Youth Is Wasted on the Young

Summary

Youth is wasted on the young because society expects them to make significant life decisions and succeed without providing adequate support and mentorship.

Abstract

The saying "Youth is wasted on the young" is often interpreted as a critique of youthful folly, but it overlooks the societal pressures and lack of support that young people face. College-aged individuals, typically 18 to 24 years old, are burdened with expectations to choose a career path, achieve academic excellence, and plan for the distant future, all while navigating financial independence and personal responsibilities. Despite their energy and ambition, they are often ill-equipped to handle these pressures due to a lack of life experience. The author argues that instead of dismissing young people as foolish, society should invest in them through mentorship, respect, and genuine engagement with their perspectives. The decline of the extended family in postmodern Western society necessitates a collective effort to bridge the gap between generations and provide the guidance that young people need to thrive.

Opinions

Young people are stereotyped as foolish and not entrusted with significant responsibility, despite being targeted by corporations that may exploit their immaturity.
The author believes that the common understanding of "Youth is wasted on the young" is misguided; the true waste lies in society's failure to support and guide youth effectively.
Young people are under immense pressure to succeed academically and make long-term career decisions, with the recognition that their future depends on their current performance.
The expectation for young people to navigate complex life choices without sufficient support is seen as an inherent unfairness in society.
The author suggests that society should do more to mentor young people, sharing wisdom and experiences to help them make informed decisions.
There is a call for society to listen to and value the perspectives of young people, fostering a more supportive environment for their growth and development.
The author emphasizes the need for society to compensate for the loss of the extended family by providing more support to younger generations.

But not for the reason most people think

(Source: author)

I’ve no idea who first said that, but I’ve thought about that saying for many years. What does it mean? Is it an empty piece of rhetoric, or does it say something about the human condition? What does it really mean?

I’ve taught university courses for a long time, and my spouse works as a writing tutor at a university. We deal with young people all the time. This past week, the personal struggles of students we work with made it clear to me what the saying really means.

The Cliché

It’s a stereotype that young people are foolish, that they can’t be trusted to make intelligent decisions. We therefore don’t give much responsibility to young people. I’m not talking about children; I’m mainly referring to people aged 18 to 24 — college-aged students. It’s a demographic coveted by some corporations and marketers, but not out of respect for young people’s maturity and wisdom. Quite the contrary, they may be interested in exploiting young people’s immaturity.

The cliché is that the young have all the energy and stamina of youth but are too foolish to take advantage of it. Certainly, young people do some pretty foolish things, as we did when we were young. Young people make mistakes, make irrational decisions, and act immaturely. Older people make mistakes too, but yes, younger people make them more often.

So I understand the cliché. I understand that standard sense of the statement, “youth is wasted on the young,” but I think that whatever truth it contains is misunderstood. Youth is wasted not because of foolishness in young people but because of an inherent unfairness in our postmodern society.

The Reality

College-aged people, 18 to 24 years old, are going through an interesting but challenging period of life. We expect a great deal from this age group. Go to college or get a job (usually both), we say to them, and think about not just what you are doing tomorrow but what you will be doing five, ten, twenty years from now. We expect 18- to 24-year-olds to choose a career, support themselves financially and otherwise, start settling down to a stable life, if not immediately, then soon. Oh, and maybe get married and have kids? No pressure.

But there is a lot of pressure on college students. Not only do they face the pressure of making career choices, but they are pressured to succeed in their endeavors. Grade pressures are very real. Students are well aware that their future is at stake if they don’t do well in their courses. They receive pressure from their schools, their jobs, their parents, and their peers.

Young people have energy and ambition, and want to succeed, but they lack the life experience to know what to do and how to do it. Young people are put in situations unequipped with the resources to handle them. I see this frequently as a professor. Each student is learning how to navigate the world — a world they don’t yet know well. I see students having to face so many pressures, so many expectations. Yes, some young people are foolish, and some don’t care enough to succeed, but those who do care and sincerely try are too much left to their own devices.

Youth is wasted on the young because we don’t support young people — not enough and not in the right ways. We expect things from youths but don’t respect them or listen to them. We don’t answer their questions; we don’t consider their ideas. We expect them to invest in their futures, but we don’t invest enough in young people.

With age comes wisdom. We should do much more personal mentoring of young people. We need to recognize that younger people aren’t ignorant; they are inexperienced, and we should share our hard-won experience with them. And we should listen to young people and learn from their perspectives. It seems that each year that passes our society is more demanding yet less supportive. In the postmodern Western world, the extended family has largely vanished. Society needs to step in and help younger generations who have less connection than ever with older, wiser generations. We were young once, and we learned from our mistakes, now we need to pay it forward.