Youth account for more than
50% of global population and are the future of each society, nation and the
world. The diversity in the world provides opportunity for innovation and
learning but many times creates conflicts and differences among people as they
do not understand each other’s culture and practices well.
As Martin Luther King Jr
said “One of
the great liabilities of history is that all too many people fail to remain
awake through great periods of social change. Every society has its protectors
of status quo and its fraternities of the indifferent who are notorious for
sleeping through revolutions. Today, our very survival depends on our ability
to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the
challenge of change.”
Education’s focus remains on
providing knowledge and the real life skills or practical skills are left to
each student and youth to gain. With the world becoming flatter and people
being aware of other societies through internet and social media the challenge
for youth is to understand cultures in deeper perspectives to survive in global
work or business situations.
Many
countries are taking initiatives by providing global mobility opportunities to
youth to learn and apply the learning in their own context; however, a large
part of youth lack these skills and understandings and are lost when they are
exposed to newer cultures. In real term even the societies are not open to
learn these proactively and in this Flatter World – there is a situation where
conflicts are becoming internal as the tolerance to each other is becoming
lower.
Research
has shown that Youth who have been exposed to different cultures and countries
perform better and they have better career opportunities. Many organizations
including World is Flat B.V. (www.worldisflat.nl) are working towards creating Global Citizens and helping youth to go
for international internships, voluntary programs, and cultural immersion
programs to develop global skills.
Young
people who experience mobility are more adaptable, because they strengthen the
skill of change and adaptation to the environment, broaden their social
networks and intercultural competences, and are more employable. Learning and
applying good practice from different fields they contribute to the
improvements in their home environment. Stronger tolerance, active citizenship
and the construction of a common identity also benefit the countries and the
entire international community.
In
Europe and western world, the understanding about eastern cultures and Asia is
quite low and same is vice-versa. More people are visiting different countries
more as just tourists which give them just a superficial. To perform better in
the flatter world, youth have to develop high level understanding of different
cultures, work styles, people preferences and create a better connect with each
other. This will not only help them to perform better in their working or
business life but also create a better world where youth with empathize with
each other in a better way and create a positive world!
