JOHN WOODEN, the famous American basketball player and coach, and member of the Basketball Hall Of Fame, once remarked: “Young people need models, not critics.”
Nor would-be gratifiers, we hasten to add.
Truth be told, it has become more and more fashionable of today’s politicians and other speechifiers not to be overly critical of the youth, but Mr Wooden would not have been exactly impressed by their supposedly model utterances.
Model indeed they are not.
And you might see with us why we are inclined toward the philosophy of Mr Wooden, who fell short of being a centenarian a mere week ago. A life just short of 100 years and long periods of guidance of and interaction with youth come highly recommended.
So, no undue criticising, we agree; and no disgusting gratifying, we insist.
Take a popular radio talk show host addressing the issue of the 11-Plus examination and its attendant nerves and trauma. This radio man does not speak to parents; instead he raps with the pupils.
In strident manner he tells them – and we paraphrase – not to let their parents and guardians pressure them if they didn’t do that well, or as their elders expected . . . . That these young students should let their seniors know they had done their best, and that life goes on.
Mr Popular Talk Show Host should have been speaking to the parents themselves instead, admonishing them to be gentle and understanding with their charges. Mr Host should have been trying to instil his higher values in the parents who have responsibility for guidance.
As it was, it came over as children being encouraged to dismiss their parents – their dreams and antics. Isn’t that pandering?
Then there is the consultant to the National Youth Policy, Dr Ivan Henry, declaring the time had come for adults to listen to young people and take them seriously – a comment as condescending to the young as it is empty of spirit to the elder.
To start with, the very National Youth Policy is an indication the Government itself is serious about youth. That education takes up a sizeable portion of our national budget and parents want their offspring well educated and skilled speak for themselves.
The problem is much of the condescension and pandering by people who should know better is born of the quick-fix syndrome. The nurturing of our young takes patience, repeated effort, faith and time – the responsibilities of parents and leaders.
Throwing the untrained and inexperienced young into the mix to help their elders navigate the challenging courses of life is hardly fair. Yes, our young need to be heard; but the burden is not theirs to carry.
We listen that we may know their wants and satisfy them so long as it is for their good. We owe our youth guidance; not empty platitudes – and just as importantly we owe it to them to be, as Wooden said, models.
