In all spheres, compromise is often the way to resolve differences. This holds true in marriage and business and other personal activities one engages in with other people. There can be disputes amongst neighbors over trees overhanging a property or of roots coming into the adjoining property cracking the foundation. All these events have to be resolved amicably if we ...

The perennial problem with youth today is that on the one hand they are impatient, but on the other they do not realize that it is them who are the future of the country and they must have a vision for the future if they are intent on taking ownership of it. They must not think that their rights will ...

Taken from a very popularly read article in the Independent newspaper in the UK of 3rd December 1998, which I believe is appropriate for young people to read in 2012. It does not try to judge, just report.http://www.independent.co.uk/news/brilliant-pupils-logical-suicide-1188778.htmlA BRILLIANT schoolboy shot himself in the head after carefully calculating the benefits of life and deciding it was not worth living, an ...

As we all know the Head of the Department of Examinations, within the Ministry of Education and University Grants Commission, had decided to pool the two syllabi of the A levels and issued the Z score based on the old and new syllabus being equivalent. So to simplify, a score of 89 in each amounted to the same for the ...

A recent article in the Sunday Observer, (July 1st in fact) written by Nilma Dole, highlighted a problem, I have also noticed and was wondering about, and now it seems to make sense.In addition to smoking, alcoholism and drug abuse, hitting or cutting oneself are all various degrees of self harm. It is the latter two I wish to highlight, ...

If you are thinking of entering active politics in the future, and you have a clear goal as to where you want to go, I would recommend, especially for those with meager resources to come in through the Opposition. When a party is in the Opposition, they have less of a demand on their resources. A young person can more ...

The Leader of the Opposition, Ranil Wickremasinghe MP stated on Wednesday, 4thJuly in Parliament that if an Amendment was introduced in Parliament, enshrining in the Constitution, the Right to Education as a Fundamental Right, that his party will support the Amendment.It is significant that this extremely important statement received scant attention from the Government benches, perhaps because no one really ...

Is this the first time or do I continue on this theme? If it is continuous it is because it is a topic that needs to be addressed time and time again, as lying especially by young people who are unable to account for their actions is a huge issue in 2012 Sri Lanka. Is it a problem all over ...

Young people who are generally intelligent wish to express their individual opinions on a subject. The fault is they are usually unable to listen to the opinions of others which differ from their own. In that sense they tend to be very narrow minded and not open to hearing other opinions, even though at the same time they are fickle ...

I read a speech given my a Mr Wickremage I think his name was the Marketing Director of Ceylon Biscuits Group, who from humble beginnings worked his way to the top of the career ladder and along the way garnered some prestigious international marketing awards to boot.There was a lot of telling advice for youth that I thought relevant enough ...

A young person is guided in his outlook by those he associates with most. They are usually his circle of friends. Often after leaving school, they go together to classes, vocational training or even for jobs where they like to be with known people.Similarly whilst in employment, it is good to join a cause one is interested in and take ...

People born into a different period are classified as Baby boomers, Generation X and Y. I have yet to see the Z word used and I wonder if the A word is more appropriate. The reason being that for the first time in History this emerging generation will have fewer people in their respective age groups in most countries as ...

Rio 20+ is the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, currently being held in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil (June 2012). Sri Lanka has sent the largest official delegation of all delegations in the world! That is the Govt. delegation taking advantage of using a Sri Lankan Airlines plane for which the monthly leasing cost exceeds over US$300,000, costing over ...

I wish to concentrate on collective issues and not on personal matters. Young people are famous for believing they are entitled to something. I don’t know what it is that gives them this, but it may have something to do with the way they are brought up, and possibly parenting issues of this century. With an average household not having ...

The Government via the Ministry of Higher Education, has decreed that all University Entrants including Buddhist Monks who have also obtained entrance to the University, must undergo ‘Leadership Training’ prior to entrance. This was first instituted with much fanfare last year and was opposed by most student groups as being a means to perpetuate the current policy of containing freedom ...

What divide is that? Have you not noticed that best in the league table of schools, the ones the Education Minister calls the 50 schools in the Country which out of 10,000the parents want to put their children into are ALL single sex schools.I rest my case as far as the parents are concerned. I do not know whether this ...

In the previous entries there have been a litany of some of the typical shortcomings when interacting with youth and which youth must be aware of in their dealings with others to achieve their goals.One major annoyance that has not so far been referred to is the madness they appear to have. It is not one to send them to ...

Young people are in a hurry. They cannot see why others appear to slow them down, purposefully they say. It is part of the impatience of youth and the coolness that comes with age. While it is a gross generalization, mature people are calmer, less prone to histrionics and consider their next move carefully, where years of experience have taught ...

It is now a fact of life that young people expect representation in elected office, especially in local government. In that regard there are rules within political parties to reserve a certain number of places to young men and women who represent a proportion of the population and who wish to have their opinions represented in an elected body.If a ...

A characteristic of youth as compared with older people who have been around and done that! is that young people have an in built desire for instant gratification that involves very little planning. Older folks plan their lives. Often this is out of necessity with family commitments, responsibility, keeping up with the Jones’s and ‘bills’ to pay.It is important that ...