A few days ago, we had a very animated conversation with a friend from way back who has had extensive experience in industry and government. In the course of the conversation, he told me that he had been asked by a group of former classmates to speak before college students of a provincial college run by their own classmate. The speaking engagement was timed with the 36th anniversary of the EDSA People Power uprising. Being one of the active members of the parliament of the streets in the 1970s and ’80s, and one of millions of direct participants in the uprising from Feb. 22 to 25, 1986, our friend expected to talk about People Power and share his experiences with the college youth aged 18 to 22.
To prepare for the talk, our colleague, a research-oriented opinion leader who has had professorial stints in several leading graduate schools, commissioned a group to organize a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) among college students. He had hoped that the FGD, a qualitative research methodology, would help him gain a better or in-depth understanding of “how the youth saw the future,” his topic for the virtual convocation. The FGD is a method that endeavors to obtain data from a group selected by design as opposed to selecting participants or respondents from a statistically representative sample from a wider population.
Our friend summarized the findings of the FGD. He stated that the youth agreed that alleviating poverty should be the priority of any government. I was not surprised that poverty should be the main and immediate concern of any government because it breeds other inequalities: access to education, malnourishment at an early age which in turn affects one’s long run mental and physical abilities and, in general, the inequitable situations it creates in other fields like health and medical care.
The youth expressed concern about corruption and dishonesty in both government and private industry but especially the former since taxpayers’ money is involved. Improving education was repeatedly mentioned as a priority issue.
While a number of issues were brought up by the youth, FGD participants remain optimistic that the country’s overall situation will improve with the right leadership.
How do these local FGD findings, albeit limited and which need to be validated by a quantitative survey, compare with studies about the youth from different parts of the world and how they view the future?
We turn to a United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) survey sponsored by Global Development which the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation support through a “$50 billion endowment which is in a charitable trust which is irrevocable.”
Peter Beaumont writes about the UNICEF survey in an article entitled “What do young people think about the future?” It is dated Nov. 18, 2021.
On the question, what do young people need the most? Beaumont says, “young people going through adolescence need what we they have always needed from their parents. They want your love, your support, your encouragement, your nurture, acceptance and attention.”
Beaumont says that the landmark intergenerational study, constructed for UNICEF by Gallup for World Children’s Day, surveyed two age groups in 21 countries — aged 15-24 and 40 plus — sampled from different socioeconomic groups, to compare attitudes. Beaumont reports that young people can change the future because they “have the ideas, the creativity and great energy to shape a better world. Young people are full of hope and through innovation and imagination, they are problem solvers and have a great potential to generate a positive social change in the world.”
On the question, how do young people view the world, a study of the responses shows that, “born into a more digital, interconnected and diverse reality, young people see a world that is largely a better place for children than the one their parents grew up in — a safer and more abundant world that offers children better education, opportunities and hope for the future.”
The report adds that young people are more optimistic about the world than the older generations.
The report, however, says young people are often seen as having a bleak world view, plugged uncritically into social media and anxious about the climate crisis, among other pressing issues.
The report, however, tries to offer a balanced view when it states that a global study commissioned by UNICEF appears to turn that received wisdom on its head. Beaumont says that (the report) paints a picture of children believing that the world is improving with each generation, even while they report anxiety and impatience for change on global climate.
The results of the survey suggest that the younger generation is more positive and globally minded than their elders, skeptical of what they read on social media (only 17% of young people said they trusted social media platforms “a lot” for information), and more invested in science and the possibility of global cooperation and international institutions.
The study offers a wealth of data for social scientists, marketing strategists, behavioral psychologists, and those who simply want to know the young better so they can be better served and educated. Most of all, data in the study will help older generations communicate with the young so that both can serve society better.
Philip Ella Juico’s areas of interest include the protection and promotion of democracy, free markets, sustainable development, social responsibility and sports as a tool for social development. He obtained his doctorate in business at De La Salle University. Dr. Juico served as secretary of Agrarian Reform during the Corazon C. Aquino administration.
