Meeting the needs of our youth
Children’s rights advocate Marian Wright Edelman said, “The question is not whether we can afford to invest in every child; the question is whether we can afford not to.” When we do not invest in our children, the results can indeed be disastrous.
Norwegian filmmaker Deeyah Khan, for example, recently made a documentary called Jihad: a story of the others. She created this film in an effort to understand why young men of her religion living in Europe are getting involved in violent extremism. This was quite a challenge for her; as a Muslim woman involved in the arts, she was herself often a target of their hate crimes.
What Khan discovered surprised her. She found disenfranchised people, men who were caught between two cultures. They did not feel like they fit in anywhere, and lived without hope. In addition, many had been abused or neglected as children. They thus became vulnerable targets for jihadists, who offered them the things no one else was offering them, things they crave: belonging, significance, purpose and acceptance.
What is interesting is that the profile of these “Muslim extremists” is almost identical to that of members in white supremacist groups and criminal gangs. These young people, especially young men, feel like outsiders on a societal level, that their families do not understand them, that they have no future and no purpose. They easily fall prey to the lies of hatred, extremism and violence. How do we keep this from happening? Education is key. Young people need to be made aware of the dangers of these lifestyles and how they will be used and exploited by the people who pretend to accept them and care for them. We have indeed seen reductions in gang violence where such programs are in place.
In order for these programs to be effective, however, we need to meet the more basic needs of our youth. We need to accept them for who they are, celebrate their giftedness and give them hope.
Compared to many other countries, Canadian schools are actually doing a good job meeting the needs of many of our at-risk young people. Publicly funded schools, for example, are the great equalizer, giving recent immigrants the opportunity to become a vibrant part of Canadian society while continuing to embrace their ethnic heritage. They are also getting better at meeting the needs of those from cultures which have been neglected and oppressed for far too long, especially our aboriginal children. Still, there is much more that needs to be done.
As our schools improve to meet the needs of individual children in an ever changing world, our young men especially will no longer be drawn to violent organizations fueled by ethnic hatred or other lies. They will celebrate their goodness and the goodness of others, and share their gifts for the benefit of all.
Some may call me an idealist, but I have been working in the trenches with our at-risk youth long enough to see that we are making a difference. There are caring and compassionate individuals in our schools, both staff and students, who are helping things to improve.
The key to making our countries safer, to significantly reducing the threat of terror in increasingly multi-cultural societies, therefore, is not greater security. It is not keeping out people who are “different,” or building more secure prisons.
The key is to invest in an educational system that strives to celebrate our diversity and make sure that every individual knows that they are significant.
It is in listening to our children when they call for help. It is in making sure that we have the mindset and the resources available to help each sacred person achieve their greatest potential.
When we invest in every child, we all benefit.