Who are the youth of our society?

By Keon Sik Heo, Ph.D.

UNESCO Youth Martial Arts Camp- 2011 Youth Martial Arts Jamboree

There is a saying that “The youth is the future.” The reason is that the youth period is from the post-childhood to the pre-adult period. During that period, most regular education is conducted and the youth meet the growth period, thus the youth period is called as a valuable period for them who are responsible for the future of a country. In Korea, the legal age is from 9 to 24 years old, but the period from 13 to 18 years old is generally recognized as the youth period.

To this youth, various educational methods have been agonized in many countries of the East and the West. In Korea, as the systems of the Gyeondang in ancient Goguryeo and the Hwarang, an elite youth corps of Shilla, the whole personality education through the martial arts training was emphasized. In ancient Greece, an education for the people represented the era was conducted, and in Germany, through the Wandervogel, organized by the German youth in 1904, they learned adventure and society.

In the present days as well as the past, the youth education is an important policy in a country, and in the viewpoint of society, they are regarded as valuable existence. However, the youth of the modern Korean society are being decreased comparing the old people and adults. This is analyzed as the nuclear family and the low birth rate of the modern society.

Differently from the population decrease, juvenile delinquency has been increased. The reason is that, including the egoistic life environment due to the nuclear family, the copycat crime due to development of various media and the stress to the studying and the exposure to the criminal environment due to the diversification of the society can be enumerated. Particularly, in Korean society that the stress due to college entrance examination is being weighed, the stress of the youth is being increased day by day.

This problem is not only the youth problem. In the modern society, there is a confusion of values due to excessive urbanization and industrialization caused by the development of material civilization, and the social pathological problem such as corruption and crime increase is shown, and with the weakening of the right education function, the ego-centering and negative recognition is being raised. Because of these environmental reasons, in the modern society the importance of humanity education, with emphasizing the mental health, is being stressed.

In this circumstance, the Korean Government proposed that “the youth is needed an experimental activities of conducting the learned matters by doing the training of mind and body, the cultivation of the personal nature, the development of hobbies, the fostering of emotion and the service to the society.” It emphasizes that with the positive participation of the youth, their minds and bodies be trained, their personal nature fostered, various hobbies developed their emotion cultivated, and through the social service activities, an organizational experience activity to conduct the learned matters is emphasized. These basic reasons are that the mental confusion and spiritual instability caused by the rapid physical change in the youth period can be overcome and the self-identity can be found.