Singapore youths
The strawberry generation
We’re not really as meek, fragile and overly dependent on parents as painted of us, says alfred-muses.
Jan 19, 2008

“The Strawberry Generation” was what I heard our elders are labelling the youth of today. “Pretty to look at, fragile in nature” was what I heard from someone else.

Dr Toh Chin Chye made a statement recently that the generation of today are “calculative”, “meek” and that they lack “independent thinking”.

So, this begs the question - are the youth today like strawberries- mere eye candies?

Granted, Dr Toh’s statement holds true, though to some extent. As a youth myself, I feel that we have it easy these days.

Yes, I know this may sound tired and overused- but I feel that youth today lead better lives than youth of, say, 20 years ago.

The youth of our parents’, and I dare say Dr Toh’s, times had it a little tougher. They grew up in wartime and lived in the clutches of poverty. With poverty come lessons learnt the hard way.

Along with that, the hardships have seen the birth of many political and economic icons. Our Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew is a classic example.

Business leaders like the numerous founders of household brands we take for granted today, are another set of examples.

Yet, could it be the hardships and toil, which might have taught them the lessons no book could teach?

I believe that there can be no better teacher than the hardships and all of life. Well, as I have said earlier, we have it easy these days. And we take for granted these things.

As a result, we demand more. I dare say I had my fair share of times where I made unnecessary demands to my parents. And they gave in to my demands.

We get all nitpick and get all fussy, when we want things done our way. I have heard of graduates actually demanding a certain level of salary when they start working. No wonder Dr Toh made such harsh comments.

I guess youth back then had not much say over what they wanted in a job. Hardship had thought them frugality, thus they did not want much from a job, just enough money to let them live through the days.

We lack enough initiative too. Just think - in a classroom scenario, how many of us will be raring to go with questions at hand to ask the teacher? When we take votes in class, we wait and side with the popular majority.

Stark contrast with the past, I say, where student revolutions were common, and non-conformist thinking were around (though not necessarily encouraged).

Yet, I feel that Dr Toh’s statement might sound a bit too generalised. Yes, we are a meek generation who will quietly do as said, but does this mean that we do not “bode well for the future”?

I beg to differ. I think we are a generation that is capable of achieving economic excellence.

Look at recent times. The young of today are starting up their own businesses. Yes, there may be a couple of failures along the way, but look- these are hardships that have taught us well.

So who said we do not have hardships these days?

Self start-ups are a growing phenomenon these days. Is this not boding well for the business sector?

Furthermore, we have seen an increasing number of young people joining politics.

Granted, this does not necessarily mean that it will bode well for politics, but this is a sign of changing times.

In addition, in the last General Election, the Opposition saw a significant number of new and young members join their ranks.

And yes, whilst I agree that youth of today are demanding and lack initiative, I cannot help but to ponder if this is the result of growing economic prosperity.

We are more educated than before, and this leads us to think that - yes, I should be paid higher to justify my education level.

We become more secure and safe, and this might have stifled our non-conformist thinking; we fear upsetting the delicate nature of our society.

So I feel that Dr Toh’s words hold true but it might be too over-generalised.

Yes, we may be strawberries, but, by the looks of things to come, we are definitely not fragile perishables; we are the necessary victuals for society.

http://alfred-muses.livejournal.com/1516.html