“The youth is the hope of our fatherland.” This famous cliché reminds us how important our young one’s are. Children are really vital but how should they be trained so they could have the proper direction.
The Bible says “Train the child the way he should go so when he gets older, he will not depart from it.” This verse will definitely guide us in molding the minds of our youngs.
Surely everyone will agree that youth empowerment can be attained through educating our children. It is strongly believed that education is the answer to all our problems; when everything else has been taken away. It all begins with education at home, in school, and eventually in the community.
Educating our children depends much on us, parents and teachers. Though schools are there to assists the children in their needs, they are not to be solely held responsible in educating them.
The advent of the age of information and technology is slowly but formidably proving what Winston Churchill predicted several decades ago. As quoted by Alvin Toffler in his book Powershift, that “Empress of the future are empress of the mind.”
The emergence of this global development is unstoppable. It can only be met and welcomed with new ways of thinking which in turn must be nurtured through new ways of learning. These two must be equal to the challenges and the opportunities of the unfolding global community; dynamic, pro-active, creative, transformative, and visionary.
The youth are the instruments toward achieving the vision of empowering them. They have all the requirements in educating oneself which adult do not have; laughter, fantasy, spontaneity, acceptance and trust.
Teaching the young to be responsible can be the most delightful, most marvelous achievement one can ever have. It can also be the most challenging and sometimes frustrating experience if we fail to accomplish our target expectations.
We must make our children proud citizens- confident, competent and productive. Global citizens that is cognizant of the intricate demands of international exchange in different fields of social activity.
Remember that the greatest influence we could have on our children comes not from what we say but from how we live our lives.
Live what we preach and without us knowing it we have already produced empowered children armoured with responsibility and readiness to face the challenges ahead.
By: MS. LUDIVINA S. OMANIA | SSHT-III-English | Mariveles National High School-Cabcaben, Mariveles, Bataan
