THE LIFE OF YOUTH IN GREAT BRITAIN

Nowadays there are about 7.5 million young people in Britain between the ages of 10 and 19, and it is believed that this figure will grow to nearly 8 mln by 2004. These young people will represent Britain in the 21st century.

Almost every aspect of Government domestic policy, including education, housing, health, social security, law and order, environmental and national heritage, affects the well-being of young people and shapes their future.

Education and training are among the Government's priority responsibilities for young people. Underlying Britain's education policy is the principle that every young person should have the opportunity to get a good basic education until the age of at least 16. After 16, young people are encouraged to stay at school or college to achieve more advanced educational qualifications, or they are offered the chance to take part in a broad range of government supported training programmes leading to the achievement of specific vocational skills. In this way they are in some part prepared for adult life.

But the challenges that young people face at 16 and beyond, have as much to do with their ability to prosper in a rapidly changing world as they have to do with their knowledge of many basic skills. Learning how to live and behave in a multi-racial society, how to respect and support each other, how to make the most of opportunities, how to make a contribution, how to appreciate both spiritual and material qualities of life — these "life skills" and moral factors fall to parents, friends and peers, and to the very fact of life within the varied rural and city communities of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, that give Britain its diverse culture.

Within these communities — at local, regional and national levels — hundreds of voluntary youth groups and organisations play an active role in the life of young people in Britain. The majority of these organisations have become established on a voluntary basis by groups representing the interests of a particular sector of the population. They include:

a) religious community groups — Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist;

b) ethnic minority groups —organisations of youth in diasporas;

c) organisations providing for particular sporting and outdoor activities or hobbies, e.g. path-walkers, mountain-climbers, rockers, etc.;

d) groups focusing on activities for people with disabilities, etc.

While parental influence at home is a key factor in every young person's life, so is the wide social environment at school, and the whole lot of influences coming from "popular culture", offering role models ranging from the stars of Australian soap-operas to icons of pop-music, punk or rave. A great many youth fashions, fads, likes and dislikes and ways of talking (e.g. "it's really cool", "he's wild", "wicked", "dunno", "sort of) are absorbed and rapidly spread through popular TV channels and radio programmes.

Surveys show that only relatively few young people regularly attend youth clubs and organisations. Most of them are more interested in some activities that do not cost money and can be picked up or dropped with ease. Lack of their own money in the younger age group means that a great deal of their time is spent with friends, window-shopping in town, cycling or skate-boarding.

At 15 years old and above, young people try to find "Saturday jobs", working as assistants in shops, cafes or restaurants. There are a great many things that young people wish to buy, including clothes and magazines, CDs and cassette tape music, computer games and jewelry. They save money for bicycles, motorbikes and, eventually, cars of their own, and to have enough money to go to the discos and dances.

Most young men and about half of young women in Britain take a passive interest in sport or actively take part in a sporting activity on a regular basis. Fitness is encouraged through school and by a great many outside organisations. Football, either in school teams or in rapidly assembled groups playing during the school break times, is highly popular. Outside school activities include darts, chess, bowling and many other more social games. Large commercial sports and leisure centres usually offer discount membership rates for young people.

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