Essays

The youngsters in the age group of thirteen and nineteen are called teenagers. They seem to stand at a crossroad and are a bewildered lot. They are restless to forge ahead in the fields of knowledge and careers and so are under great pressure and strain. The competition in schools, colleges and careers is growing tough day by day. Parents expect tailfin to have excellent grades in their examinations and tests. Many of them commit suicide every year as they fail to have results expected by their parents and elders. Failures make them frustrated and they revolt and become in disciplined. They do not conform to customs and traditions and follow the western styles of living and thinking.

There is no proper guidance and understanding of these youngsters. There is hardly any role model on the regional or national levels to follow and they feel lost, neglected and uncared for. The institution of family has been disintegrating and parents lack both desire and time to look after the teenagers. Really the teenagers are passing through a very critical period. There is crisis of identity before millions and millions of teenagers of India.

It is very critical stage of life a stage of adolescence between childhood and adulthood. They are keenly conscious of these ground realities and try to identify themselves with film, sports and fashion heroes. They want to show themselves as a distinct social group and have a craze for western music, life-style, fashions etc. They are full of enthusiasm and energy but without proper direction. They are future of the country but live in a world of their own ideals and values. They often clash with the adults and defy their authority. They resist discipline, restrictions and all sorts of teachings. They are aging fast in respect of knowledge and maturity and lose much of the charms, joys and innocence associated with childhood and teenage. They want to follow what they desire and like and in many cases are misled into harmful and undesirable activities. As a result child delinquency is on the increase.

The cable and television boom coupled with cartoon films have caused havoc. A greater part of their daily life is spent before the idiot box. They try to imitate and follow what they see. Sometimes they imitate the dangerous advertisement visuals seen on the small screen and end in tragedy. A number of tragic deaths related to these have been reported. It is really a very dangerous trend. A distinct change can be now seen in their^ behaviour pattern. They get more money and pocket allowance from their elders than did the teenagers of yesterday. They have become good consumers and go for costly toys, clothes, chocolates, toffees, cold-drinks, chewing gums etc. They enjoy seeing video and cartoon films for long hours. Shopping they find to be an enjoying experience. They have today more of their private life than ever before.

The parents being busy in business, service or some other livelihood hardly find time to supervise their activities or mix up with them freely and frequently. They are aggressive and defiant which is sometimes transformed into violence. Consequently, they have developed a split personality pulled in opposite directions of discipline and values and free indulgence and fashion. They want to have an independent personality and enjoy things to the maximum. They feel life is to be enjoyed and there should be no restrain. The teenagers of today have many questions to ask but there are no answers. There is no personal contact between the teacher and the students. The parents are too busy to pay individual attention to their sons and daughters.

The family has shrunk and grandparents often do not come in the present boundary of a family. In such a situation they are groping in darkness and trying to find solutions to their problems in films, magazines etc. This has resulted in a wide gap between the teenage world and the world of the adults. The adults want them to conform to traditions, morals and values but they follow their own ideas and dreams formed after free western culture. Schools, colleges, markets and streets are full of .teenagers.

One is still a teenager when one is about to leave a college. Then he is faced with the problem of employment but fails to find suitable employment. His frustration increases, he becomes more bitter, aggressive, restless and defiant. Being without guidance, help and sympathy he feels rudderless and often drifts into drug-addiction, bad company, the world of petty crimes and sex-abuses. It is high time that more and more time is given to teenagers; more and efficient guidance and counseling services are there. They should be treated with love, sympathy and regard. Their sentiments, ideas and dreams should be given due consideration.

It is also essential that their surplus mental and physical energies are given due outlet in the form of games, sports, scouting, NCC, social service and cultural activities. Our education and examination systems should be suitably reformed. Education should be job-oriented and linked with the industry. There should be no political interference in the management of schools, colleges and universities. The society should recognize the separate identity of the teenagers and participate in their activities.

Practice is better than precept. We should provide them with role models. The task is formidable but we need to rise to the occasion. We should have patience, tolerance and empathy with the youngsters. They urgently need a kind o/healing touch. If right lead and guidance are given, the teenagers of today will definitely create a new brave world full of due discipline, values, healthy traditions, enjoyment and prosperity. It needs a kind of cultural, social and educational renaissance and resurrection.