There is plenty of research on public sentiments and tendencies that prevail among modern youth. In general the ideas of young people are original and fresh, they arouse one’s interest because the future of a state depends on the positions of the younger generation, on their values. A good way to uncover the thoughts and moods of young people is to conduct a survey of school graduates. This has been done for a number of years at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. As usual, this year prospective students had to write an essay in which they had to show their vision of social and political processes taking place in Ukraine, to share their thoughts on the future of the country and our place in the world, and also to dwell on the role of the Orange Revolution in our history.
“Every year when school graduates apply to study at our Academy we ask them to answer various questions. It is important. We want to see how they can express their thoughts and what values and priorities they have. There are also elements of a sociological experiment in it: we want to discover the sociological features of our future students. Another thing we would like to find out is how the contingent of students changes with time, how they develop their values, what is really important for them in life and what is less important. We simply want to know who is applying to study at our university every year. We have a special research center headed by Viacheslav Briukhovetsky where all this information is processed,” the president of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy Serhii Kvit told The Day.
The Institute of Social and Political Psychology of Ukraine’s Academy of Pedagogical Sciences can also share information about the ideas of modern youth on democracy and civil society. Last year they conducted a research on this topic. Ph.D. in Psychology, head of the laboratory of political involvement at Institute of Social and Political Psychology of Ukraine’s Academy of Pedagogical Sciences Larysa Kyiashko told The Day about the results and conclusions that were drawn from them.
The attitude of young people towards democracy, their vision of the development of democratic processes, is the foundation of building the future of Ukraine. Does the youth know more about their rights and freedoms? What is democracy for them?
“In 2009 we conducted a research among students from universities, technical colleges, and schools. The leaders of youth organizations also took part in the research. The main conclusion is that the idea of democracy for young people is connected with such categories as rights, freedom, but not with responsibility and awareness of duties. Hence, democracy for them means freedom and rights without including the notion of responsibility. It is hard to say what is the reason why young people understand the notion democracy in such a way. We think that it has ideological parameters: at some point there was educational work carried out among children and the youth, but young people nowadays do not have that. Besides, there is no clear explanation of the notion of democracy.”
You mean that in the Soviet Union the ideological work was carried out by pioneers and Komsomol?
“Previously there was targeted ideological work, but now it is lacking. This is our belief and not only ours. In addition to our lab, which conducts this kind of research, similar research is being done by the Lab for Teenager and Youth Socialization at our institute. Its specialists were working, several years ago, on the topic of political education among young people. Books and programs were published as a result, but these are, unfortunately, barely being implemented.”
What other interesting results would you single out?
“In addition to studying how the concepts of democracy and civil society are represented in the consciousness of young people, we also researched such psychological parameters as conflict zones. A conflict zone is a gap between accessibility and desirability of some phenomena. Our research shows that conflict zones appear when some phenomenon is inaccessible to a certain individual. According to our results, financial well-being, the country’s prosperity, and sincerity of politicians are the conflict zones of our younger generation. There are also inertia zones. This is when the attitude is the opposite: certain phenomena are accessible but are not valuable. In other words, the inertia zones of Ukrainian youth comprise values we have mentioned. For example, responsibility and a sense of duty are not values. Proceeding from these conflict and inertia zones in the consciousness of young people we observe results in their conduct.”
So material values are the top priority for young people? For example, when, for money, students carry the banners of any color during various political “shows” and when, during political battles and conflicts students are given an opportunity to earn without giving any thought to whom and what they thus serve?
“All our youth needs is to be provided with political education. We studied the motivation of political participation of youth in various political events. Our results show that students are primarily stimulated by financial compensation, rather than by an understanding that this is their civic duty, a parameter indicative of democracy. Our students largely expect that participation in political processes will be rewarded with some kind of material compensation. If targeted educational work is carried out in order to form habits and shape worldview and morals, the situation may start to change.”
According to the Institute of Democratic Initiatives nearly 40 percent of young Ukrainians wish to go abroad. Is this also a result of the lack of ideological work?
“The reason is that, for the view point of our youth, developed democratic countries have plenty of what we are lacking. Perhaps, in the eyes of our young people national prosperity and material provision are much more attractive there as compared to what we have. It is also likely that part of our young people want to head West because what they view as a conflict zone is absent there.”
To change the situation, ideological work should, perhaps, begin in kindergartens?
“Actually yes, it would be good to start from kindergartens, but it is feasible only starting from high school. I am talking about interactive classes, lessons devoted to these issues, some trainings, and work with young people and children’s organizations which involves certain psychological accompaniment and an implementation of guidelines produced by research institutes such as ours.”
Does the state show interest in your research and publications on this topic?
“If our labs exist and are financed, there must be some interest. But our recommendations are not acted upon. The problem is that in legislative acts from six to seven years ago, the idea of de-ideologizing education led to a situation when these phenomena are disregarded in schools and higher education institutions. De-ideologization of education causes all processes of youth involvement in sociopolitical life to take place in a spontaneous fashion or under material stimulation.”
