Change the world

YOUNG people are capable of great things as they have the ability to dream big. However, in our society today, youths are not passionate enough to “change the world” and continue to seek a purposeful life.

They need to be taught to care for themselves and others, to ask themselves why they are here in the world and what the purpose of their existence is. Talking about change, people often quote Mahatma Gandhi’s famous saying: “be the change you want to see in the world”.

For this, we see several fundamentals for changing the world. First of all, change must start from within us.

We cannot expect to change the world if we cannot change ourselves. The greatest discovery is actually self-discovery. In order to change ourselves, we need to be in control of whatever we want to do. One of the most important thing in learning is we have to be persistent. Learn the basics and start doing something to impact the community.

To start bringing in change is to start doing something in our own capacity. As we know, the root causes of many issues in the world now is the failure of leadership and corruption. So, demonstrate good leadership and help the community.

The next question is whether we need to get involved in politics to change the world? In the Asian context, how do we change ourselves while still under the influence of our parents? As members of society, we have to wake up and play our role in this world to make it a better place to live in. Many of our youths fall into drug addiction, drop out from schools, and get involved in crime. For that reason, we need them to realise their potential. It is of course not an easy task to be done. Making this happen requires a lot of effort, dedication and commitment from all parties.

Another important question is whether we need change in the field of education? Teachers need to be motivated and students need to be encouraged, especially at-risk youths who have the potential to drop out of school.

What needs to be changed then? The main goal in education is not to score straight As, nor is it about making lots of money.

It is common that prior to graduation, students tend to think of the programmes that will make more money. However, to be successful, sometimes we have to do something that we do not like and go to places we’d rather not go. While the storm comes once in a while, do not quit what you do because the rainbow will come out at the end.

Finally, against the backdrop of educational, social, political and economic transformations in a globalised world, young people should be taught how to be change-makers and problem-solvers. Students should be equipped with thinking and leadership skills to critically analyse real world problems.

The learning outcomes should be achieving generic skills to articulate their roles as global citizens and contributing to their communities wherever they live and work.