A new generation with old habits

Modern teenagers are optimists. They are proud to be citizens of Ukraine. They want to get good education, make happy families, find interesting jobs, and be successful. And success in our country, as they believe, can be achieved thanks to… First, influential family members, high level of intelligence, and ability to evade laws (!). This is the image of a modern high school graduate that can be made based on the results of the nationwide survey of high school graduates of 2012, which was conducted jointly by the Institute of Sociology at NAS of Ukraine and the Pedagogical Institute at Ukraine’s National Academy of Pedagogical Studies (NAPS). The total number of 10,134 high school graduates and 1,066 teachers participated in the survey.

The worldview of modern senior student has been formed in a difficult situation: on the one hand, it is a “product” of modern information society, on the other hand – the basis for his system of values was laid by people and the system of social relations that was formed in Soviet times. Apparently, this is where dual views and values, often contradictory and mutually exclusive, come from. For example, 60 percent of graduates say that “my life is primarily the result of my own efforts.” At the same time, nearly 80 percent of graduates are convinced that the state has to take care of its people, compared to only 12 percent of those, who are ready to take the whole responsibility for their lives on themselves. Sociologists say that this is the evidence of lack of initiative and reluctance to take responsibility for their lives. Remarkably, trust in a state is characteristic of totalitarian societies, which a priory do not approve of individual initiative. By the way, nearly 83 percent of the respondents from among the teachers trust in state’s assistance despite the fact that 51 percent of them have 20 and more years of work experience, which means that they formed their pedagogical skills back in Soviet times. Why did trust in state’s assistance root in the system of values of today’s high school graduates – full-fledged participants of global information space?

“This is the evidence of that, although, we are formally already a part of information society, the defining values of the information society haven’t become dominant in us. We don’t only need to work in the new information society, we have to make those values, particularly imitativeness, independence, access to the information throughout the world, valid. Thus, formally we already live in the globalized information society, but psychologically still remain in the past in many aspects,” explained to The Day famous sociologist Yevhen HOLOVAKHA, deputy head of the Institute of Sociology at NAS of Ukraine. “Besides, it has become possible due to the teachers’ influence, who still represent old values, that were associated with paternalism and lack of initiative, etc. in many ways. School students are very rarely involved in some individual work – independent work (in the West, for example, many 15 year old teenagers have a job) or NGO’s activities. We have largely preserved the model of patriarchal family and have a tradition that children, while they are still at school, are not able to solve their problems on their own. The problem is also in our educational system, which has to be rearranged taking into account psychological aspect and the issue of defining values,” said Holovakha.

However, young people, who inherited some values of the Soviet era, have adapted them to modern realities. “It is hardly possible to say for sure, that there is a clear tendency of reproducing models of previous generations in actions and views of school students,” believes Andrii ZOTKIN, senior fellow at the Institute of Sociology at Ukraine’s NAS. He says that children think already in different categories – the categories of the modern world, including the concept of consumption.

“The vast majority of students prefer the state to care about its citizens, which reflects in the general situation in the society, in public opinion within Ukraine, but, at the same time, only a small part of the respondents are willing to sacrifice something for the good of the state,” said Zotkin. According to the results of the survey, only 3.4 percent of school graduates have an opinion that “people have to be willing to sacrifice for the good of the state.” By the way, only a really small percentage of respondents are willing to devote themselves to protecting their native land and choose a military career.

At the same time, young people today are more focused on the values of global information society, they know how to obtain and use information, they prefer self-education through modern technologies, and they keep up with all major news. According to sociologists, these are the things that affect the formation of main system of values of a modern teenager: he extrapolates the gained knowledge to the worldview foundation that was laid by his parents and teachers.

The Day has interviewed schoolchildren and recent school graduates on the worldview dichotomy and the survey results.

COMMENTARIES

Oleksandr FINAHEIEV, high school graduate:

“I am interested in what is happening in the country, pay attention to social and political events because I think young people, that is me and my peers, are the future of this country. In order to build this future we have to keep track of all important events in life of our country today.

“In the future I plan to rely on my own powers and initiative working for the state’s welfare. For me the key to success is good education and hard work. It all depends on me and not on the state. However, the state has to provide good education for everyone. In my turn, I have to make certain sacrifices not only for the sake of the state but for my own sake as well. It seems to me that in modern world there is an unwritten law of equal exchange: you have to give something and something will be given to you.

“There are people who believe that they can be successful due to their knowledge and efforts and I am one of them. However, a significant number of young people know that money and influential family members can play a great role in our today’s world. We have to admit that there are reasons for such ideas.”

Kateryna KOLHAN, 9th grade graduate:

“It would be nice if the state could assist young people by providing jobs for young specialists and decent salaries, as well as some social protection. Thus, in my work I wouldn’t go against the state, instead, I would work for it. Most of the people I know think that today you need to have rich parents or good connections in order to find a good job. But, in my opinion, the state, in a sense, already gives the opportunity to succeed for ordinary people: for example, the state authorities introduced the EIT, so that school graduates could apply for studying at university without bribes. In our country money always defined everything, but today it seems that the situation is gradually changing.”

Liudmyla PANASIUK, first-year journalism student at Ostroh Academy:

“Unfortunately, teenagers do not understand that for the state to begin taking care of you at some point you have to first take care of it. This is something their parents and teachers failed to explain to them. It is very difficult for young Ukrainians to find their way in the information space on their own. They need support, guidance, and explanations. Parents let them go into the adult independent life too early. It seems to be a good decision (children will have a chance to become more independent), but as for me, it has a negative impact on the global scale across the country.

“It is unfortunate that human values got to the bottom of the high school student’s priority list. It is the evidence of society’s demoralization. The fact that young people put influential family members and craftiness on top positions and acknowledge their supremacy suggests that we won’t get rid of corruption any time soon. The things that were not taught at home or in school should be compensated with higher school education. Hopefully the situation will change as the young generation will be gaining certain life experience.”