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What does it take to make the youth take charge and feel responsible for their own initiatives?
TEDxYouthDay 2011 (www.tedxyouthday.com) is happening on the weekend around Universal Children's Day, from November 19 - 21.
Over 90 events are scheduled to happen on TEDxYouthDay, all of which are catered towards youth and many of which are organized by youth.
However, some adult organizers have had trouble finding young organizers to get involved in their events.
What are some ways we can reach out to our communities and empower youth with an opportunity to take charge and feel responsible?
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Mauricio Volcanes
Peggy Xu
Debra Smith 200+
Samuel Brito
In my family there is people that are very responsible and others that are not at all, and I see that the difference has a lot to do with the country and also the financial stability you grow up in. I noticed that teenagers that grow up in this country are not very responsible for what they do and a lot of the times they try to blame others for whatever stupid decision they took. I also believe that these irresponsibility is in reaching out our older adults too.
From what I have heard about my previous generation, it seems that they were a lot more responsible at a earlier age. My older generation were moving out of their houses and getting their own places between the ages of sixteen and eighteen. This generation had no much room for failure because my grandparents were at a really low poverty level and had no way to help them, and for this same reason they did not failed.
I believe that if you give responsibility to teenagers and they fail, as a parent you let them pay the consequences of their behavior. When you do not let your kids pay for their mistakes, you are not teaching them responsibility.
Shiyong Pow
Much of the Middle East revolutions were spearheaded by youths. Their reason for doing so is for their future, which at that point of time was not particularly bright. So they were forced to take charge and act, or live yet another generation of poverty.
In the developed world, most youth do not have a care for anything else but themselves. Many are conceited.
Here in Singapore, most of my peers do not read newspapers and do not know about world events and only care about enjoying their life. Much of the world events hardly affect them, if at all. There is no motivation to do anything or take charge.
Comparing these 2 examples, my advice would be to give them an interest, an area for them to take charge, one that they have a vested interest in like the Middle Eastern example and must take action lest repercussions happen to them.
William Alsworth Hawkins
Orlando Hawkins 20+
Tom Petitti
Now that the young generation is freeing itself form religious oppression, we can now think of ourselves as animals of reason instead of a creation with a life of immortality in the kingdom of heaven after our life on earth is over. That is depending on how much you wasted your life for the big guy.
Ginger Tetreault
I am in the midst of raising two young teens and drawing from that and my own youth I can say that any psychological baggage will weigh young people down to such a degree where they can't grow emotionally and intellectually, causing their world to 'shrink' so seeing the big picture becomes even more difficult. I have emphasized to them the value of a well thought out plan and the 'cost' in dollars and time of a 'play it by ear' plan where there is no planning or continuity involved. I used my education and career as an example.
Once young people have held a job or a responsibility you begin to see 'how they work' and we're all very different. I am a 'detail oriented person' and I have noticed that my son is as well but not surprisingly he lacks patience. When he is passionate about a project he works until it is done and even compromises quality because he can't help himself. If youth understand 'how they work' most effortlessly they can pick and choose work they are more passionate about. This is how you get youth to take charge and envision the end result of their work.
There is much value for young people to take a Kolbe Index survey which measures 'how they instinctively work'. It pegged me 100% accurately and as a result I understand my strengths and weaknesses more clearly. If youth were armed with this they will make better choices for themselves in terms of education, work and projects.
All we can do is show them 'real life' examples that they can relate to and especially those that hit close to home. For example, we had to decide to budget as a family in order to set aside funds to vacation together. From this our teen children seemed to understand that they had to make sacrifices, communicate and negotiate in order to make it happen. If just one member of the family overspent and didn't take part, we made it known that the vacation just couldn't possibly happen - that was consequence.
I have been recommending www.kolbe.com ☼
Casandra Minetor
Also youth grow up with adults basically telling them what they want to do isn't always the most important. Kids from my small town wanted to build a skate park and they tried to pursue it but I heard teachers and parents telling them not to bother. There needs to be encouragement about ALL ideas and particularly the ones the kids feel are important.
Ginger Tetreault
So you ask, What does it take? I believe it takes teaching youth to recognize their true path in life where they will excel because they have been naturally drawn to an initiative which matches how they work most effortlessly and that which holds their interest. I think we would all agree that it has become a challenge to 'hold the interest' of today's youth brought up in an electronic era where the internet delivers answers instantly, food can be ordered and received in 'minutes' and technology more efficient as each year passes. This era has also bred impatience.
If youth could more frequently see the result and consequences of their actions it would truly resonate with them. If they could see the bigger picture they would see another person their age, somewhere else in the world 'dreaming' of having the same opportunity as they have in their hands.
Cloe Shasha 50+
Shannon Marsh
As far as finding students to get involved, the "good for the resume" hook is often helpful but more often it's painting a picture of what the event might be (and challenging them to make it even more awesome) then letting kids run with it that has worked in my experience.
Cloe Shasha 50+
Yasser Masood 500+
Living in the Middle East where the youth are now realizing that they can pursue their own aspirations, they can't all look to other places as it should come from within. They can always learn the foundations, but it'll take their passion and commitment to make it worthwhile their efforts.
Cloe Shasha 50+
Yasser Masood 500+
The youth are in a good position to be a conduit for their generation to that of their elders. Just as I had the chance to witness the rise and birth of many things and I helped my parents comprehend them, they are not restricted by the logic and rationale of the elder's wisdom. They can use the best and good practices imparted to them and integrate them into their initiatives. It's the best melting pot of keeping a sense of continuity so that the youth do not feel any disconnect within and among themselves.
Bea Bincze
Showing an example is important. By this I mean, that we can show them, how we find our way, and how we can make the world better.
This can give them confidence to come up with their own ideas!
This is not always easy, I admit, I keep experimenting with my 8 year old son.
Yasser Masood 500+
Scott MacAfee
Steve Averill 500+
伟彬 陈
Jason Kather 10+
An event like this is one the media loves to support. Usually, the larger radio groups like Clear Channel or Cumulus have a dedicated local TV partner, like the local NBC, ABC, CBS news channel. Offer exclusivity to these groups for your event for the best that it can can offer in return. Maybe they can get a celebrity to attend, offer local talent in the way of D.J.'s to M.C. the event or add to the fun value, provide give-a-ways, and help advertise, etc. for no charge.
Big local corporate companies like Pepsi and Coca-Cola are usually good partners, but privately owned businesses usually give the most to local events. Offer advertising partnerships to your event to local businesses in return for cash donations help advertise the event or prize give-a-ways to the attendees. Add to the size and variety of the event to reach out to more people, but keep the central theme to TEDxYouthDay.
Get in touch with the principles and coaches of local High Schools, student activity coordinators and coaches of local colleges to get them to help. If you make you the event big enough, appear like a fun time, and market it correctly, I think you will have no trouble in finding youth to get involved.
It takes months to plan, recruit partners, organize, and market correctly for a successful event. All of this is a little ambitious for a November date, but it's never too early to start on next year.
Debra Smith 200+
Lucas Burns 500+
Jason Kather 10+
I strongly disagree that this goes against TED. In fact, I feel that it is exactly the same model TED uses, only tailored a little for a different demographic and a smaller, local scale.
Lets talk about persuasion through the use of media (TV, advertising, sponsors)
1.) TED has sponsors. G.E. has been the main sponsor for some time now, but many other sponsors have been involved along the way. I have seen a lot of BMW and Rolex commercials from watching TED talks.
2.) TED promotes the benefits of successful promotion done in a quality fashion. Have you seen the "Ads Worth Spreading" initiative through TED? http://www.ted.com/pages/initiatives_ads_worth_spreading
3.) TED charges a fee for attending an event to raise additional money.
4.) TED is established and successful now, but how did this organization start? How did it spread the word about "Ideas Worth Spreading"? Everyone and everything needs to market new ideas effectively in order for those ideas to reach the masses.
I could go on with other examples, but I think this is enough and 2000 characters is limiting.
"TED is creating and learning and art and beauty".
I agree. That is part of what TED is about. TED is also about the inspirational, motivational, and practical action of conveying "Ideas Worth Spreading". In order for this to happen, we need speakers and an audience. You might say "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink". In this case, I say "You can't make a horse drink, but you can put clean, cool, perfect water in front of him and he will drink when he is ready".
"Doing this would attract kids for the wrong reasons"
What are the wrong reason for attracting a KID to an event like this? The promise of a fun time? The promise of a safe environment in which "Ideas Worth Spreading" will be shared? The promise of an event that is accepted by modern youth culture in which to participate?
The idea of perfect often gets in the way of practical.
Debra Smith 200+
Lucas Burns 500+
Henk Steyn
What is required is for us to allow children to learn create and entertain themselves from a very early age, within limits of cause, but we should stop deciding how they should learn, develop and grow up.
The next very important thing is to lead them in the right direction but not doing it for them like we do now and we should allow them to explore and experience the world and all we have to do is to set the limits to prevent disasters. By setting the limits we give them a limit to push against and we than push back until we are sure they are ready to move the set limits and then we allow them to success.
Discipline and respect is the building blocks of all of this but we have chosen to let these aspects drop with the obvious disastrous consequences.
We have gone wrong so far that we cannot even imagine what it should be like and thus the fact that we are continuing to think and do in the same way that created the problem in the first place.
This is a very complex subject and if we don’t start thinking in a different way we will never solve the problem and will infect worsen the situation.
Jason Kather 10+
Please explain: "I think that all the solutions and the trend of thinking is what caused the problem in the first place.". I think there is a communication issue...or at least a perception issue.
Henk Steyn
You will find very few households where Popular Mechanics for example is available to the children and where children build their own toys using equipment like Meccano or the likes, instead they are entertained by the TV, electronic games and toys for which the interest lasts for a few days before it land in a box in the attic. All passive, no think8ing or creativity involved as the adults already did it for them.
If you read the rest of the blog you will see how everybody is trying to think of ways to get the youth to do something and all of this is again organised by adults who do all the thinking and the development of the ideas and the youth become the passive followers of what the adults dish up.
The Solution starts at a very early stage in a child’s life by not giving them passive toys. We should provide them with the tools to be creative and develop their own toys and entertain themselves and when they struggle we should let them as that develops their thinking abilities and as soon as they taste success they go on a roll and the process of development starts and lasts their entire lives, so we don’t have to break our heads to try and create stuff to solve the problem we have create.
Jason Kather 10+
Some of what you say does not compute as sound logic to my ears...
Popular Mechanics may not be available in homes, but the internet is...I will take that trade any day. Much of what you have written reminds me of the "When I was a kid, I walked 20 miles in the snow to school...up hill both ways" kind of talk.
Quote: " If you read the rest of the blog you will see how everybody is trying to think of ways to get the youth to do something and all of this is again organised by adults who do all the thinking and the development of the ideas and the youth become the passive followers of what the adults dish up."
As far as i can tell, all of the adults were once kids. Some more recently than others, but all of us none the less. I remember what it was like to be a kid, do you? As an educated adult, one who has gone through much schooling and real world situations (including the exact topic of this conversation) and been very successful at it, I feel that i do have something to bring to the table in this talk.
You say what we should do to "Fix" kids these days. I have to ask...What are you doing yourself to make things better? Taking your own advice? Sometimes it is nice to ponder how the world can be changed and the best way to do it. Other times it is much more beneficial to take a practical approach and get something done.
I never said anything about deciding what each child would speak on for their own "TEDx Talk"...They should do that on their own. Each child speaker should write their own talk to the best of their ability. Each presenter should "build" his or her own point of view. No child should be forced to do any of this if he or she is not comfortable with it, but just being exposed to others doing it can't be a bad thing and may develop a sense of passion, interest, curiosity in that child. Diversity of (safe) ideas and experiences is never a bad thing for a child.
...All my opinion, but please feel free to challenge me.
Amy Peach
Some youth (like Cloe) come to this realization earlier than others. The best way I know to get youth engaged is to make the experience about them rather than the cause we're working for. For example, if I were to lead a class discussion on the reform movement in Libya, I wouldn't start off with the countless violent atrocities or the long history of this brutal regime. Kids (particularly in the U.S.) just can't relate to that. They do understand facebook, however. So, asking them how using social media led to a controversy in their own lives centers the discussion on their own experience. They can then better understand how this effort was launched.
There's a great site to help students determine how to spend their gap year. For those not familiar, this is the year between high school and college where students spend time volunteering (not a tradition just yet in the U.S., but one I'd love to see promoted). They tap into students interests (for ex, are you a jock? this one might be for you). http://www.realgap.com/Choose-a-volunteer-experience
Remember, though, that not all students will be ready to tap into their inner activist and that's okay. It comes for most in due time.
Cloe Shasha 50+
Matt Lane
Cloe Shasha 50+
Matt Lane
Great questions by the way. I hope you find useful resources here.
Lucas Burns 500+
Brandon Scott
Cloe Shasha 50+
Totally agree with you. This is a great point. How do we give youth freedom, though, without letting them fall through the cracks?
Brandon Scott
Lucas Burns 500+
Lucas Burns 500+
I'm considering organizing an event. My primary concern is that reception will be mostly apathetic from the students around me.
Holding TED events could doubtlessly stimulate youth interest in ideas that is gravely needed. However, unlike other TED events, TEDxYouth has the job of introducing to TED and persuading youth that this is worth their time.
I'd suggest exposing potential organizers and attendees to TED and TEDx.
Cloe Shasha 50+
You are absolutely right that exposing young organizers and attendees to TED and TEDx beforehand is a great idea. And given your understanding of what it takes to motivate and stimulate youth, I urge you to organize your own TEDxYouthDay event! With a leader like you, I doubt you will encounter apathy from the students around you.
Cloe
Cloe Shasha 50+
Thank you for this contribution. What specific elements of the structure of Model UN? I would love to hear more.
Debra Smith 200+
What might be most useful to you is to connect with the teachers and organizers of that program so that they can recommend young people to you. Many of these kids would also benefit as organizing a TED event or whatever you have in mind would be a great item for their CVs and college applications.
I hope this is helpful and useful.
Cloe Shasha 50+
Debra Smith 200+
I think it takes demonstrated respect for their intellect and ideas and a bit of creativity.
Given your goals, I think that I would piggy back with and use the structures that are already in place with Model UN. My kids loved their experiences with Model UN and I saw that they were greatly empowered by the opportunity to think about and debate real world problems.
Those young people would be exactly the ones I would target.
Robert Waititu