Europe Youth Education

Discussion presented to Crossing Borders Youth Group International on February 2, 2011 in Nairobi.

As the wise person said:

If you are thinking one year ahead, plant seeds;
If you are thinking ten years ahead, plant trees. But if you are thinking 100 years ahead, educate the youths, the young.

Thus, if anyone cares for the future of anyone country or community, he or she must pay keen attention to the development, education and health from the youths and train and prepare them for position of responsibility and leadership at the earliest opportunity. Is the convenience in Africa and how will it match up against Europe, Asia and the U.S.A.? Previously, anything gone badly, society attributed it to God. ‘Today, outside natural events such as the floods in Australia anything failing is related to leadership

Who then is a leader?

In school children fiction, it is easy: an innovator is anyone who is six feet, six inches tail, well-built with fair heavy hair and steady sharp eyes. This, however quickly proves to be an unreliable criterion. Since leadership is relative, it’s in the leader’s relationship with his group that we search for signs of leadership.

Leader is really a person and leadership may be the exercise of the role of a leader. Role of leadership is crucial to any or all animals, humans included. Leadership is usually understood to be a chance to influence an organization towards the achievement of set goals-tasks – like coming to Kenya from Denmark and back. The leader’s thought is guided by mission (goals achievements), safety and well-being of the team or group members and last, personal interest like being famous or ambition for material gain.

Qualities of successful leader

Why is one able to influence someone, small or large group? This will depend on the supply of the influence. It may be brute anxiety about harm such as robber’s gun. It may be requirement for individual or group survival and need to win and get the group’s goals. Thus the leader can evolve and for the sake from the task at hand and well being from the group and it is unity, the group gives one of these who is most qualified towards the position of leadership. And so the qualities of successful leader are (1) Competency for the task at hand. (2): capability to listen – people skills (3) personal energy, adoration for the responsibilities and character – if we cannot lead ourselves, we can’t lead other people – we influence people because individuals see us as standing on higher ground – “we have been towards the mountain before them”.

Increased likelihood of youth becoming leaders at earliest opportunity.

First, youths gaining leadership positions really are a functions of family environment, personal drive, social and national environment. These factors can be supportive, encouraging and motivating or inhibitive and down right oppressive towards the emergence, of youths development. Examples are in Asia and Africa where the education of the youths; particularly the girl’s are now being fought viciously on baseless grounds.

Second may be the political and social environment. Within the African context in Zimbabwe, Egypt,(note revolution there), Libya, Ethiopia, Uganda, unlike UK, USA, as well as Singapore or India, age and internet sites are major qualifications for public or private sector senior offices. Majority of African leaders die at work and expect state funeral! This is also true even just in the non-public sector and universities. It is uncommon in African universities to locate below 30 year olds holding professorial positions. These have created “standing water” effects. Social and economy: suffocating, smell, full of mosquitoes and reptiles. There must be flow of leadership, moderate turn-over to be able to tap energy, creativity and passion in our young adults. We need the elderly for his or her wisdom, networks, influence, experience and wealth, but they must help young adults grow to ensure that “Africa does not vanish in the face of the earth or become swarm of flourishing corruption and decay.

In order to increase the likelihood of youths accessing leadership positions in the earliest opportunity anywhere with regards to “active citizens, effective states and better changed developed world and overcome limiting barriers on our path, we should observe and exercise the next:-

1. Personal discipline, care, efficiency – energy: success uses hard work.
2. The discipline to have personal goals and having them. The discipline to achieve the close friends, adhere good, healthy lifestyle (not drugs and association with criminals). The discipline to become ambitious, look after one’s parents, God-fearing and strive. The only place where success comes before work is in the English dictionary.
3. Be responsible for one`s actions

99% of all personal failures come from people who have habits of creating excuses; the weather, teachers, parents and governments. If you want to create the lifetime of your dreams, then you are going to need to take 100% responsibility for your life as you live. Parents and communities did their bit by taking the youths to college, bringing them up and loving them. Therefore we must have positive attitude, strive, have great dreams and take responsibility for the lives.

1. Self -believe entrepreneurial attitude and passionate need to excel -own DNA – and signature of success.

The world rewards effort, not an existence. One poet wrote of the man who said to the universe “sir I exist” “however “replied the universe”, “the fact has not created within me any sense of obligation”. There isn’t any feeling of obligation for other people to assist us as the youths. Because the Americans say, “we must pull ourselves up by our bootstraps” even though we may be barefooted and have no boots.

Believe we can achieve greatness and for sure we’ll. “If others make it, why not us?” Our attitude and mind must work for us instead of against us. Strong, passionate desire produces effort multiplication and difficult work. One area youths should target may be the field of economic entrepreneurship. Today, since 1990- fall of Berlin wall, what’s happening is entrepreneurship revolution. Youths, people inside the age group of 20s to 39 are richer than whenever within the history of the planet. The founding father of face book is definitely an example. In Africa, the trend is equivalent to in china and Russia. The youths residing in Europe as those residing in Africa and elsewhere must seek knowledge but in addition to that opportunities for entrepreneurship. It’s the real gateway to financial freedom. Opportunities are typical in south Sudan, Ethiopia, and Kenya and for sure in Europe, America and Asia and even in Australia.
We should establish linkage between European and American opportunities and Africa markets. Entrepreneurship helps people to grow out of survival, struggling living to thriving, prosperous living style. Entrepreneurship and great leadership are the basis of national development.

Contribution of youths to national development

What exactly are development and the triangle of development? Development with regards to this discussion is “developing the real income potentialities of all areas of the people and country by using investment to effect those changes and to augment those productive resources which promise to raise real income per person- this increase quality lifestyle and people choices on a continuing basis due to the law of perpetual optimism of mankind- that children will have better lives than their parents.

The Triangle of Development as below

The youths must play their part and bring about good governance, leadership of their respective societies and entrepreneurship as the diagram above indicates.

Conclusion: Africa’s honored place

The continent of Africa is a continent from the youths where some 60% from the population is below 40. The youths are the future. Therefore, youths must thrive to gain access to leadership and entrepreneurship in order to contribute to their very own development and people of the countries and put “poverty in museums” to quote Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh. Youths should have self-discipline, take 100% own responsibilities and also have strong self believe and overcome contextual barriers.

As we need to uplift our societies, the youths should be on higher ground. We have to appreciate that the African individuals are not doomed through the laws of nature to be poor and ever marginalized. Finally, Nelson Mandera said in February 2005 to some gathering of youth people,” It sometimes falls upon generation to become great. You can be that generation.” History admirers the wise but elevates the brave. The youths must display courage, delay self-gratification, have healthy, positive lifestyle and bring about their own prosperities and those of the communities and country. To explain Chinua Achebe, once the Africa’s moons shine (the youths), the Continent`s cripples would become hungry for walks.

This season President Uribe has declared that all schools in Colombia must start teaching English which all schools must become bilingual…however, there happen to be bilingual schools here in Colombia, the public schools are now necessary to teach English.

The bilingual schools within this country happen to be able to take advantage of this for the last several years charging big prices for students to be able to attend their school. Even though become popular that depends about the teachers that you simply hire and how qualified they’re.

Colombia will be commended for being among the first countries to really bring it as a mandate that students must learn English because they realize the significance of their students needing it for better jobs.

Obviously within the bilingual schools they are going to function as the ones that may manage to hire the greater qualified teacher and maybe even native English speaking but the students will all still be exposed to english.

Most of the entities represented here are very excited about this and believe this is a step in the right direction. Numerous students here have an aspiration to go to either the united states or Europe so they can study another language especially English and while I don’t look for this to slow that down any, I do believe that those who are really moreover will be those who are going to possess a career which will require English language.

What I do wish happens is that the US would also get smart and require our students to understand Spanish and never being an elective… if countries would offer a 2nd language from kindergarten and also have them study it until they leave elementary, they’d anticipate to choose another language by the time they’re going to junior high and senior high school.

There are plenty of articles proving that students ought to be learning languages from the time they are a toddler and become assured that this won’t affect their maternal language as that is going to come natural at home anyway.

I encourage all comments, debates and opinions on this matter because it is one that we should face facts and get smart on so we can correct this specifically for america because in most other countries particularly in Europe, it’s a requirement to understand two, three and many of them five languages before they can graduate.