What have we done to our youth?
At this year’s Art and Design degree show at the University
of Karachi I was taken aback by the darkness that lies within the sweet looking
cheerful young men and women graduating this year. There is always a degree of
emotional turmoil that is expressed through art. However, this year’s work
shook me to the core and I asked myself, what have we done to our youth?
Despair, depression, suicidal thoughts, a childhood of
abuse, night terrors, stray dogs, gender labels were transformed into beautiful
artworks, but reflected a deep anxiety. Art is a natural vehicle for personal
expression. How many of those hundred million or so young Pakistanis have
similar anxieties that are never heard? Have we disempowered our youth?
Youth the world over are struggling to be heard. Malala
Yusufzai for education, Greta Thunberg and the Friday school strikes for
climate, March for Our Lives for gun control.
At the ages of 17 and 20, Muhammad Bin Qasim and Alexander
the Great, were leading huge armies of men old enough to be their fathers, who
placed their trust in their young generals.
Today the only profession where young people are given leadership roles,
is in the world of computers.
While child prodigies, those one in five million gifted
young people in art, music and mathematics, are dotted through history, there
was a time when all children were considered young adults. They were taught
skills needed in adult life from an early age - how to wield a sword, ride
horses, hunt, make fires, work the
fields, learn statesmanship or simple household chores. Many communities
continue to include their children in the adult world. Children tag along with
adults, learn by example, many are apprenticed to experts. This is seen as not just a necessity, but a system
to empower children to smoothly transition to adulthood. Ancient wisdom states "If you do not
clean up your floor, how can you clean up the world?"
The change in the social role of children came with the start
of Industrialization in England in 1760, gradually spreading to the rest of the
modernizing world. Families left villages to labour in factories, living in
over-crowded cities, or mining communities, much as they do in Pakistan today.
Children became part of this labour, losing the benefits of growing up in
traditional communities. To bring an end to the exploitation of children, Factory
Acts and Child Protection Bills were created. Philosophers Locke and Rousseau,
the Romantic poets, and Puritan ideals presented childhood as a time of
innocence to be protected and preserved. Children’s literature developed, with
stories and nursery rhymes of gentle humour and fantasy. Modern schools were
established, with uniform curricula. Children’s toys, doll houses, organized
sports, became essential. This definition of childhood continues today.
While no one would argue with the noble intentions of these
changes, it established childhood as a separate entity from the adult world. A
distinct age was established to declare a child’s transformation into adulthood,
varying between 14 and 18 years. Philippe Ariès, in his 1960 book Centuries of
Childhood, suggests that ‘childhood’, as we conceive of it today, was not a
natural phenomenon, but a creation of society.
One consequence has been that young people today are
suddenly thrown, unprepared, into the responsibilities of adulthood. Unfortunately,
in the contemporary world, poverty and war are the two factors that force
children to deal with adult responsibilities or be exposed to experiences we
usually protect our children from. Adults
constantly remind young people that the future belongs to them – a future
everyone agrees is uncertain. They must also ensure young people feel empowered
and supported to envision and shape that future.
Durriya Kazi
December 30, 2019
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