Youth Issues

In an interview discussing his increasing philanthropy late last year, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg noted that “when you give everyone a voice and give people power, the system usually ends up in a really good place. So, what we view our role as, is giving people that power.”

Facebook, for Zuckerberg, has a role to play in power systems. It can be a political tool for leaders. And he’s right, but only conditionally; a number of other groups need to come to the party before we can consider social media a tool for good.

I spent a recent weekend helping Year 11 students understand what it means to be a leader, and I can safely say that I don’t share the pessimism about our future that the majority of headlines concerning ‘young Australians’ seems to show. But nor can I say in good conscience that the future is all roses.

Continue reading "We don’t expect much from youth so that’s what we get" »

Narre Warren party animal Corey Worthington has almost completely faded from national memory. Which is a shame, as the kid should at least be remembered for one thing - impeccable comic timing.

One of the finest exchanges of modern television was young Corey’s droll quip to a frustrated Leila McKinnon on A Current Affair when, having banged her head against a brick wall trying to get sense out of this mop-headed ratbag, she asked “ Well finally Corey what would you say to other kids who are thinking about partying when their parents are out of town?”

After a perfect two-second pause Corey replied: “Get me to do it for you.”

Continue reading "The kids are alright, some parents should be grounded" »

There are currently some 700,000 university students in Australia, which I would estimate represents 145,478 cases of Chlamydia, 49,678 one-night stands and 4,567,099 packets of instant noodles consumed in the last calender year.

We have institutions aplenty (39 at last count) which are excellent at pumping out graduates who have gained little beyond a vague understanding of post-structuralism and an impressive repertoire of drinking games involving Sambucca.

But Julia Gillard thinks we need even more university students: 300,000 more to be precise. All part of the Education Minister‘s plans to give the higher education system a bit of a face lift.

Continue reading "Tune in, drop out, get drunk, become a hairdresser" »

We live in an era consumed by communication technology. Walk into any home, library or education institution and you are bound to find a young person tweeting, poking, emailing or texting a friend, rather than engaging in a face-to-face conversation.

We know from studies that most Australian teenagers use instant messaging at least once a day and that when given a choice, young people nominate the internet, not TV or their mobile phones, as the one piece of technology they could not live without.

Undoubtedly, there is immense value in young people possessing these new communication skills - but are they losing the ability to effectively communicate face-to-face in the process? 

Continue reading "Tweet all you like – but don’t forget how to talk" »