Protect the Minds of Young People in College

How would you get more young people involved in politics?

Young people don’t vote. Or, at least, the vast majority of them seem to be allergic to the ballot box.

For example, turnout amongst young voters (18-24) in the 2014 European elections was a scant 28%.

Contrast that with turnout among people aged 55+, over half of whom (51%) cast their ballots in 2014, and it’s clear that youth participation in European elections is not great.

No, the problem is not just with EU elections. Youth turnout in national elections can also be appallingly low.

 There are exceptions, of course, and in some countries, such as France and Poland, young people are just as ly (or even more ly) than older voters to participate.

In general, however, young people seem less ly to vote than any other group of citizens. Why is that? And how can we encourage better youth participation in politics? 

What do our readers think? We had a comment sent in from David, arguing that it was absolutely critical that young people get more involved in European politics: “Young people are consistently shown as the most pro-European – without their involvement in Europe’s present, the EU has no future… [Yet] for young people, sadly EU politics seems distant and there is an unclear link with their daily lives.”

How would YOU get more young people involved in politics? We asked Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) from all sides of the political spectrum to stake out their positions on this question, and it’s up to YOU to vote for the policies you favour. See what the different MEPs have to say, then vote at the bottom of this debate for the one you most agree with! Take part in the vote below and tell us who you support in the European Parliament!

Radical Left

Fabio de Masi (Radical Left), Member of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs:

I think that to involve young people in politics they first of all must have a say. And we can see that during the [July 2015] Greek referendum there was a high turnout from young voters.

But if basically EU politics is telling young people ‘We don’t care about your future.

We don’t care about your opinion’, as they did with the Greek referendum, then people will say: “Why should I even go to vote?”

So, the basic prinicple to involve young people is they must feel they have control of their future. And if the EU institutions take away the control of their future, and take away their very future, people will not turn up to vote because they feel it’s useless.

Social Democrats

Victor Negrescu (S&D), Member of the European Parliament:

Greens

Terry Reintke (Group of the Greens), Member of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs:

I think one of the things that engaged me in politics from the start was to see a clear alternative.

And one of the things that European politics has so far been lacking is these alternatives and faultlines, not along national borders but rather in terms of politics, beliefs, and values.

So, voters need to really see a difference between what social democrats, conservatives, green, or liberals are doing in the European Parliament.

I think one of the biggest challenges for us as politicians is to create these kind of arenas and have these controversial debates, but at the same time to have a media that is covering this.

And just to give one example where I believe German media has recently failed to create this space was by not broadcasting the State of the Union speech by [European Commission President] Jean-Claude Juncker.

Regardless of whether I agree or not with the speech politically, not putting it on mainstream media was a problematic decision. So, I believe the media has a very important part to play here.

Liberal Democrats

Guy Verhofstadt (ALDE), Member of the European Parliament and Chair of the ALDE Group (NOTE: We contacted ALDE for comment but they did not reply in time for publication. The below is from a video interview recorded by Debating Europe ahead of the European Parliament elections in May 2014):

Centre Right

Roberta Metsola (EPP), Vice-Chair of the Committee on Petitions:

Conservatives

Timothy Kirkhope (ECR), Member of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs:

Eurosceptics

Laura Ferrara (EFD), Member of the European Parliament:

The answer is to give to each citizen the effective power to participate in the decision-making process, applying the principle of direct democracy through the means offered by the Internet and the other Information Technologies.

The Movimento 5 Stelle (5 Stars Movement), to which I belong, is strongly committed to applying the principles of E-Democracy, and the results are clear as day: we are, in Italy, the youngest political movement ever, and we are also the youngest delegation both in the National and in the European Parliament.

Curious to know more about youth participation in European democracy? We’ve put together some facts and figures in the infographic below (click for a bigger version).

With the support of:

Источник: //www.debatingeurope.eu/2015/12/14/get-young-people-involved-politics/

IELTS Writing Task 2 – In many countries more and more young people are leaving school

In many countries more and more young people are leaving school but unable to find jobs. What problems do you think youth unemployment causes for individuals and the society?

What measures should be taken to reduce the level of unemployment among youngsters?

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

You should write at least 250 words.

Idea relate to the Essay

Para 1: Effects on individual– Economic loss– Peace of mind and feeling of security is lost– Self worth is lost– Social status and status within the family is lost– Mental health is affected

Para 2: Effects on society

– Increased poverty– Crime– Political instability– Diminished health standards

Para 3: What can be done

– Education system reform – many people are without jobs and many jobs are without suitable people– Government subsidies to those firms that take on unemployed people– Control of birth rate – fewer children to care for and feed– Set up industries agriculture

– Set up cottage industries – carpets – mats – soaps

Sample Answer 1:

Young people’s situation and future prospects are of vital concern to us all. Many of themface the problem of unemployment after passing school.

This essay shall highlight theproblems caused by youth unemployment on individuals and society and suggest someways forward.

It has been rightly said – “Of all the aspects of social misery, nothing is so

heart breaking as unemployment” Jane Adams

Unemployment has profound effects on the young people. Unemployment affects theirpsychological and social development. Some may even develop suicidal tendencies or getinvolved in crime. A significant proportion of young people are not in a position to make apositive transition to adulthood.

For some, it will be very difficult to ‘catch up’, even ifcircumstances do improve.

At a crucial period of life, they are missing out on acquiring andexercising skills, on developing a sense of their competence, on getting the positive feelingsabout self which come from having a sense of control over their own lives, on being given

opportunities to contribute to society, and to feel that they are valued.

On the societal level also there are many effects. There is increased crime in the societywhich has a very detrimental effect.

Young people are energetic and if their energy is notchannelized in the right direction then definitely violence and crime is there in the society.

Poverty, which is the result of unemployment, also leads to many problems diminished
health standards. So, on the whole, the society suffers.

The solutions are not simple. Education system should be reformed. There are many peoplewithout jobs and many jobs are without suitable people. So students should be encouragedto take up those courses which have no dearth of jobs.

Government can also providesubsidies to those firms that take on unemployed people. Government can set up industries agriculture and also set up cottage industries such as those of carpets, mats andsoaps.

Finally, government can encourage self employment by giving loans to young people

who want to be entrepreneurs.

To put it in a nutshell, I pen down saying that, youth unemployment is a serious issue andshould be dealt with on a war footing as there are a lot of detrimental effects on the

individual and society.

Model Answer 2:
Job crisis is one the most big problems for almost all of the countries and the there are lots of  negative consequences for the unemployment young and the society.

The people are aware now about the education and the percentage of the people going to the colleges and universities are more than anytime it had before.

So as a result, more students are graduating from the colleges and universities but with the increased population and limited opportunities, none can ensure the employment for all the graduating young people.

There are many problems concerning those unemployed young people. First of all, they become so depressed and feel dejected. They start abusing drugs and start doing unethical things that are harmful for both themselves and the society.

Since they need money but have no steady income source so they involve them with some heinous task drug dealing, stealing, robbery, black mailing etc. They are often misused as political pawn and thus they corrupt the society at a large.

If a society can’t ensure the economical freedom and jobs for the young then it must suffer form ethical disorder and social calamities.

The rate of crimes increases and as young are the most dominating portion of any society , they gone uncontrolled and thus steal the peace of the whole society.
Government should as well the individual; take many prudent steps to reduce the level of unemployment.

For instance: The government should try to increase the job fields in every sector. Self employment should be encourages and the opportunity of SME loan should be introduced at a larger portion.

Interest free loan should be offered to those fresh graduates to encourage building their own business and firms. Again, Government can arrange to send those skillful graduates to the foreign countries diplomatically and thus can earn lots of foreign revenue.

Finally the individual should be self motivated and hard working to develop their own situation and help the society to become a better place to live in beside the efforts of the Government.

Model Answer 3:

The issue of unemployment among youth is widely discussed around nowadays. It causes numerous problems in society, the major of which is a constant increase of crime level.

We must acknowledge that youth unemployment has reached a threatening level. For example, on the Gold Coast it is 14% above the national average. Needless to say, that this trend evokes great problems in society.

Unfortunately, crime level has rocketed for the past decade: robbery, sexual abuse, drink- and drug- driving do not sound unthinkable nowadays. If young people were more involved into their careers, it would be a strong deterrent from committing crimes.

It is true that youth’s expectations are often too high and they are not active enough in their job search. A further problem is that unemployed youngsters are a heavy burden on the state’s budget.

It is clear that school leavers need more information about possible job vacancies. Job centres could cooperate with schools, organising open door days for high school students. No one can guarantee them a well-paid position without any experience or university degree.

The government has also to fund preparation courses, where young people could get a professional orientation, learn to write their resume, get prepared for a coming interview and decide what exactly they want to do in life.

Needless to say that youngsters demand a certain guidance and assistance, as it is their first experience in searching a job. Businesses should be encouraged to employ young apprentices, too, and their taxed could be decreased significantly.

Another measure is encouraging of working pensioners to retire. If they do that, more working positions will become available for the youth.

In conclusion, the government should work out a national program to ameliorate unemployment rates among youth.

Model Answer 4:

Nowadays, increasing numbers of young people all around the world have being school and jobless. This situation poses great pressure on both individuals and society.

The unemployed young people are suffering from various kinds of problems caused by joblessness. They are depressed by the stress of looking for jobs. Nobody, especially the young people, favour living their lives idly, thus they have to consistently improve their employable skills and keep on looking for jobs.

However, the depressed global economy makes tougher and more tortuous their road of getting hired. Moreover, they are more ly to involve in physical problems, such as diabetes, obesity and heart disease, due to long hours sitting and lack of exercises.

Also psychological illness may find their way to them because the young job seekers are usually accompanied with anxiety.

For the society as a whole, youth joblessness would impair the balance of the society. The crime rates, to some extent, linked with the unemployment rate, will soar if unemployment can not be well controlled. In order to survive, some jobless young people make take the risk in getting some income illegally, for instance stealing, robbery, gambling and smuggling.

Also they may blindly commit crimes just for releasing their resentment towards the society. What’s more, the sustainable development of the society would be negatively affected.

The high youth joblessness is not the result of too many population but the disfunctional human resource markets which, if not handled properly and instantly, would result in chaos in various areas in the nation.

In my point of view, several actions may be effective to this scenario. Firstly, the authorities should invest more money in education and technique skills training to ensure that the young people are armed with the knowledge and skills that employers want.

Secondly, the rigid human resource markets should get rid of any old regulations which may discourage employers from hiring young people. And finally, the authorities should lower requirements of opening small business and encourage people to run their own stores.

All in all, high youth joblessness acts plague to both individuals and societies. Actions must be taken to help young people get employed.

Model Answer 5:

Nowadays, an increasing number of graduates face the challenge that they can not find position in workplace. The high rate unemployment makes those young people neither confident nor independent, it is also an unstable factor of the society. In my view, governments should endeavor to change the situation and juveniles should improve themselves to be qualified employees.

First of all, for the majority of young people, the failure in finding a job may make them lose self-confidence which is critical for their future life.

That is because such unsuccessful experience may bring harmful effects to them in both mental and physical.

Moreover, unemployment makes those young people rely too much on their family which may bring heavy burden to their parents and they can not become as independent as others who successfully started their career.

In addition, the more unemployment among the youngster, the less energetic and creative workforce in the industries.

The reason is obviously, just looking back at the past, many scientific renovation and technological invention stemmed from youngsters’ crazy ideas.

What’s more, the increasing amount of unemployed youngsters may be the unstable factor of the society and bring harmful influence to their community.

To solve these problems, on the other hand, governments should enact laws to encourage the investment to create more job opportunities for the young fraduates.

Besides, subsidizing those employment reasonably to ease the stress of their daily life is also necessary. While on the other hand, the youngseter themselves should learn more practical skills in order ro meet the real needs of the job market.

After all, it is not the strongest that survive in the society, but the most responsive to change.

Get More Topic Sample Answer

Submit your Essay here in the comment section, we will add your essay in our post. 

(Collected; Source: Internet)

Источник: //dxschool.org/ielts-writing-task-2-many-countries-young-people-leaving-school/

8 young people who are changing the world – More than Motivation: Study, Career and Life Inspiration

Young people really do have the power to change the world. So, to celebrate National Youth Week, we thought we’d have a look at a group of amazing kids who are shaking up this blue planet we live on, and making it a better place.

Boyan Slat – Environmentalist

At just 19 years of age, Boyan Slat is undertaking the largest ocean clean-up in history!

Boyan’s journey started when at age 16, he went diving in Greece and was shocked by the sheer volume of plastic floating in the ocean. According to Slat, it seemed as if there was more plastic than fish.

Sadly, he had a point. Every year, around 8 million metric tons of plastic finds its way into the ocean, and it’s estimated that by 2050, there actually will be more plastic in the ocean than aquatic life.

Not happy to sit back and let this happen, Slat began designing a solution, and by 19 years of age he has successfully designed and tested an environmentally friendly, efficient and effective way to remove plastic waste from the sea.

To learn more about Boyan and his project, visit The Ocean Cleanup.

Abigail Lupi – Founder of CareGirlz

It was a visit to her grandma’s nursing home to sing a song for her 100th birthday, which opened 10-year-old Abigail Lupi’s eyes to the loneliness faced by many elderly people in care.

Upset by the lack of visitors or family members to care for them, Abigail started CareGirlz, a troupe of talented singing, dancing and acting youngsters who spend their free time visiting aged care homes and hospitals to perform for, and chat with, the elderly.

A roaring success, CareGirlz has brightened the lives of over 1,000 people and is growing every year.

Abigail (far right) and some of the team on a visit

Krtin Nithiyanandam – Medical innovator

On the surface, 16 year old British boy Krtin Nithiyanandam seems any teen. He loves sport, his family and is enjoying working his way through high school. He also happens to have developed a test which can detect Alzheimer’s Disease a decade before symptoms appear, and which may even help stop the disease’s progression!

Radically different from common testing methods, Krtin’s test involves antibodies which, once injected into the bloodstream, attach themselves to proteins in the brain (which are one of the first stages of Alzheimer’s) and then show up on brain scans.

It is thought that this test may even be able to stop the proteins from further growth, and in doing so, stop Alzheimer’s from developing!

Katie Stagliano – Farmer for the homeless

When she was nine years old Katie was given a school project which involved growing a cabbage from a seed. Katie managed to grow a whopping 18 kilo cabbage.

Instead of eating it herself, she took it to a local soup kitchen for the homeless, where it went on to feed over 275 people.

Moved by how many people were helped with just one vegetable, Katie determined to grow more. With this in mind she set up a number of vegetable gardens to grow whole crops of food to donate.

This project became Katie’s Krops, and it quickly spread out into other neighbourhoods, with many young people also growing their own food for donation.

So far, thousands of kilos of food has been grown under the Katie’s Krops initiative, with many thousands of homeless and vulnerable people able to eat because of the vision and hard work of one girl.

Jack Andraka – Medical pioneer

After losing a close family friend to pancreatic cancer, Jack Andraka was determined to do something to fight the disease.

Knowing that the main reason that pancreatic cancer is so lethal is because testing only picks it up at its very late stages, the year 9 student, worked out a way to detect the disease in its early stages by combining nanotubes with antibodies.

In order to develop the test, the dedicated teen approached 200 health professionals with a proposal, and was rejected by all but one, Dr. Anirban Maitra who is Professor of Pathology, Oncology and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at John Hopkins School of Medicine.

Under Maitra’s mentorship, Andraka, spent seven months developing a ‘dipstick’ style test that can detect the disease in its early stages.

Ken Amante – Animal activist

This amazing nine-year-old started his very own animal shelter to care for the hundreds of dogs and cats left abandoned, hurt, injured, sick and starving around his rural hometown in the Philippines.

Called The Happy Animals Club, the shelter was started after photos of Ken wandering the streets and feeding sick animals hit the internet. Donations from several people across the world helped Ken to lease a 1,000 square metre space to house, heal, and care for homeless animals, and animals facing euthanasia in local pounds.

Up and running with the help of volunteers, the no-kill shelter aims at finding loving homes for the animals in its care.

Aisha Mustafa – Aeronautical engineer

At 19 years old, Aisha Mustafa has done what many space theorists only dream of: invented a space propulsion system which eliminates the need for fuel and thrusters.

quantum theory, this amazing system not only eliminates many of the complications that can stop a mission in its tracks, but it also makes these missions both lighter and cheaper.

Ultimately, this teen’s dream could make space more accessible and exploration more viable.

Ali Amood, Adam Alahmad and the students at Granville Boys High

A stabbing at one of Sydney’s roughest schools in 2011 inspired students Ali Amood, Adam Alahmad and others to start up the Pulse Cafe.

The idea behind it was that with a cup of coffee and some food, a school community could be created where friendships were fostered and barriers were broken down.

With a starting grant of $500 to buy the coffee machine, the Pulse Cafe started running in the morning between 8am and 8.30am, serving coffee and food.

Supported by donations as well as funds from paying customers, the cafe is also able to supply students without the financial means to eat breakfast, ensuring that everyone starts the school day having eaten.

Since the Cafe first opened its doors, the school has seen a dramatic shift in behaviour, with violence levels down, students happier, more attentive and more engaged.

Change is in the air

So to every young dreamer out there, you can make a difference, and you can change the world, no matter how young you are. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

So what are you waiting for? Get out there and make your mark!

Источник: //www.opencolleges.edu.au/blog/2016/04/26/lw-young-people-changing-the-world/