I look back at my teenage years and realized that we never had the chance to really do practical work. It was all theory which I loved, but today the results of this is showing. In a ever-growing world with technology like AI(artificial intelligence) it is now evident more than ever that the youth do not have adequate practical skills.

In my country of South Africa the unemployment percentage is at an all time high.  The most shocking of all with the government announcing young individuals at a 45,5 percent unemployment rate. The causes young people not seemingly to find work is much deeper than just looking in the surface.

As generations change and younger people enter the workforce there has been a common trend where employers has complained about gen z’s work ethic. Gen z being the generation born between 1997 and 2012. The common theme being older generations complaining that gen z’s do not have skills to do their work correctly and the laziness they exhibit.

This leads to one question: is it really the younger generations that lack the skills or was the skills not taught to them?

With a ever changing landscape in the world in every corner there would also come about changes in the work culture. To simply put: in order to keep with the pace one should bring about necessary change where needed.

I remember one time sitting on my bed contemplating and feeling scared of the future. Scared of the unknown is common. As humans we feel scared of things we can’t comprehend. Suddenly as I sat there I realized our fear would not be so highlighted in our psyche if we discussed it more broadly. As people  we have a tendency to procrastinate until time has passed.

Every culture has certain traditions that they pass on to younger generations. Whether it be customs uniquely for hair or clothing there is an importance in preserving one’s beliefs. This should be the same for teaching younger generations important life skills like being able to sew a button on their shirt or being able to survive in the wild by making a bonfire. This seems to have been lost in the world.

Teaching the younger generation skills have become more a problem and burden to some than helping the generation of tomorrow. With countries like China having a bigger elderly population than younger people this could have a detrimental effect as young people are usually the ones making sure society run smoothly.

Honing life skills in youth is of the utmost importance and something that cannot be ignored. Complaining about younger generations that do not have life skills won’t help as it is communities that play a bigger role in teaching them.  It is time we take it back to when communities stepped up and helped.