Growing Pains
by Celia Hannon
They like their families (75%), they respect their elders (78%) and they think stealing is wrong...
According to Voicebox, a new survey released today, some the most well worn stories about young people don't quite match up to the reality. No surprises there; there's been a healthy culture of demonisation for as long as we have had young people. Two thousand years ago Socrates famously complained about the bad manners of the young, their lack of respect for older people and rudeness to their parents. Today, there are as many counter-claims about the value which young people bring to society and their communities as there are negative stereotypes. The media loves nothing more than a shining example of achievement in sport, singing (and even volunteering). Perhaps the exceptions prove the rule.
Whichever side of the debate we find ourselves on, apparently we all share a desire to find a single story to tell about the younger generation. It seems to help us make sense of a cohort of individuals who are as diverse, complex and contradictory as any other age group in society. We rarely turn this rather one sided exchange on its head, and ask what they think. Watch this space for more on the collaboration between Demos and the Voicebox project.