PROCEEDINGS FROM PERKASA REMAJA · PROCEEDINGS FROM PERKASA REMAJA PLENARY: BRINGING YOUTH FROM THE...

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Proceedings from PERKASA REMAJA

Bringing Youth from the Margin to Centre 145

Dr. LaMarr Darnel Shields

Gen Y: Facing the Risks of Troubled Transitions from Education to Work 156

Professor Dr. Johanna Wyn

Youth: Failure is not an Option

Associate Professor Dr. Haslinda Abdullah 164

Ms. Khairunnisa Ash’ari 170

145

PROCEEDINGS FROM PERKASA REMAJA

PLENARY:

BRINGING YOUTH FROM THE MARGIN TO CENTRE

BY BUILDING AUTHENTIC YOUTH-ADULT PARTNERSHIPS

DR. LAMARR DARNEL SHIELDS*. PH.D

THE CAMBIO GROUP

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY

UNITED STATES

*Dr. Shields is the and Co-Founder Ad Senior Director of Education and Innovation of

the Cambio Group, a social enterprise designed to improve the life chances of children,

youth and families. Dr. Shields and his diverse team of experts take an innovative

approach to cultivating, customizing and advancing the missions, short-term goals,

and long-term visions of clients through education, arts and advocacy.

Abstract

This meta-analysis explores the phenomenon of the youth-adult partnership (Y-AP) model as

a potentially powerful model of inclusion to bring youth from the margin to the center of youth

engagement and success. The need for this analysis arises from the reality that youth are

often excluded from community and organizational decision-making structures and processes

and few existing policies or structures support Y-AP in these settings. Therefore, this article

presents a synthesis of data and insights from the historical foundations of Y-AP, community-

based research, and case study. This analysis then proposes Y-AP as a unified concept

distinct from other forms of youth-adult relationships with four core elements: authentic

decision-making, natural mentors, reciprocity, and community connectedness. The analysis

further proposes that Y-AP functions as a significant active ingredient for youth and civic

development, while concurrently creating the conditions for organizational improvement and

community change.

Keywords: youth-adult partnership; youth-led decision making; innovative change models

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Youth participation – the direct involvement of youth in shaping the direction and operation of

programs, organizations, and communities – is perhaps the most innovative practice to

emerge from the positive youth development field in recent decades. The idea that youth and

adults can and should work together as partners on issues of mutual concern clearly

distinguishes positive youth development from other approaches to youth work, be it

prevention, treatment, or education models.

Despite the potential for Y-AP to promote positive youth development, increase civic

engagement, and strengthen community settings, barriers to theory building, research, and

practice remain. Even with its relatively rich history, conceptual challenges and

inconsistencies in construct definition have limited efforts to synthesize existing scholarship.

Although research has increased over the past decade, there remains an insufficient

understanding of the core elements that underlie effective Y-APs (Wong et al., 2010; Zeldin et

al., 2005).

The purpose of this meta-analysis is to explore the phenomenon of the Y-AP model as a

potentially powerful construct of inclusion to bring youth from the margin to the center of youth

engagement and success. It begins by tracing the historical context through which Y-AP has

become a phenomenon of interest over the past 40 years. From this review, Y-AP emerges

as a focal, cross-cutting construct that operates as an active ingredient for positive youth and

civic development. Two brief case examples of Y-AP in community-based organizations are

presented to illustrate Y-AP core elements.

Literature Review (1)

Relationships and social transactions between youth and adults in community settings have

become a recent focus of both research and practice (Evans & Prilleltensky, 2007; Seidman,

2011; Wong, Zimmerman & Porter, 2010; Petrokubi 2012). A growing body of research on

youth civic development indicates that when youth take on leadership roles within

organizations and communities – through initiatives such as youth governance, youth

organizing, youth activism, youth media, and youth research – youth development is enhanced

and civic engagement is promoted (Christens & Peterson, 2012; McLellan & Youniss, 2003;

Sullivan & Larson, 2010).

Within the context of youth civic development, Y-AP has become a phenomenon of particular

interest. Conceptualized as both a developmental process and community practice, Y-AP

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involves intergenerational stakeholders working together to address common concerns.

Grounded in the frame of ‘free spaces’ (Evans & Boyte, 1992), Y-AP posits that healthy

communities and organizations depend on the voluntary and value-added contributions of

their members.

At its best, Y-AP emphasizes mutuality and respect among youth and adults with a goal-

oriented focus on shared leading and learning (Camino, 2000). Y-AP challenges both youth

and adults to bring their unique perspectives, experiences, and networks into the partnership.

Thus, community change is promoted through a stimulation of critical discourse, skill

development, participatory inquiry, and collective action (Linds et al., 2010; Prilleltensky,

2010).

Wong et al (2010) offered a typology of youth-adult relationships. From their synthesis of the

literature, they concluded that the pluralistic form of Y-AP is most optimal because the ‘shared

control between youth and adults provides a social arrangement that may be ideal for both

empowering youth and community development’ (p. 109). From a developmental perspective,

Li and Julian (2012) and Hamilton and Hamilton (2006) emphasized that ‘developmental

relationships’ characterized by a balance of youth-adult power are most likely to promote youth

development.

It is not only youth who benefit from Y-AP, as the model may also promote adult development

and strength local institutions, policies and programs (Benson, Scales, Hamilton, & Siesma,

2006; Mitra, 2009; Sherrod, Torney-Purta & Flanagan, 2010; Youniss & Levine, 2009). Thus,

Y-AP has become increasing salient as a means of strengthening philanthropy (Coalition of

Community Foundations for Youth, 2002), local governance (National League of Cities, 2010),

nonprofit management (Kunreuther, Kim & Rodriguez, 2009), social justice campaigns (Linds

et al, 2010), and school reform efforts (Framework for Success for All Students, 2006).

Historical Perspectives (2)

Citizen voice is a cornerstone of democracy. However, arenas of civic life – participation on

public advisory groups, nonprofit boards, community organizing, neighborhood action groups,

non-profit boards – are typically characterized by age segregation. This context contributes to

spatial isolation among generations, a lack of understanding or distrust between younger and

older community members, and a delay in the assumption of ‘adult’ responsibilities by young

people (Hine, 1999; Sherrod et al., 2010; Zeldin et al., 2005). Age segregation across all

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arenas of community life has long been identified and questioned. Hollingshead (1949)

observed that within the sociology of communities, adults perceived a need to ‘segregate

children from the real world’ and to ‘keep the maturing child ignorant of [this] world of conflict

and contradiction’ (p. 149). Twenty-five years later, the President’s Science Advisory

Committee (1974) offered a similar perspective when it posited that ‘professionalism and

bureaucratization have sharply narrowed the range of youth’s contacts with adults outside of

leisure. The forces that have isolated young people… have not been necessarily mean or

reactionary. Paradoxically, they have been, at least in original intent, enlightened and altruistic’

(p. 130).

The National Commission on Resources for Youth (1974) brought this perspective to policy

by stating that youth and adults can and should work together on concerns that matter. In so

doing, this Commission identified criteria that continue to be salient in research and practice.

The Commission defined inter-generational partnerships as those which promote mutuality in

both learning and teaching and emphasize ‘planning and/or decision-making affecting

others… outside or beyond the youth participants themselves’ (p. 25).

This commission was the first, in contemporary times, to identify Y-AP as integral to both youth

development and civic engagement. These ideas were expanded by the National Task Force

on Citizen Education (1977). After synthesizing research and expert testimony, this task force

highlighted youth participation in decision-making as an influential strategy for increasing

knowledge about civics and politics, promoting self-efficacy, and encouraging later

involvement in democratic action. It recommended that Y-AP be a central design element for

community programs and institutions, including public schools.

Viewing young people as community resources mirrored the historical moment. For example,

Keniston (1971) explained the causes of youth activism during the 1960s by emphasizing

societal rejection that resulted from inherent tensions between the next generation and

normative standards. Building from the theoretical work of Dewey (1938), Coleman (1961)

Erickson (1968) and others, the antecedents of youth contribution and activism were viewed

not simply as a reaction to society, but more fundamentally, as a developmental search for

identity, connection, and meaning.

In hindsight, the 1970s were the zenith of Y-AP as a cornerstone of youth policy. Labeled as

‘experiential civic learning’ when implemented in communities and as ‘education for citizen

action’ when offered in schools, Y-AP became embedded in settings across the country

(Hamilton, 1980; Newman, 1975).

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Subsequent growth, however, has been uneven. In the 1980s a burst of reports questioned

scholarship and policy recommendations of the previous decade. Exemplified by A Nation at

Risk (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983), these reports responded to

fears of foreign competition and declining academic standards. Rather than providing

opportunities for structured learning through contribution, this Commission recommended that

students spend increased classroom time with conventional instruction and testing of basic

skills. These assertions closely paralleled the ‘War on Drugs’ campaign which sought to

inoculate youth from substance abuse through knowledge and resistance skills to ‘just say no’

to risky situations (Humphreys & Rappaport, 1993). The idea of Y-APs working together to

build community and solve social problems was eclipsed.

Similar policies remain prominent in recent decades. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2002,

for example, as well as the Bush administration’s 2004 decision that after-school funds be

used solely for academic enrichment, have further diminished mainstream policy support for

experientially-based civic education and for the practice of Y-AP (Levin, 2007).

Case Study Inclusion Models (3)

Case One

The primary exception to the policy trend of youth exclusion was the Corporation for National

and Community Service (the Corporation). Authorized by Congress in 1993, the Corporation

was created to promote voluntary youth service to community with a higher education credit

benefit. Programmatically, the Corporation has sought to connect youth development with

community change by: (1) providing opportunities for young people to build character and a

civic ethic, (2) making significant contributions to community, and (3) promoting social justice

by reducing local divides emanating from race, class, and age. Given that these goals are

‘contingent on each other’ (Waldman, 1995), the Corporation created incentives for

organizations to bring together youth, young adults, adults, and elders in collective work to

strengthen community capacity. The Corporation has been directly responsible for sustaining

a myriad of innovative organizations, including AmeriCorps, Teach for America, Habitat for

Humanity, and YouthBuild, illustrating the diversity of intergenerational partnerships

(Waldman, 1995). Although these efforts achieved bipartisan support during the Clinton and

Bush administrations (Sagawa & Halperin, 1993), funding stability has remained elusive. In

February 2011, for example, House Republicans voted to eliminate the Corporation and to

reject President Obama's budget request for $1.4 billion in federal funds.

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Case Two

In spite of this federal climate, a community infrastructure of support for youth participation

has continued to evolve. Private foundations, most notably the W. K. Kellogg, Surdna, and

National 4-H Foundations, complemented the efforts of the Corporation by launching national

demonstration projects. Initiated during the 1990s, these projects focused on creating new

roles for youth within community organizations as philanthropists, organizers, and evaluators.

The projects required the integration of youth into key decision-making forums (O'Donoghue,

Kirshner & McLaughlin, 2002; Zeldin, et al., 2008).

As part of these foundation-driven projects, scholars and practitioners collaborated in

developing Y-AP curricula and training programs (Advocates for Youth, 2001; Innovation

Center for Community and Youth Development, 2003; National 4-H Council, 1997; Texas

Network of Youth Services, 2002). These resources created consistency in the practice,

highlighted its central idea of engaging youth and adults in shared work, and brought public

legitimacy to the effort.

As Y-AP became more visible, youth were invited increasingly into community-wide efforts

and took on roles with advisory boards, prevention councils, nonprofit boards of directors,

school boards, and community foundations (Camino, 2000; Coalition of Community

Foundations for Youth, 2002). In some cities, there has even been an explicit expectation,

supported by mandates, that youth be involved in policy making and fund allocation (Frank &

Dominguez, 2007; Sirianni, 2005; Zeldin et al., 2008).

Conclusion (4)

Youth policy in the United States has long reflected a concern with protection both of and from

young people. This ambivalence, intertwined with the country’s economic and social

structures, has resulted in the isolation of youth from civil society. Youth and adults rarely

interact in organizational and community arenas of decision-making and collective action

(Hine, 1999; Meucci & Schwab, 1997; Modell & Goodman, 1990).

The notion that youth can collaborate with adults on things that matter appears to be gaining

popularity and Y-AP is becoming a phenomenon of interest to both scholars and practitioners,

as it provides a context through which citizens of different generations can come together to

address issues in organizational governance and community organizing. In such settings, Y-

AP serves as an ingredient of positive youth and civic development and a catalyst of

community change.

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Based on the meta-analysis of research and case studies presented here, it can be concluded

that Y-AP is most influential when conceptualized and implemented as a unifying construct.

Indeed, it is possible that Y-AP could have a detrimental effect on youth if core elements are

absent or the developmental quality of participation is poor (Ferreira, Azevedo & Menezes,

2012). These hypotheses need to be directly tested, however. In addition to program-based

empirical research, longitudinal investigations using multiple samples are needed to explore

the core elements of Y-AP as they unfold in different ecological contexts and settings.

By emphasizing the intergenerational and action-oriented nature of Y-AP, it becomes possible

to construct settings that concurrently promote youth development and community change.

To that end, it is suggested that policy-oriented reports of the past receive a second reading.

These reports remain relevant today as scholars and practitioners seek to bring together

generations within a civil society. A focus on Y-AP as an active ingredient of positive youth

and civic development provides a policy strategy to help strengthen public institutions,

voluntary associations, and community programs.

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SYMPOSIA:

GENERATION Y; FACING THE RISKS OF TROUBLED TRANSITIONS FROM EDUCATION TO WORK

PROFESSOR DR. JOHANNA WYN

YOUTH RESEARCH CENTRE

THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE

AUSTRALIA

1. Introduction

This paper addresses the challenge of how young people who have invested in education may

use their potential effectively in the labour market. While it focuses on research with young

Australians, the issue it raises is of global significance for young people, their families and

governments as the nexus between education and employment becomes increasingly

complex. In common with many countries, since the early 1990s Australian governments have

promoted education as a tool to ensure national economic competitiveness as well as for

personal advancement (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD]

2011). Yet the assumption that education is an effective economic tool has come under

increasing scrutiny. Brown, Lauder and Ashton (2011) for example, analyse the decreasing

value of educational credentials in global labour markets. Anagnost, Arai and Ren’s analysis

of the enduring nature of informal work and the emergence of insecure work for young people

in many countries in the Asian region also highlights the struggle to keep the forward

momentum of their “embodied human capital” in the form of educational investments (2013

p.2).

Yet young people around the world continue to place a high value on education as a strategy

for attaining secure, well-paid and meaningful employment (Cole & Durham 2008), and tertiary

Johanna Wyn is the Director of the Youth Research Centre in the Graduate School of Education at

the University of Melbourne, Australia. Her recent work argues for the use of a concept of social

generation in youth sociology and for a relational approach to understanding youth transitions. She is

co-author of Youth and Generation and co-editor of the Springer Handbook of Children and Youth

Studies.

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education is emerging as the new mass education sector globally (International Labour

Organisation (ILO) 2013).

The weakening of labour markets for young adults has led to the emergence of new categories

of normative and at-risk transitions in the Asian region and beyond (see Cole and Durham

2008). For example, the concept of not in employment, education or training (or NEET) is now

widely used to describe categories of young people (UNESCAP 2012; ILO, 2013). However,

with the emergence of widespread precarity of work (Furlong 2007), as well as the persistence

of informal work in many parts of Asia (Breman 2013), new categories such as the over-

educated and the under-employed (ILO 2013), as well as other categories that are more

country-specific, such as Freeters (freelance workers) and Hikikomori (acutely socially

withdrawn young people) in Japan (Furlong 2008) have emerged.

The global scale and depth of this challenge is underpinned by economic and social conditions

that are largely beyond the control of individual young people. Yet the lack of fit between

education and employment is routinely sheeted home to young people, assuming that youth

unemployment is attributable to poor attitudes, a lack of initiative, or the wrong skills. This

approach has been dubbed the ‘long moan of history’, because it is a repeated claim by

employers who are chronically dissatisfied with the quality of school leavers (Rikowski 2000).

2. The Research

My discussion draws on a two-decade longitudinal research program, the Life Patterns

research program (see Andres & Wyn 2010; Cuervo & Wyn 2012; Crofts, Cuervo, Wyn, Smith

& Woodman 2015). The research has followed the lives of two cohorts of young Australians,

one (cohort one) that left secondary school in 1991 in the state of Victoria corresponds to

generation X and the other (cohort two) that left secondary school in 2006 in the states of

Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory corresponds to

generation Y. With attrition, cohort one had 272 and cohort two 617 participants in 2015.

Participants were surveyed and a subset of between 50 to 100 participants were interviewed

annually. This approach enabled an analysis of young people’s hopes, choices and actions

across different domains of life over two decades, revealing how decisions in one area of life

(e.g. work) affect other areas (e.g. family, health) and the strategies young people use to

achieve their goals.

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3. Cruel optimism

Analyses of the links between education and work reveal a complex reality. For example,

Brown, Lauder and Ashton (2011 p. 2) argue that the market value of workers is no longer

judged locally, in isolation to other regions and cultures, but in a ‘global auction for jobs’. In

their analysis of the relationship between educational credentials, high-skill jobs and economic

success, Brown and colleagues argue that the neoliberal ‘opportunity bargain’ (individual

investment in education for labour market security and competitiveness) has not materialised

due to shifts of power in the global economy and the rise of educational attainment in countries

such as China and India that offer the global market workers with high skills and low wages.

In other words, international competition for jobs is no longer a matter of quality or cost but of

quality and cost. Thus, while competition within international labour markets was once

restricted to workers with low-skills, workers with university degrees are now involved in the

international competition for jobs.

As Brown, Ashton and Lauder (2011 p.7) point out, the availability of quality and low-cost

workers in global labour markets has contributed to poor working conditions (e.g. longer

working hours, declining career prospects, and greater job insecurity) with workers expected

‘to do more for less’. The increasingly tenuous relationship between educational attainment

and well-paid, meaningful jobs is described as an ongoing crisis, particularly for young people

(ILO 2013). The notion of living with crisis, as developed by Lauren Berlant (2011) in her book

Cruel Optimism is relevant here. Berlant exposes the end of the post-war ‘good life’ fantasy

in the West and analyses why, despite deteriorating living conditions, people continue to have

hope. She defines this as cruel optimism: ‘a relation of attachment to compromised conditions

of possibility’ (Berlant 2011 p. 24); where ‘the very pleasures of being inside a relation have

become sustaining regardless of the content of the relation’ (p. 2). Berlant affirms that with the

decreasing effectiveness of strategies that once guaranteed the ‘good life’ (e.g. education,

upward mobility, job security, social equality), and the improbability of achieving our object of

desire, the only hope (optimism) is to continue to be attached to the ‘good life’ because losing

hope of achieving this means being destroyed by it.

Drawing on this concept, analysis of the Life Patterns participants revealed strong elements

of ‘cruel optimism’ in their hopes about education and work and their subsequent experiences.

A brief summary of the experiences of generation X provides a backdrop for considering the

experiences of generation Y.

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3.1. Young Australians

Cohort one participants in the Life Patterns research program responded to the call to embrace

post-compulsory education in 1991, becoming a vanguard generation, for whom studying well

into their twenties became the norm for the first time. Analysis of their first decade out of

secondary school shows that they took up and left jobs, moved out and back to their parents’

home, increasingly depended on welfare benefits and forged their own routes to tertiary

education in a new and confusing transition landscape (Dwyer & Wyn 2001). The belief that

post-school studies were necessary was a constant. From the outset cohort one participants

had a strong belief in the efficacy of link between education and work. At the age of 23, eight

out of ten affirmed that the link between doing post-school study or training and getting a better

job in the future was strong or very strong (with 43% saying that it was ‘very strong’). While

many participants who undertook, further education were by the age of 23 in a job that was

related directly or indirectly, to their field of study (55%), a significant minority were struggling

to find meaningful work, including a significant proportion (36%) who found themselves

dependent on unemployment benefits in the first five years out of high school.

While the investment in education was seen by the young people in the Life Patterns research

program as a tool for gaining stable employment, they found that stable jobs were difficult to

achieve. It took young Australians who were tertiary educated up to ten years for the majority

to gain stable employment (Andres & Wyn 2010). These conditions (extended educational

participation and a trend towards insecure work) were reflected in a tendency for the young

people to place less emphasis on career as a life-time destination and to focus more on

building a range of employment possibilities around ‘lifestyle’. Instead of experiencing an

extended youth, the evidence suggested that we were witnessing the emergence of a new

adulthood, characterised by changes in the field of employment with rising unstable

employment, multiple job and occupation changes and re-entry into education to gain skills

and qualifications as needed.

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, employment security was one of their top two priorities, and

many acknowledged that ‘job uncertainty’ was one of the most frightening aspects of their

generation. As time passed, the effects of these conditions of uncertainty became apparent.

Long-term and irreversible effects on the life chances of cohort one were beginning to emerge.

As a consequence of the delay in achieving secure employment, at the age of 29, only 12%

of participants in the Life Patterns research program were in a parenting role, 34% were

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married and 25% were on an on-going or de facto relationship. The relatively modest goals

and hopes of this generation (e.g. job security, building their own family) were affected by the

twin trends of extended study and insecure work, which signified putting on hold these goals

until they reach greater financial stability (Andres and Wyn 2010). A ‘scarring effect’ of these

conditions (see for example Chauvel 2010) became increasingly evident in their health status.

Since 2002 a steady increase in poor self-reported physical and mental health for cohort one

participants has occurred, from 16% and 14% respectively at the age of 28, to 31% and 28%

respectively at the age of 40.

These developments were the backdrop for generation Y, the cohort of the Life Patterns

program that left secondary school in 2005. In common with their peers in other countries,

they experienced a worsening of the nexus between education and work. The global youth

unemployment rate stabilized at 13 per cent following a period of rapid increase between 2007

and 2010 but it was still well above the pre-crisis level of 11.7 per cent, according to the ILO’s

Global Employment Trends for Youth 2015. In fact, the rate is expected to creep up to 13.1

per cent in 2015, according to the report’s projections (ILO 2015). Behind these patterns, there

is a complex picture of inequality, within and across national boundaries, and unemployment

rates do not take into account underemployment, informal work, discouraged job seekers who

are no longer in the labour market (NEET), nor does it indicate the quality of work. Aggregate

figures of unemployment for Australia, for example, show low unemployment, but this hides

the reality of over 50% unemployment in some regions.

The young Australians in generation Y had similar (modest) life goals to generation X: job

security (95%), they would like to care and provide for a family (50%) and they want to have

a special relationship with someone (57%). They are not motivated to have a lot of money,

they believe that they will be unlikely to be able to maintain the same financial situation as

their parents, and they a high priority on ethical practice (40%) (Crofts, Cuervo, Wyn, Smith

and Woodman 2015). At the age of 27 – 27 (in 2015) only 23% expected to be in their current

job for more than five years and over half were doing work that had irregular hours.

The strain of holding things together under conditions of uncertainty (and for many of economic

stress) takes its toll. For this generation, too, there is a consistent pattern of decline in mental

health, particularly among middle and low socio-economic groups, related to the stress of

juggling paid work and study, and financial difficulties (Wyn, Cuervo & Landstedt 2015). During

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the years of further and higher education (at least 85% of participants did some form of post-

school study) we found that the mental health status of cohort two participants decreased

between the ages of 19 - 24. National studies of higher education students between 2008 and

2012 document increasing levels of financial stress (Bexley, Daroesman, Arkoudis & James,

2013), with a growing gap between young people enjoying secure financial situations and

those in disadvantaged positions, particularly in terms of parental support and housing

(Cassells, Duncan, Abello, D’Souza & Nepal, 2012).

While a majority of participants manage to juggle their different life commitments successfully,

responses to the 2014 Life Patterns survey of generation Y reveal that almost a quarter self-

reported feeling unhealthy, and from 2005 – 2015 have described their poor mental health in

terms of depression, anxiety, tiredness and, frequently, stress; and as being related to the

complexities and pressure to perform well in various parts of their lives: studies, work, career,

choices, parenthood and personal relationships, and keeping healthy. Woodman (2012)

highlights the difficulties for this generation in balancing their commitments, leading to a

fragmentation of time with significant others, which in turn compromises their support

networks. Woodman shows that combining study and work, frequently involving irregular

working hours – weekends and nights – is a hindrance to maintaining healthy and committed

social relationships. This difficulty of synchronising leisure time with significant others was a

strong feature of the 2014 survey of cohort two, despite the fact that seven out of ten

participants were no longer engaged in study and were working. The high percentage of the

total cohort (70%) working irregular hours continues to have a toll in the balance of life and

the wellbeing of young people.

4. Conclusion

The risks and opportunities of contemporary education and work landscapes create

challenges for national youth policies. Although it has been a constant feature of youth policies

in Australia to place the blame for youth unemployment on disadvantaged young people, the

evidence shows that increasing youth unemployment lies in structural factors (slower

economic growth in Australia) rather than on the intrinsic personal qualities of young people.

If anything, the young adults in the Life Patterns research program, like their peers in other

countries, demonstrate a strong sense of personal responsibility and willingness to actively

work towards achieving their goals without demanding much of the state and the market than

a fair opportunity to succeed.

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The evidence about young Australians aligns with other work that highlights how current socio-

historical conditions of unemployment and precarity may be paving the way to the creation of

a ‘lost generation’ (ILO, 2013). These conditions are not only ‘scarring’ young people’s future

employment and wages but they have a significant impact on society in the form of

intergenerational conflict, loss of social cohesion and rising welfare costs in the future

(Scarpetta, Sonnet & Manfredi, 2010). Where markets fail to deliver secure and meaningful

jobs for young people, despite their educational credentials and skills new policy approaches

involving partnerships between stakeholders to guarantee job opportunities and the

attainment of on-the-job skills that educational programs cannot deliver.

References

Anagnost, A., Arai, A., and Ren, H (Eds). (2013) Global Futures in East Asia: youth, nation

and the new economy in uncertain times, Stanford California: Stanford University Press.

Bexley, E., Daroesman, S., Arkoudis, S., & James, R. (2013) University student finances in

2012: A study of the financial circumstances of domestic and international students in

Australia’s universities. Canberra: Universities Australia.

Breman, J. (2013) A Bogus Concept? New Left Review, 84: 130-138.

Brown, P., H. Lauder, and D. Ashton. (2011) The Global Auction: The Broken Promises of

Education, Jobs and Incomes. New York: Oxford University Press.

Cassells R., Duncan A., Abello A., D’Souza G., & Nepal B. (2012) Smart Australians:

Education and innovation in Australia. AMP.NATSEM Income and Wealth Report, Issue 32,

October. Melbourne: AMP.

Chauvel L. (2010) The long-term destabilization of youth, scarring effects, and the future of

the welfare regime in post-Trente Glorieuses France. French Politics, Culture & Society, 28,

74-96.

Cole, J. and Durham, D (Eds). (2008) Figuring the Future: Globalization and the Temporalities

of Children and Youth, Santa Fe: SAR Press.

Crofts, J., Cuervo, H., Wyn, J., Smith, G., & Woodman, D. (2015) Life Patterns: Ten years

following generation Y. Melbourne: Youth Research Centre.

Cuervo, H., & Wyn, J. (2012) Young people making it work: Continuity and change in rural

places. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press.

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Dwyer, P., & Wyn, J. (2001) Youth, education and risk: Facing the future. London & New York:

Routledge.

Furlong, A. and Cartmel, F. (2007) Young people and social change: new perspectives. 2nd

Edn. Maidenshead, England: Open University Press.

Furlong, A. (2008) “The hikikomori phenomenon: acute social withdrawal among young

people.” The Sociological Review, 56 (2): 309-325.

International Labour Organisation (ILO). (2013) Global Employment Trends for Youth 2013: A

generation at risk. Geneva: International Labour Office.

International Labour Organisation (ILO). (2015) Global Employment Trends for Youth 2015:

Scaling up investments in decent jobs for youth. Geneva: International Labour Office.

Rikowski, G. (2000) Why Employers Can't Ever Get What They Want. In fact, they can't even

get what they need. A paper presented at the School of PCET Staff/Student Seminar,

University of Greenwich, Queen Anne's Palace, 27 March.

Scarpetta, S., Sonnet, A., & Manfredi, T. (2010) Rising youth unemployment during the crisis:

How to prevent negative long-term consequences on a generation? OECD Social,

Employment and Migration Working Papers, No. 106. Paris: OECD.

United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). (2012)

Regional Overview: Youth in Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok: UNESCAP.

Woodman, D. (2012) Life out of synch: How new patterns of further education and the rise of

precarious employment are reshaping young people’s relationships. Sociology, 46, 1074-

1090.

Wyn, J., Cuervo, H., & Landstedt, E. (2015) The limits of wellbeing. In K. Wright, & J. McLeod,

J. (eds.) Re-thinking youth wellbeing: Critical perspectives. Singapore: Springer.

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SYMPOSIA:

YOUTH-FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION;

CHILDREN BEYOND TOMORROW

*ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR DR. HASLINDA ABDULLAH

FACULTY OF HUMAN ECOLOGY,

UNIVERSITY PUTRA MALAYSIA (UPM)

MALAYSIA

*Haslinda Binti Abdullah

Associate Professor in Psychology, her field of expertise is Psychology and Development.

This area ventures the complexity of human being in any setting and how environmental

factors contribute towards human behaviour. In understanding human psychology and

development, human potential was viewed from both factors (external and internal) as well as

from different angle.

“Confucius-Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fail “

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Failure is a simple word associated with so many negative things and considered as one of

the hardest things to deal with in life. For some people, even the word itself would paralyse

the whole-body system. What more if it is faced by a young person. News would highlight and

emphasize on the impact of failure. In this success-driven world, the idea of not succeeding

seems almost impossible to handle. The topic is so vital that on April 2011, Harvard Business

Review dedicated the whole issue to the topic of failure. On its cover, it has a quote from a

famous CEO who says “I think of my failures as a gift!” the simple truth is – no great success

was ever achieved without failure, moreover when the subject is a child or our youngsters. To

be able to create a ‘Children beyond tomorrow’ a strong safety net in the whole ecosystem of

failing children is what actually is needed.

2.0 BACKGROUND

History shows that many victories came after defeats. It is due to the fact that the failed person

enters the field again with a new determination and spirit and achieves success as he is

convinced that the distance between success and failure is very much less. A few years back,

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a teacher’s union in Great Britain floated a proposal to eliminate the word “failure” from

educators’ vocabulary; they wanted to use the term “deferred success” instead. Although the

proposal didn’t go anywhere, it demonstrated how much well-meaning adults fear failure in

young people (Alyssa Puglise, 2016).

For youngsters, having to face a failure seems to be a nightmare, especially when they do not

have support from those who are near to them. In this context, the concept of failure and its

consequences are actually learned through the socialisation process, in which an adult is the

one who plays the important role in installing the concept. Yet, strangely enough, failure can

actually be positive. Failure makes us stronger, more resistance and more creative. Failure

helps us to be wiser, smarter and even more tolerant.

What truly matters and need to be installed in our youngsters’ mind is how they should react

to and learn from that failure. A quote from a famous artist on his failure says: "Even the

knowledge of my own fallibility cannot keep me from making mistakes. Only when I fall do I

get up again." - Vincent van Gogh’. This shows how important a failure is to one’s success. It

is a matter of how we transform the knowledge of failing to rise and achieve something higher

and bigger. The main point is how to welcome failure as a most valuable part of teaching even

though it can be a costly lesson. Hence the emphasis is not on the failure but how to bounce

back.

3.0 YOUTH AND FAILURE

According to Cambridge dictionary, youth is the period of life when one is young, or the state

of being young. According to the United Nations, ‘youth’ is defined as those persons between

the ages of 15 and 24 years while in Malaysia youth is between 15-40. With the new policy,

which will be implemented in 2018 the age of youth would be from 15-30 years. Erikson defines

youth as the stage where 'the young adult, emerging from the search for and insistence on

identity, is eager and willing to fuse their identity with that of others” (John DeLamater and

Amanda Ward, 2013). Youth is best understood as a period of transition from the dependence

of childhood to independence of adulthood. In relation to education and employment, ‘youth’

is often referred to a person between the ages of leaving compulsory education, and finding

their first job.

Based on the definition given, the age of youth is in a range where failure IS an option and an

opportunity to rise back. It is the range of age whereby the process of achieving something is

more important that the actual achievement. Psychologically, to be able to build strength from

failure, one need to take personal ownership for the outcome instead of solely blaming it on

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external circumstances. Based on attribution theory, there are two main aspects of attribution.

External attribution, also known as situational attribution, refers to the interpretation of

someone else’s behaviour as being the cause of the situation the individual is in. Whatever

mistake or failure is attributed to that environment. Thus, the individual makes sense of the

event without any discomfort when in reality the situation could have been the result of his or

her bad attitude. On the other hand, internal attribution is when he or she take personal

ownership of things that happened to him/her. Research shows that if one chooses the latter

approach, it is more likely an individual will learn from it and work harder after that mistake.

In this context, the process of taking ownership or being responsible is very important in the

whole ecosystem of understanding that it is normal as human being to make mistakes or fail

in achieving something in our life especially for youngsters. A classic example would be falling

from a chair while a child starts to explore the exciting world of walking and climbing. By trying

again and again the child starts to understand the importance of stabilising his feet with the

body as well as the importance of strengthening the grip. All those new knowledges would only

make sense when the child tries and experience it.

The same goes in any other field i.e., education and business. Therefore, we should welcome

failure as a most valuable teaching processes, even though it can often be a most expensive

lesson! Though most people have this notion that, failure is a negative thing and try to avoid

failure, interestingly enough, it’s actually the opposite that’s true. In this context, a famous

quote from the first African American administrator of NASA Charles Bolden clearly shows

that the process of success is actually through several failing attempts:

"I go around and try to tell people all the time, especially young kids, just don't ever give up on

a dream that you have. If you are willing to study and work really hard, and you don't mind

falling down and getting back up, if you're not afraid of failure, things are going to work. That's

the way that NASA works. I mean, we had three devastating accidents. And we just observed

those within the last few weeks - Apollo 1, you know, STS-51-L and STS-107, Challenger in

Columbia. And a lesser organization would have just folded, would have said, OK, let's quit.

And we didn't do that. You know, I was there when we lost Challenger, and I asked myself if

this was really what I wanted to do. I had just come back from my first flight in space 10 days

before we lost Challenger. It took me about a nanosecond to decide that I was in the right

business. This was what I wanted to do." (Observer, 2009)

In the context of Malaysia, the latest trend shows greater societal emphasis on material values.

For instance, in the current education system the number of A’s one gets is so vital that parents

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are willing to invest thousands of Malaysian ringgits for their children’s result. The KPIs of

teachers and headmasters are also centred on the school children’s performance. For this

reason, the word failure is a taboo. Experiences from many successful persons show that on

their road to success, they endured failures. The value of knowledge as well as the value of

the process of gaining knowledge is something that some of our educators, obsessed with

fulfilling their KPIs, often forget.

Of course, it is hurtful and heart-breaking when we fail or we are unable to achieve what we

want. The worst part is to receive negative responses from the surrounding. Some people just

ignore or repress the feeling. However, it is important to note here that addressing the feeling

that comes when a child is failing is vital since negative emotions have been found to be

associated with health complaints (Ayse K. Uskul and Andrea B. Horn, 2015). Unable to

express the negative feelings accordingly would have an impact to the child’s health. Effects

of consistent emotional suppression include increased physical stress on the body, high blood

pressure, higher incidence of diabetes and heart disease. In addition, people who engage in

emotional suppression are more likely to experience stiff joints, bone weakness and more

illnesses due to lowered immunity (2015).

From another angle, according to Heidi Grant Halvorson (2010) a social psychologist, when

we try to eliminate failure we also eliminate a lot of our creative ability:

The problem with the Be-Good mindset is that it tends to cause problems when we are faced

with something unfamiliar or difficult. We start worrying about making mistakes, because

mistakes mean that we lack ability. This creates a lot of anxiety and frustration. Anxiety and

frustration, in turn undermine performance by compromising our working memory and

disrupting the many cognitive processes we rely on for creative and analytical thinking. Also,

when we focus too much on doing things perfectly (i.e., being good), we don’t engage in the

kind of exploratory thinking and behaviour that creates new knowledge and innovation

In the above statement, Heidi point out the importance of engaging our brain with explorative

thinking while making a mistake and the connection between these activities with new

knowledge and innovation. That is why it is important to highlight to the society that the one

that fails is not the person but the process. Thus, improving the process would increase the

chance to success.

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4.0 FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION?

The latest Department of Insolvency Malaysia (MDL), 2014, report shows that a total of 60

young people aged 33-40 are declared bankrupt every day in Malaysia. A total of 2,491 young

people aged 25 years and under have been declared bankrupt in the period January-June

2014 (BH, Oct. 2014). On surface, it shows the failure of our youth in managing their daily life.

However, in reality there are so many angles and aspects that need to be looked at. Current

conditions related to youth and failure require a comprehensive approach in the youth

ecosystems that exist in Malaysia. It is the ecosystem where our youth are raised and grow

that should not fail. These systems include:

• Family

• Community

• NGO

• Government

• Related Institution (School, Universities, Training Centre etc.)

Recent research on youth asset in Malaysia (Haslinda et al., 2014) shows that the Malaysian

youth is ever ready to be empowered, with almost all Internal asset scoring 70 percent and

above. However, it is the external asset such as community and institution in which they live,

are the ones that fail to address the needs of our youth and to empower them to their optimum

potential. Youths who have high development assets will experience positive learning growth

performance compared to youths who lack the assets (Scales, 2004; Azimi, 2007). The above

data shows the importance of institutions in developing the potential of youths by preparing and

providing the conducive surrounding that will ensure the positive growth of our youth and future

generation. In this context, failure of one of these institutions will cripple not only our valuable

youth but also the whole system of youth development.

5.0 CONCLUSION

It is clear that our youth have great potential that need to be unleashed. The community, where

they live in is the place that need to be improved. If we fail to do this then we are creating a

failing community and society, hence creating a failing civilization for our next generation.

When we discuss about children beyond tomorrow, we ourselves need to have a clear picture

about the type of youth development framework that we are looking at and would like it to be.

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A proactive, creative, innovative and happy young generation can only be developed through

a natural and safe environment.

A great future is waiting ahead with new approaches and better understanding of the value of

failure among our youngsters. Within this context, each and every one of us has a role to play

in ensuring its materialization. Only in giving up is the sure way for us to fail.

“Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay, not defeat. It is a

temporary detour, not a dead end. Failure is something we can avoid only by saying

nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.” - Denis Waitley

REFERENCES

Alyssa Puglise. (2016). Teaching Children About Failure

http://www.failurethebook.com/2016/04/26/teaching-children-about-failure/

Ayse K. Uskul, Andrea B. Horn. (2015). International Encyclopaedia of the Social & Behavioral

Sciences (Second Edition). Pages 496-501

Azimi, H. & Zanariah, M.N. (2007). Readiness of youth as pillars of developed countries. Kuala

Lumpur: Institute for Youth Research and Development Malaysia, Ministry of Youth and Sports

Malaysia.

Haslinda, A., Wasitah, M.Y., Azimi, H., Krauss, S.E., Dzuhailmi, D. & Abd. Hadi, S. (2015).

Kajian pembangunan kesejahteraan/aset belia Malaysia: Laporan Akhir Kajian - Institut

Penyelidikan Pembangunan Belia Malaysia (IYRES), Institut Pengajian Sains Sosial,

Universiti Putra Malaysia. (Unpublished report)

Heidi Grant Halvorson (2010). Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals. Hudson Street

Press. New York. Observer Vol.22, No.10 December, 2009

Scales, P.C., Benson, P.L., Roehlkepartain, E.C., Sesma, A., & Van Dulmen, M. (2006). The

role of developmental assets in predicting academic achievement: A longitudinal Study.

Journal of Adolescence, 29, 691-708.

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SYMPOSIA:

YOUTH-FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION

MS. KHAIRUNNISA ASH’ARI

BRUNEI YOUTH COUNCIL

BRUNEI DARUSSALAM

The expectation for children and youth to perform well from a young age has always been

normal for most families: get good grades in class, win sports tournaments, or win academic

competitions. While different parents may have different ways to demonstrate their

expectations and provide support to their children, disappointment over failure would be a

common trait.

This is quite understandable – as job opportunities are becoming more limited, competition

becomes higher and thus demand for success becomes much more pressing. The fear of

ending up in poverty or even homelessness is being pushed on the children and youth, making

them fear failure. Success if often measured through academic grades, and not the learning

process.

These are the type of mentality that can cause overwhelming pressure in the minds of children

and youth, which can lead to mental health problems including health and suicidal thoughts.

In 2015, Channel News Asia reported that there is an average of 400 suicides and 1,000

attempted suicides in Singapore each year. Out of that figure, suicide rates between 10 – 19

and 20 – 29-year old’s have also increased, according to the HealthXchange.com.sg (2010).

While the reason for suicide can be complex, demands for academic success could be one of

the factors.

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The fear of failure extends not just to academic performance, but also job prospects amongst

youth. Mismatch of jobs or even unemployment can be seen as signs of failure.

As such, children and youth grow up trying to avoid failures, or get discouraged when they fail.

The phrase ‘Failure is not an option’ can be looked at in two ways: The first is that failure

should be avoided at all costs and measures to avoid failures should be practised. The second

is ‘fail fast, fail often’: failing early is necessary in order to achieve success through

perseverance.

The first view is the more common or traditional one, where failure is seen in a negative light

and punishments are often given when one has failed. When we do not see failure as an

option, it sets the environment to only acknowledge success as acceptable. Youth are not

often provided with the environment and capacity to cope with failure, thus enforcing negative

emotions even harder. Second chances may not always be given, and these youths become

stigmatised. It is not always the fault of the family institution or education system, but parents

may not always have the training to help their children to deal with failure. Stigma associated

with failure can cause youth to fear failure thus creating pressure to avoid failure at all costs.

However, there is also a positive side to this mindset in that it allows youth who have

succeeded to not take things for granted.

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The second talks about failure as not an option, but something that is needed in order to

succeed. Ryan Babineaux and John Krumboltz (2013), psychologists, career counselors,

and creators of the popular Stanford University course “Fail Fast, Fail Often,” have come to a

compelling conclusion: happy and successful people tend to spend less time planning and

more time acting. They get out into the world, try new things, and make mistakes, and in doing

so, they benefit from

unexpected experiences and opportunities.

With global media promoting stories of ‘successful failures’, it brings to question whether or

not failure is necessary a bad thing. Throughout time, there have been many successes today

that was attributed to earlier failures. Some of the famous examples include Steve Jobs,

Richard Branson, Oprah, Michael Jordan and Walt Disney. These famous individuals have

demonstrated that failure at a young age may not necessarily mean it would be the end of the

world. All these individuals started with different forms of failures but managed to pick

themselves up and became successful through hard work and perseverance.

Take the example of Jack Ma. He was rejected from college three times and rejected from 30

different jobs, including KFC. Today, his e-commerce company, Alibaba, attracts 100 million

shoppers a day and he is worth an estimate of $20.4 billion (Business Insider, 2015).

These stories are often used to motivate underperforming youth, to tell them that they should

embrace failure in order to achieve success. However, there is also danger in having only a

‘fail fast’ attitude. Failure cannot and should not be taken lightly. The key is not to embrace

failure, but to embrace resilience and the ability to bounce back (Forbes, 2014).

While there are merit and disadvantage for both points of view, youth needs to realise that

failure should not often be what defines them. Instead of focusing on the negativity that

surrounds failures, focus instead on goals. Success is only possible through ingenuity, good

business acumen, hard work, positive attitude and most importantly perseverance in order to

achieve their goals.

‘Failure is not an option’ does not mean that you are not allowed to fail. It does not mean that

society is telling you that failing will mean the end of the world. It is about learning from the

experience. Mistakes are learning opportunities. “The goal shouldn’t be to glorify mistakes and

errors and catastrophes, but to cultivate the ability to adapt and learn from them” (Forbes,

2014).

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REFERENCES

Asghar, Rob (2014) Forbes. Why Silicon Valley’s ‘Fail Fast’ Mantra is Just Hype. Retrieved

on 24 May 2016 from http://www.forbes.com/sites/robasghar/2014/07/14/why-silicon-valleys-

fail-fast-mantra-is-just-hype/

Babineoux, R and Krumboltz, J (2013) Fail Fast, Fail Often: How Losing Can Help You Win.

TarcherPerigee.

Channel News Asia (2015). Average of 400 suicides in Singapore each year: Tan Chuan-Jin.

Retrieved on 24 May 2016 from http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/average-

of-400-suicides/2055216.html

Lutz, A (2015). Business Insider. Alibaba founder Jack Ma was rejected from 30 jobs, including

KFC, before becoming China’s richest man. Retrieved on 24 May 2016 on

http://www.businessinsider.com/alibaba-founder-jack-ma-on-rejection-2015-2

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