University of the Philippines, Diliman for instance, the students can wear anything as they please. From jeans, sleeveless shirts, demi-shirts (where the stomach is exposed), super short pants to rubber slippers. Being a freedom-loving campus advocating human rights, they allow students to have the weirdest haircuts in town. No offense but I think educational institutions are not there for the sole purpose of teaching the minds of our youth but also to touch their spirits and help them become respectable citizens of our society.

I was in one of my Masteral (night) classes when a young woman entered the class all geared up as if she was about to join a marathon. She was wearing very short shorts and a body fitting, revealing sleeveless shirt. The class could not concentrate on the lecturer, instead we kept on looking at her. She also kept on raising her hands to join the discussion as if getting the attention of the whole class. I thought to myself, this is ridiculous. The professor did not even seem to mind her attire and how much it had distracted the entire class. What’s worse was that she was wearing slippers with dirty nails. Her hair was tied up like a labandera. My classmates and I were quite offended by how she dressed up inside the classroom. We had hoped that the professor would call her attention but for the duration of the semester, this type of casualness persisted.

This culture is obviously not a new thing at UP, in fact, it’s seems to have already been a norm. Why encourage such casualness in an educational institution?

In Ateneo, the college students are also allowed to wear civilian outfits. What is sad however, is that they are not restricted from wearing slippers. Am not sure about La Salle, but I know they also wear civilian clothes.

If we do not train our youth to dress up properly, they lose their dignity in public. As a matter of fact, they tend to forget how to dress up like young ladies and gentlemen. I think our schools should think about their dress code system. If the school heads tolerate this, parents have a difficult time appealing for change. Many teenagers or young adults would always insist that, "if my school allows it, then there is nothing wrong – I can wear it!"

Why all the fuss? It is important for the young to know proper etiquette, protocol and decorum. When they start applying for work and forget to wear the proper attire, they will easily be turned down. The sloppy-look does not appeal to employers. When they go out for a lunch meeting, how will their clients respect them? The young think it is moda or fashionable to dress up casually, they do not consider its repercussions.

Oh well, I know there are more serious issues to address about our youth like drugs, teenage pregnancies, alcohol abuse, gambling, etc. I hope that the schools, the parents, and the government can address these concerns so that we can save this generation.

It is actually not the "youth who are failing the system; the system is failing our youth.

Gone are the days when long sleeved polo shirts with slacks and leather shoes were required when attending classes. Many educational institutions have lost touch with their students on personal development. The way students speak, sit down in the classroom (slouching) and behave seems not to be corrected. Most professors have numbed themselves to student ways that they tend to just breeze through their lectures and leave the classrooms unmindful of the students’ unrefined ways. Many parents seem to be so busy these days that they allow their teenagers to go out at night especially on weekends. Sometimes even if parents prevent their children from going out, they have difficulty keeping them home. The government’s DSWD program focuses more on child abuse. What about the out-of-school youth, the drug addicts, teenage pregnancies and alcohol abusers? How does the government control our young from gambling? The young manage to enter the casinos, sabongan places and the likes.

We need to start focusing on our youth. They are still in the process of becoming. We need to continuously guide them. They are much needed by our country. Their zest for life, creativeness and intelligence is what our country needs. Unfortunately, we have forgotten all about them. Right now, they are "lost citizens". As Alvin Toffler, writer of Future Shock and The Third Wave put it, "The secret message communicated to most young people today by the society around them is that they are not needed, that the society will run itself quite nicely until they – at some distant point in the future – will take over the reigns. Yet the fact is that the society is not running itself nicely... because the rest of us need all the energy, brains, imagination and talent that young people can bring to bear down on our difficulties. For society to attempt to solve its desperate problems without the full participation of even very young people is imbecile."