Idealism and the Youth

Note: This is an entry I wrote as far back as 2010, as a response to the youthful naivete I was witnessing all around me regarding certain political issues. The entry appeared on my old blog, but is new to this one. My views on the subject have only altered very slightly since.

Being a high-school teacher means that I get to hang around doe-eyed teenagers and observe their behaviour up close. Over the years I have seen all colours and shades, but the one thing that stands out for me is definitely the teenage brand of idealism. This particular brand is different from yours and mine; it is one that has an unstoppable energy and an inflammatory dose of self-conviction, chiefly derived from a one-dimensional, monochromatic outlook of the world. If this sounds patronising, it is because there is no other way to describe its crookedness.

Most young people are in need of conviction, some form of belief, no matter how unreasonable, to lean on during a period in their lives when uncertainties reign absolute. From a psychological perspective, this is entirely understandable and, not to mention, desirable, if the teenager in question is to remain sane before he arrives on the doorstep of adulthood and cynicism. The problem with conviction is, if left unchecked, it tends to flare up like an untreated pimple and cause unsightly damage. But unlike an untreated pimple, when conviction turns into fanaticism, it has the ability to   distort one's mind and intellect, leading the individual to mistakenly believe that his views are indisputable. You can call this the King Lear Syndrome. But King Lear is an ancient relic and he is entitled to be foolish. There is no excuse for the teenager who falls prey to wild idealism.

There are enough causes around the world for one to be seriously concerned about: the perennial Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the North Korean debacle, the Chinese invasion of Africa. But as with EVERY dispute on Man's polluted earth, there are two sides to every story. Very few teenagers are capable of acknowledging this. Nuance is not and cannot be part of the teenager's vocabulary because there is a shortage of space. Idealism – especially the type that is misguided by a need for politico-religious solidarity (I have Islam in mind), or a Robin Hood sense of justice – has a byte-size that not even a mega-computer can match. This is where we teachers have failed, despite (or perhaps owing to) the idealism of education. We are sending masses of misinformed young people into the chaos of the world so that they can create even more chaos. Is it because the educational system preaches political correctness and thus causes teachers to restrain themselves? Or is it because we teachers no longer give a rat's about what our students turn out to be? These are questions that haunt me each time I am faced with students whose views border on the fanatical. I wonder who is to blame: The teachers? Their parents? Society? It would be too easy to blame an abstract something like society. The teachers and the parents? These are external forces that have a limited range of influence. What you end up with is the teenager himself. We now have access to some of the best systems of education which give us a 360-degree view of the world, and yet there are teenagers who insist on seeking identification in one-sidedness. There must be a lot of pleasure to be had in setting up one's own trap.