I read with great eagerness the article penned by Ian Jackson in the Sun Newspaper of August 22nd, 2011 titled “Our youth simply do not care” only to be disappointed in the facts as stated and in the rash conclusions drawn from a poorly researched commentary.
It felt more like Mr. Jackson was venting his disappointment than being objectionable in his criticism (I was expecting them to be more of a constructive nature). Maybe, I too, had too high of an expectation and for that I apologize to the writer.
Mr. Jackson goes on to use the example of the attendance and polling results at the National Youth Council of Dominica’s (NYCD) General Assembly as a primary example that the results “confirm the youth’s denial of themselves and their inability to organize and certainly a lack of motivation and direction as a unit.”
I would like to honestly ask Mr. Jackson: how (1) National Youth Council’s General Assembly election confirms that youths do not care? I see this as more of a social issue than a mere youth issue. If we look at the other elections, i.e. village council or by-elections, what is the voting trend? Is there a massive turnout of voters? The greater issue at hand is the fact that the youth get pigeonholed to a social (general) issue to give it significance, using young people as scapegoats, something that this writer has also done in his “Internet Children” calypso.
What troubles me about the writer’s assumption is that the he uses one instance to generalize about the entire youthful population. Every objectionable writer knows that generalizations are made based on trends as observed through data analysis usually other a significant period of time and not on one instance, especially when it pertains to human behavior and attitudes. This gut feeling analysis holds no water, like straw baskets.
To sit idly by and generalize on the state of youth affairs and their behaviors from second hand accounts (Mr. Jackson wasn’t present or hasn’t been present at a General Assembly of the National Youth Council in over five years) is misleading and a rash judgment.
It feels like the judge has tried the defendant even before viewing the evidence at hand, a clear case of irrational analysis of the matter at hand.
I feel this article is disrespectful to those who worked tirelessly at the National Youth Council, often with little or no support from the “adult” population. This article also belittles the achievement of Miss Fenella Wenham (not Miss Jonella Williams) in becoming the first female President of the National Youth Council.
The article goes on to say that “one can’t say that we hear the voices of the youth on issues of national relevance such as Voters versus National ID cards or debates and discussions on integrity in public office… have they organized marches to sensitize their peers on AIDS or are they waiting for adults to do it for them?
These statements clearly come from someone who isn’t in touch with the realities especially as it relates to youth involvement in national and social issues. The National HIV/AIDS Response Unit will attest that the NYCD and other youth organization, groups and clubs have been key partners, stakeholders and participants in a number of their activities and have themselves of the past five (5) years organized numerous debates, discussions, marches, paraphernalia distribution and the likes with regards to HIV/AIDS awareness.
I can also point to more than one occasion where the NYCD openly and freely discussed the issues of National verses Voter ID, unemployment, crime and violence and various other societal ills on state and private media. Young people do discuss these issues and many others too but Mr. Jackson must also be aware that there are more avenues for discussion now than before and simply because the radio/television sources are not the chosen sources for youth doesn’t mean the absence of meaningful discussion.
I honestly think that the article should have given as much focus and credence to the other “school of thought” and should have even explored the influence of the behavior and attitudes of the “adult” generation on the “sewo” generation. Again it shows that adults are quick to judge youth without realizing that they are as much to blame for their attitudes and behaviors.
The outcomes and conclusions from a more concrete analysis would have been more fruitful and would have garnered more respect from me.
Clearly the author of “Internet Children” didn’t want to wait for it, or work hard to build his conclusion, he wanted his judgments now and he didn’t want to work for it!
There is more to be concerned about in this article but I think these points are enough, at least for now.
Where can I find a copy of this article.
Jacko, like the calypsos you and the Kingmaker making not working and the garbage talk shows are loosing listners so you are now part of the new strategy involving the ‘mad’ lawyer and the ‘Doc from UWI@ trying to instigate an ‘Arab Spring in DA?
Dream on guys it aint gonna happen> The youths today are smarter than that and can see through you guys narrow political agendas.
Skip this strategy and move on to the one seeking Nato help to acheive your real agendas.
First I would like to commend Mr.Williams on his well thought out oposition to the generalization of young people as not caring. I would also like to give some credence to the points made by Mr. Jackson because if it is doing only one thing, it has started a debate on the state of the youth in Dominica. Let us not be so closed minded to believe that either gentlemen has cornered the issue, I believe the truth about this matter lies somewhere in the middle. The discussion I believe that this has started is very positive (except for a few idiots who just insist on name calling)and should continue. Mr. jackson no doubt is making a comparison between the youth of his era and the youth of today, please understand that the idealistic society that Mr. Jackson grew up in does not exist today by and large, the revolutions of 1979 will hardly be repeated, as rightly pointed out the social media has captured the discussion arena, and rightly or wrongly people are more concerned with things like being able to get ahead in life by properly educating themselves. I must admit that the victimization of people 9 young or old) who a detractors of the powers that be, has played a part in the nonchalant attitude that Mr. Jackson think he has experience, let this be a turning point for discourse of the elevation of the youthful participation in our society, and not an indictment of them.
Some thoughts on the youth:
The challenge is to find productive and creative ways of getting young people interested in partipating in LIVE forums/fora where you actually hear their voices or see their faces instead of the now wholly technology-dependent and impersonal facebooking, blogging, tweeting where the traditional face-to-face conversing is almost absent.
The majority of young people who need help and guidance to live good lives do not have Blackberries, Facebook pages or even a computer. They are the ones who could benefit from good radio and television programming and who would make the effort to attend live youth forum. We need to look out for that large group of young people so that they do not fall through the cracks and so that they are able to help shape their Country. Some young people have parents who have guided them throughout their lives but many others do not have that blessing and ALL young people need guidance. So, youth leaders must find creative ways to use radio, television and gatherings to help the youth in addition to new avenues available through technology.
How many of the young
Tweeters and Facebookers care what happens to other young people other than their very close friends?
More needs to be done for the youth by adults and by the youth themselves!
Some adults are even allowing their young children to run their homes and make the rules. Imagine that! Time will tell!!!
Please Mr. Jackson!
Your observations are not wrong in some cases but generalizations will always cause disagreements, even perceived defensiveness, when the observations or criticisms leveled do not pertain to all who fall in the group being described.
Whatever happened to “most” or “many” or “some” or other words denoting undetermined or unspecified numbers or amounts????
Your use of the generalization has caused your message to be lost because it negated the hard work and effort of others and also the characteristics and values of others.
Oh Get over yourself Delroy! The first step to fixing a problem is admitting there is one.
PS: You should give Fenella some pointers as to how she should really respond to such matters instead of that femme daybah attitude she brought to the morning show on Friday morning.
oh stupes…it will always be femme daybah as long as you dont like someone??? gosh man!!! Feno you did a fantastic job on friday and you have our full support…Delroy will always be with us so for those who think otherwise, dont be too quick to judge.
Are you in any way related to the Police Commissioner of ARSONIST fame?
Young people will wakeup and find themselves second class citizens in their own country.Every opportunity their parents had to make a living is being taken away and handed to the Chinese. Young people wakeup and fight for your country now or you might have the experience of South Africa.
Ian Jackson wrote an opinion piece. He is entitled to an opinion. You might not agree with him, Mr. Williams, and you are free to write an opinion piece to counterbalance his piece. We must learn to see things for what they are. Is he right? Is he wrong? Are you right? Are you wrong? Opinion pieces are not about right and wrong, they’re about someone looking at a particular situation or set of circumstances and drawing his/her conclusion. Some will agree and some will disagree. That’s the nature of the beast.
By the way, Mr. Williams, what’s an objectionable writer?
objectionable vs. objective
objectionable (adjective)
arousing distaste or opposition; unpleasant or offensive : I find his theory objectionable in its racist
objective (adjective)
not influenced by personal feelings or opinions in considering and representing facts : historians try to be objective and impartial.
the word today “is so it is”the world today have little communication with the youth, the focus is for profit, financial, cash, so until the mentality of the two parties don’t change, then there will always be such “dis couse shun , it’s a sad case of reality.good luck anyway.it is the political trend today, “the truth offends”
Mr.Jackson, u are right. A bitter pill to swallow but it is true. we are now in an era where children are raising children.Some parents compete with their teenage children to see who can show more thighs or cleavage.I guess as a seasoned teacher u are seeing the difference and telling your self had the youth of yesterday have the opportunities that exist now, it would have been better. I am a teacher, a parent and a mentor and I lay the blame on we the parents. WE LET GO OF OUR CHILDREN TOO EARLY. WE DO NOT GUIDE THEM ENOUGH, WE TOO BUSY WITH OTHER THINGS THAT DO NOT HELP THE CHILDREN AND FAIL TO SPEND QUALITY TIME WITH THEM.REMEMBER WHAT EVER THEY BECOME THEY WILL ALWAYS BE OUR CHILDREN AND NO ONE ELSE WILL FEEL THE HURT AND PAIN WHEN THEY ARE IN TROUBLE.
It have a ting call blind spot and people doh like other people to point it out!!!
It does cause embarassment!!!
A man teaching for how much years now and a jayz children passing under his hand every year and u still asking for evidence?
D man right in d lab where he developing young minds and he seeing dose young people not following d script he teach for a better Dominica and you still want him to conduct research.
But all u young people have a gutts wiii!!!
D man knowes what he talking bout.
It have to take a true friend to point out all you young people blind spots for all you.
Now put that in all u dam pipe and smoke it.
no edit
I see absolutely nothing wrong in Mr Jackson’s statement…In fact although he does not have figures to support his writing,most of us know he is right on the button. The fact is that we hate to hear or read the truth, and in the process we are destroying ourselves…This is dangerous.. Most of our young people (Most) do not know or participate in what is happening on a national level,regional level or international level. Most do not read,or communicate sensibly on relevant issues…I am appalled at the number of young people who do not read our local newspapers,good novels, magazines etc…This was pretty much in vogue in the 70’s and 80’s…When this is done, it is dominated by females…MANY OF THEM RATHER THE SEWO AND OBSCENE LANGUAGE…Society need to look at this seriously… It’s not just a National Youth Council thing…
I am an adult, but if i was a youth in a country like Dominica where we are being led by adults i wouldnt care either.
Adults are running the country and they not seeing any improvement in the countries standards and things getting worst. High unemployment, no opportunities for youths, lack of progressive investments…
Adults need to show the youths that they are intelligent, responsible, honest and progressive and youths will care…
I agree with Delroy and Fenella well written response.
To make such a general statement ” the youth don’t care” is not fair and objective. As I have said before persons who are the initiators of articles needs to add credibility to the article via statistics and source references. Accolades should be given to the youth who spent their time and talent to make an invauluable contribution in Dominica no matter how small the numbers. Giving accolades would provide encouragement to those who care to continue to care and perhaps stimulate those who don;t care. Let’s not discourage those who care and don’t care. We as adults must be careful in what we say and how we say it. True some youths just don’t care but some do.
Can’t say in general the youth don’t care, many are misled through lack of parents guidiance,or even absence of parents at the home,also early childhood experience such as molestation just to name a few… but i see alot of strong devoted youth in my country, organising groups, educational talks on radio and schools.My problem with the statement is that it was made too much of a broad and general, on the other hand we know it’s not factual..like every other country we may have a few spoilt apples.
What youth? You mean those a certain benji leading? Come now, the truth will offend, but i agree they just don’t care.
What do u mean “they”? how can u refer to yourself as “youte gal” if u say “they” jus don’t care … you should have typed “WE Just Don’t Care”… why u taking urself out of it?! stupes u hanging your ownself
What do you mean “they”? How can you refer to yourself as “youte gal” if you’re saying “they”, you should have typed “WE just don’t care”. Stupes, u see how ridiculous that sounds?
CAN’T AGREE WITH YOU MORE THAN THAT…It is a very sad story…!!!
MR WILLIAMS, IT IS PRECISELY BECAUSE OF YOUR VALLIANT OUTSPOKENNESS THAT YOU WERE UNJUSTLY CONSPIRED OF THE PRESIDENCY
An interesting, relevant and well structured piece from the former youth leader…. Shame on you Mr.Jackson!
The generalizations made on both sides of the issue are misleading and irresponsible. Statements such as “our youth simply do not care” sheds light on Mr. Jackson’s true feelings about the issue of young people in our society and should not be taken as fact. Had his statements been phrased differently, I believe the ensuing debate would have been more balanced.
That aside, Mr. Jackson does have a point; it is painfully apparent that many young people care not about their environment, education, future, etc. This statement is easily supported by the number of young men who choose to drop out of school and not seek gainful employment (many remain unemployed or engage in illicit activities). Also, it seems that moral values are a thing of the past among us young people – prostitution by young women and some young men (many of whom are school children) is rampant. Materialism and the love of the dollar have taken over as key motivators and catalysts.
Now, with all that said, we must ask ourselves “why have so many young people gone off the straight and narrow path?” It is my belief that a few of the biggest factors contributing to this trend are inadequate parenting, false role models and lack of guidance. I am not saying this to place blame; I am saying this so that older folks can share ownership of the problem. The youth did not raise themselves – they were born into a society who, at some point, failed them miserably.
Let us now tackle the problem in a multi-pronged manner; no one approach can cure this ailment. We should look at areas on education, joblessness, small business training/support, social welfare for young mothers, pre- and post-natal best practices among others.
Thank u very much Delroy, quite a decent response in defense of the youth. It’s people like Mr. Jackson who contribute, even though passively, to the plight of the youth. Young persons in Dominica do care and some of us do work hard and try to make a difference but it’s the lack of support from Adults like Mr. Jackson, the branding of young persons as too useless or too inexperienced to contribute and all the other negative stereotypes which cast a shadow of the positive contributions that the youth make and are willing to make. The youth have become the scapegoat for every societal ill and we unjustly bear the burden on our too tender shoulders of the many evils which plague Dominica.
The society, the adults have turned their backs on the youth, they themselves have set bad examples and expect the youth not to follow. If the old heads have shut us out, turned us away and shut their eyes towards us, how then do they expect to see that we care??
Do not take heed. I smell a political trap. Someone is trying to use the young people. Since the talk shows are not working they are getting desperate!
GARBAGE
TRUE THAT. These fools really beleve they can springup an ‘Arab spring’ in DA. What idiots!!!
Is that Delroy or somebody wrote the piece for him. He does not speak the way he writes.
most people don’t ..especially Caribbean folks..we convey our thoughts better on paper
How dare insult my intelligence? I wrote every single word of this article. I have written many more… would you like to peruse through them? send me your contact information please….
You did not have to stoop to this statement. Just ignore.
I KNOW DELROY AND THE MAN IS A BRILLIANT WRITER.
He does not speak the way he writes. Well thank goodness for that. Most people do not speak the way they write, and those that do, simply do not know any better.
This piece is very well written (way better than most of the commentaries penned by the more matured adults).
i wonder how many of you all are prepared to speak in support of your youth leaders listen DBS on a saturday adult voices no youth callers listen q95 Monday Wednesday and Friday no youth callers only adult them Blame Jacko for saying you all do not care boy Ian You have right they doh care i support you not even to support their peers on the qtalent search they calling last Wednesday i heard The Host a youth opening the lines over and over and up to now not one call
You sound like one of those old heads! Young people these days do not depend on the more traditional forms of communications – the majority of them are on social media. If you want to get their input, start a blog, a facebook page, send a tweet! Get into the 21st centuary!
Besides, even I as a adult will not listen to those sorry excuse of talk show that is on the radio. One not better than the other. A whole bunch of idiots calling to score cheap political point. The majority of them make sense and so irrational. If there is one thing I can side with the youth on is staying away from those koshonee masquarading as “intellectual discuss”.
while i understood the reasonings on both parties, how much do we as adults do to guide the youth?Are we encouragers?
i agree with THAT question 110%
YOU’VE HIT THE NAIL… ‘NO NAME’
THE ADULTS WANT TO HAVE THEIR CAKE AND EAT IT TOO.
THEY TEACH THEIR YOUTH TO BE SELF SEEKING AND “GRAB WHATEVER YOU CAN GRAB OUT OF LIFE…NO MATTER THE COST…JUST SO THAT WE CAN MAINTAIN OUR FAMILY STATUS” ETC
IF THEIR IS ANYONE TO BE BLAMED ITS THE ADULT!
THEY ARE SOCIALLY, SPIRITUALLY AND THUS POILTICALLY IRRESPONSIBLE
IAN WAS OUT OF TOUCH WITH REALITY IF I MAY SAY SO MYSELF I SUPPORT YOU WILLIAMS COULD NOT BE LOUDER THAN NOW
let me real people.We all know that the majority of the youth in this country do not care. we have this problem were we tend to want ti hide the truth instead of facing it.for every 1 youth in this country that care about the future of this nation i can show u 6 that don’t. We are living in the Give me generation and we all know it.Youths of today expect every thing to be given to them and we know it. when i was a young man growing up we would be willing to work hard. I had my own little garden even a kid in school. Now i know some idiot will say who i saying kids should go and make garden, for this moron am saying this. All am saying is that majority of the youths today male and female care about hand out and getting things the easy way rather than being young entrepreneurs willing to try and be inventive. But this is not a Dominican issue, this is how it is all over the world, its called the generation of me.
So for those who feel the Mr.Jackson is wrong i say this.You cant solve a problem by pretending it don’t exist.
Speak for yourself..Assuming that u are a youth!!
is not so much a give me problem the youth have unno, it is a give me what I DESERVE problem. u know what a former employer told me as a young man working to get the things i want???? when i told him i am not satisfied with my pay, he tells me, “but you are a young fella, you have no pressing responsibilities”. to an extent i think the problem is that young people have given up on adults being FAIR and HONEST when it comes to them. I have walked out of numerous jobs because i feel that the employer wants to take me back to the 5th grade, even with my college education…..there is a gap between young people and adults that needs to be addressed before we can move forward….even my mother who has been working for her whole life, i see sometimes she is treated like a highschool girl. like her employer is the principal and she is the student. we the youth agree to say YES SIR AND NO SIR, ONLY TO THOSE WHO TREAT US WITH DIGNITY AND RESPECT…..WE DIDNT WORK HARD AT SCHOOL TO INHERIT THE ABUSE SERVED TO OUR HARD WORKING PARENTS…..THANK YOU…
@ Bull Crap … your name says it all. What a load of bull crap!
Ok, and let’s say young people have a give me mentality, where did they get it from? As a kid you had your little garden to make your pocket change, did you insist that your kids (or nieces, nephews or kids in your life) earn their keep the same way? Most of us figue we don’t want our kid to have to earn so we give them. We won’t make them walk to school … suddenly the sun hot … so we drive them to the school gate. We don’t insist they clean up, instead we hire a maid. We don’t say your grades are bad so no trip … we want to show of and send them away for the summer. I could go on and on and on. So, don’t come here with your high and mighty attitude about young people have a give me mentality. If they do it is we the adults that are the cause of it. Now they shit and it stink, we want to cover our nose and not blame what we feed them.
GOOD POINT
ITS LIKE THEY HAVE NO COLLECTIVE VISION, NO PURPOSE.
THEY JUST EXIST FOR THE PRESENT
I CAN’T SAY THAT I BLAME THEM TOO MUCH THOUGH:
THEY INHERIT THE CRAP THAT THE SO-CALLED ADULTS HAD PRODUCED FOR THEM
NAMELY: LICENSIOUNESS, APATHY TOWARDS MORALITY, HYPOCRACY (ESPECIALLY THOSE IN THE CHURCHES… DISGUSTING)AND OVER OCCUPATION IN MATERIALISM OVER SPIRITUALITY AND PRINCIPLES
Nothing wrong in what Mr. Jackson said, you have to look at the context on his article and not just the phrase “Our youth simply do not care”. It my days, youth in the 70s were more involved, but not now.
u see, the youths of the 70s are now adults, and most of them cling selfishly to their worldly status. we need these adults to get off their thrones and come and mingle with the youth…hear their concerns, show them how to grasp their voice and the power that they have. but instead we are too busy balancing our check books, and feel we are to GROWN now to mix with kids…..ill have u know that our future leaders will come from among the same youths that we cast aside and take for granted. you all know how, so guide us, show us how it is done. or stay and talk forever.
MR.JACKSON IS RIGHT,HOW MANY VOICES OF YOUNG PEOPLE YOU HEAR ON THE MANY TALK SHOWS ON THE DIFFERENT RADIO STATIONS. WHEN THERE IS A SEWO JAM WE SEE THOUSANDS OF YOUNG PEOPLE PRESENT WHEREAS YOU CAN COUNT ON ONE HAND THE AMOUNT OF YOUNG PEOPLE THAT ATTEND A MEETING AT LAGOON.
The youths are more intelligent than you (Dr Love and Ian Jackson) believe. They are not ready to get engulfed in the silly politics taking place on the radio stations. These mepuis talk shows are not educating anybody, much less the youths, so we are left to sewo. Stop the politicking and get down to real issues and then the YOUTHS will get involved. You adults are a failure to society and this is your end product – Internet Children. Adults like Ian Jackson and Doctor Love should be ashamed of themself and begin to lay blame where it really belongs, that is, at the doorstep of ADULTS (so called). The everyday bashing on the talk show is nothing to emulate and be proud of. Be more positive and be of some value to society and the youth will follow. The NYC are doing their best despite the lack of support from the so-called “adults”. You all are only there to criticize and denigrate, nothing positive, and want to drag the youth down with you. But we are educated too and know better. Gone are the days when education was for a selected few.
ENCORE!!!!!! i think you may have hit the nail on the head!!!
100% in agreement, and this is comming from someone is their early 50’s.
This is well written observation. The everyday bashing on the talk show is nothing to emulate and be proud of. Be more positive and be of some value to society and the youth will follow.
I commend you on this “critical” I don’t listen to the talk shows . They are just instigators to get people angry. You learn nothing from them but “Envy, Lies, Hatred and many more ills which are destroyers of the moral fabrice of our society. Do we want the youth to emulate this??
They staying away from the talk shows and their negativity shows intelligence.
Ian Jackson is right. If you are concerned about what is going on in the country then defend yourself. I am sure that you know very well that Jackson is speaking of the majority of our youths. In every situation there are exceptions and we all know that there are a few youths who do care, however they are in the minority to say the least. Come on, let’s face reality.
Well written, I do not subscribe to the sentiments of Mr. Jackson; I do however think that the NYC can be a bit more outgoing and cultivate a “louder” ,for the lack of a better word, voice that can me more clearly heard by the Dominican public. I think that organising public events in roseau on friday, much like how digicel and lime do promotions would give more publicity and attract more interest from all members of our society particularly our youth…television, radio and internet are just a few avenues. perhaps a more up close and personal approach would awaken the public to the presence of their youth.
why can’t youth organize themselves, we did it in the 70..ask gabo, torti, dexter and others.
this is a reasonable question to ask, but would you listen to them if they organised? or would you use the stereo type that we all use and refer to them as internet children, denying the fact that they are the ones who will inherit the world we leave behind.
where are the people you speak of, who have they mentored??? who have they empowered?? have they forgotten that they have values other than the money and materials they work for to hand down to the future generations??
Are u a part of the group? If not, join so u can impact the changes u speak about.
Dominicans wrote me off….. I was a old voleh, touyan, even though i have no Police record to date. i couldnt get a job for how long because of dominicans mouth. everywhere I go, people looking at me like i am worthless. my kids saved my life….made me leave drug dealing alone and finally someone gave me a chance at a honest good paying job and today i have my life back together… sorry sah, i take enough whip from dominicans tounge. i will do my best from where i am. and teach my own kids to live up to their dreams and patat what dominicans have to say about you… i am not perfect but I am GOD know that my heart is good….there are many others like me out there, just waiting for someone to treat them fairly and give them a chance….
miss wenham please take note for the future…. thats how a president responds
well said