“Young and Adults for a Better Life” is a European project that aims at bringing together people of different ages, from different backgrounds in order to cooperate and try to find ways to bridge the generation gap and help people create better lives for themselves.
I believe that the discussion between the project partners and the students from the “Mihai Eminescu” National College, Baia mare, Romania, was really important for the project since all of us, young and adults, talked together about the generation gap, the relationship between teenagers and their parents and the most important values in our lives.
One of the most important conclusions that we could draw from that discussion was that, even though young people usually share the values of their parents, a generation gap still exists.
The students were asked to mention 3 of the values that are important in their and their parents’ lives. As far as I can recall, almost every student shared the values of their parents which proves that the beliefs of the parents have a very strong influence on their children’s lives and understanding of the world. Then why is there a generation gap?
It seems that even though we understand the world in a similar way, we live and experience it in different ways.
For example, the way we communicate with each other has changed dramatically over the last decades due to the development of technology. Nowadays young people are used to live at a faster pace and they expect to get everything they want as soon as possible. This is why today we can talk about the “want it now” generation.
Another aspect that we could notice was that our problems are universal – the problems that young and adult people deal with are very similar (e.g. the generation gap) and exist in all the countries that are represented by the project partners. Of course, these problems might be different on a national and local level, but nevertheless, I believe that we could all work together and try to find out how to bridge this generation gap and help people, young and adults alike, create better lives for themselves.
Overall, this discussion was definitely a win-win activity. On one hand, the students from the “Mihai Eminescu” College had the chance to get familiar with the “Young and Adults for a Better Life” project and with the people that are involved in it (all of whom are amazing people, I have to add). They also had the opportunity to express themselves freely and speak up as representatives of the young generation.
On the other hand, for us, the people that are involved in the project, this discussion was beneficial because the students spoke their minds and provided us with an insight into their minds, lives and world.
In a nutshell, this debate was significant because we could observe the people around us and try to understand them and the way this ubiquitous generation gap has an impact on their lives, as individuals.
Judging by this discussion, I would say that when people really are driven by the desire to change something in the world, they can do that. After all, if each and everyone of us decided to live according to Mahatma Gandhi’s quote - “Be the change you want to see in the world.” – the world would be a better place to live in
Paula Ghete
Romania
