YOUTH IDENTITY DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS

The purpose of educating our youth is to prepare them for their independent life. The aim of the project was to identify their own life at present and to visualize their prospects for the future. Initially, a group of students at every partner school had to think over those topics. Slovene school tackled the questions like »who am I and why am I as I am«. All levels of identity were debated upon, beginning with family followed by local, teenager, national, European and finally, global. Different aspects of the youth’s every day life were taken into consideration and then connected with their own visions of their expectations of their life in the future. Drafts for the comprehensive questionnaire were written and then elaborated at the project meeting in Romania. Over 500 students participated in the research. The results of it were the topics for debates among students, their parents and teachers. The research contributed to the fact that our young people have started contemplated about their behaviour and that teachers and parents have thought about how to become more positive raw models.
Spanish, Slovenian and Norwegian teenagers love spending their free time in the company of their peers while their German and Romanian colleagues prefer listening to music, the Turkish being somewhere in between. Only a small part of them spends their free time playing video games and an insignificant part enjoys reading.
Not long ago it was presumed that young people can spend their entire free time by watching TV only. The latter has been successfully replaced by computer and internet. 75% of Slovenian students claim computer and internet as the most important , 50% of German students share the same opinion. The item they would all miss the most after internet is the mobile phone. TV is not important anymore as only 5 to 10% of the students of all nationalities place TV in the first place, the only exception being the German students – 30% could not miss TV.
Partying seems to be very important to young people. We wanted to find out how often alcohol is consumed at parties. There are legal restrictions against selling alcohol to the underaged in every partner country. However, there are significant inconsistencies in applying the law. Norway and Germany are very strict and consistent whereas in other countries young buyers of alcoholic beverages are rarely asked for their ID. It is needless to say that young people always find some ingenious ways around it. 80% of Romanian students from Poroinica school have never tried alcohol as well as about 50% of Norwegian, Turkish and German students. 20% of Romanian students from Satu Mare drink regularly at parties, a few less Slovenians and less than 10% elsewhere. There are more boys than girls among those who drink, only in Norway it is vice versa. Spanish students stand out in a negative way – 90% of boys and 30% of girls regularly drink at parties.
The research analysis was taken very seriously at Spanish school where the teachers, together with students, the school council and parents tried to find the cause for the situation in question. The school IES Montes de Toledo Galvez lies in the centre of La Mancha region – a renowned wine country. Wine is always on the table and nobody seems to worry about that being a poor behaviour pattern. Next problem lies in street partying. Young people cannot afford expensive drinks in bars and clubs so they gather in car parks and squares, bring their own drinks and the party is ready. Sometimes they get prosecuted but mostly they are tolerated and the drinking is believed to be just a part of growing up. Despite the fact, that wine plays an important part in Spanish tradition, young people are aware that they are perhaps too young to drink alcohol. About 95% of the students do not want alcohol to be allowed. Why do they behave otherwise then?
Teenage years bring along first romantic relations. Half of the Romanian and a third of Turkish students have a boyfriend or a girlfriend. In other schools 20 % of the students are involved romantically. We cannot talk about serious relationships at this age as, according to students, the relationships change daily. Turkish students seem to want to get married younger than elsewhere. There is no doubt about the fact that Romanian students are in a hurry to get independent and live differently than their parents. About 70% of Romanians are going to be independent before the age of 25 and about the same percentage of Turkish students think they are going to be independent between the age of 25 and 30. Slovenia is the country where young people get independent relatively late. 80% of 28- year-olds still live with their parents as well as 60% of up to 35-year-olds. Slovenian students hope to get independent a little bit earlier. Hopefully, they will not change their minds when the time comes.
Most of our students feel good in their families and get along with their parents. Parents seem to control the girls more and do not limit the occupational choices. Reasons for family conflicts differ – a quarter of them are connected with school and bad habits. Sometimes the reason are financial problems and less than 10% parent relationships. Family members have chores and young people help their parents. Spanish students emphasize that family roles are very traditionally divided between men and women because of the agricultural character of the region. Young people are indispensable work force in vineyards and on farms. There is no equality among sexes. Obviously they are aware of the issue as all of the Spanish students found the sex discrimination a serious problem. Turkish and partially Romanian students share the same opinion, 20 % elsewhere. Most of the students agree that relationship with parents and their siblings is very important. When in trouble, their family members stand by them.
Half of the parents encourages their children to travel and meet new countries and cultures. Turkish students consider travelling a bit more complicated – the reason beeing their non-membership in EU. Sex is still a taboo and is mostly discussed with peers and friends and not with parents.
Students were asked a few questions on their healthy lifestyle. 90% of Turkish, Norwegian and Spanish students have breakfast before going to school. In Romania and Slovenia only about half of them. 80% of families prepare meals at home. Only 10% of Germans eat fast food, of marginal importance in other countries. About 80% of Norwegian and Slovenian students eat fruit and vegetables regularly , elsewhere only between 30 and 60%. Students do not seem to enjoy nature – only a fraction of students spends regularly their free time in the nature. Perhaps the connection with nature comes with age . On the other hand, the students who live in the country, do not feel the need.
Young people are usually interested in sports. How many of them practise sports beside obligatory PE in school? Just half of Slovenians are physically active almost every day. Norwegian, Spanish and Romanians from Poroinica follow, the least active being Romanians from Satu Mare school with only 20%. As it was expected, the most popular sport is football.
Young person needs enough sleep. 20 to 40% students are aware of that fact, especially Norwegians. Most of other students do not really care. Spanish students absolutely stand out and their teachers confirm the students come to school sleep deprived. The main reason is surfing the internet late at night. Despite of the above mentioned results the Spanish students still firmly believe that they live healthily. Most of Slovenians and Romanians share the opinion that they do not always live healthily.
Family is the most important part in young people’s lives. Friends come second, followed by health, music and education. Only Norwegians find environmental issues as important as the family, elsewhere the latter issue is of marginal importance. However, a fair number of families recycle – Norwegians are followed by Turks and 50% of Slovenians. Since implementing the questionnaire the number of Slovenian families that recycle has undoubtedly increased as the community of Šenčur has started an efficient recycling policy.
Religious affiliation differs according to the country: Norwegians are mostly Protestant, Germans, Slovenians and Romanians from Satu Mare are Catholics, Romanians from Poroinica are Orthodox and Turkish are Muslims. Most of the non-believers are among Norwegians and Germans – a good third of them. Slovenians are the ones who attend religious services the most, despite the fact that only half of them have declared themselves as religious. The reason could be in the fact that most of them were administered the sacrament of confirmation this year. On the other hand, half of the Spanish students are religious but attend religious services only at main religious holidays.
Our teenagers think about their future. Most Slovenians, Romanians from Poroinica, and half of Turkish students and only about 40% of Germans and Norwegians see their future with family and children. Others are thinking about living in a partnership but without children. It looks like family life is most critical in Spain – almost half of the students intend to live single. They still might change their mind when they meet the love of their life – who knows?
On average 60% of students see their future partnerships as a unity of equal partners. Others plead traditional family roles – one of the partners provide the financial security and the other looks after the children and takes care of the household. German school organizes day care for the children, which, in fact, is not regular practice in Germany, therefore 80% of students come from single parent families – mostly mothers. That is why the traditional roles still prevail there.
Parenting generation of today suffered a great intergenerational conflict when growing up. The generation gap seem to have faded somehow. Most of the students would be happy with the way of life their parents lead . However, Romanian students do not think so, the reason probably being the poor living conditions in Romania. About 40% of Spanish students do not wish to live a hard life on a farm or in a vineyard.
The life of our youth is not always carefree. More than half of Romanian students have unemployed relatives, in Germany and Norway about 30%, in Spain 20% and in Slovenia and Turkey about 10%. The majority of Romanian students share the opinion that financial situation in the country is not that bad. They do not complain and they live a modest existence. In Turkey , the unemployment rate among relatives is low but they would prefer to work in a EU country and not in Turkey. The living standard in Europe differ from country to country. The students are aware of social migrations and how important public health service is.
It can be concluded that students, who were involved in the European Patchwork research, live in a settled environment although some of them in modest conditions. The absolute majority of them see their peer relationships as collaborative and friendly. They feel good at school and have their parents there for them. Most of them think that »having a good life« mean to be personally satisfied. A quarter of them would rather be well paid.
We, the teachers, by all means wish all our students became mature, responsible, satisfied and open-minded personalities.
Detalii despre chestionarul aplicat elevilor se găsesc în broşura proiectului.