Youth mobility in flatter world !!

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!