Education may very well be the answer

Participation ladder, © Roger Hart

Education may very well be the answer to all major societal issues. But education  and social change aren't produced in a nutshell. For years, the educational community had maintained a consensus agreement: education had to be delegated to the ‘educative system’, youth would enter the ‘system’ for 20 years or more and the ‘real world’ could wait for them to learn and grow. There is a need to come to a new consensus, to rebuild a system that has the same actors but different goals and resources (mostly technological). Although this must happen on behalf of youth, it may be illusory to think it can happen without them. It seems clear to me that nothing will be achieved in the job market without the active participation of youth themselves. Roger Hart, author of ‘Children’s Participation’ and creator of the Children’s Ladder of Participation (see picture), emphasises the need for youth 'to be supported to be involved in the "governance” of the settings of their everyday lives.’  Mr Hart points out that ‘this kind of direct or participatory democracy would be a better means of fulfilling youth’s citizenship rights and would help build civil society as the base of democracy.’ The classroom on the one hand and the workplace on the other are two ‘settings of their everyday lives’ where they need to be involved. It could be useful to take a look at Roger Hart’s article 15 project in order to address the issue of youth unemployment in a creative and socially responsible way (i.e. truly enabling youth to choose for themselves what is best for their future). Rethinking education in this context addresses the democratic imbalance due to the lack of youth participation. In other words, we may have to decide whether to build a new educative system for youth or with them.