Youth is the most vibrant factor in the society
Youthful minds are more creative, innovative and pragmatic than adult

When I sit and think about our youth, I see things beyond the physical

who is a youth

An opinion poll I carried out shows that there are different opinions about who a youth is. Some describe a youth in terms of status, while others describe him in terms of age

Understanding the youth by status

From the opinion poll of those who defined youth in terms of status see a youth as

• a student in secondary and in tertiary institution

• an unmarried person or a person below a culturally acceptable marital status

• an unemployed school leaver or a graduate seeking employment

I DEFINE A YOUTH AS

• a person whose physical stature nether suggests childhood nor adulthood

• a person not yet qualified to be addressed as a man or a woman because he or she has not gotten a home.

Understanding the youth by age

Understanding youth by age is another view held by some people. From my own view point, I understand youth in terms of age as a person

whose age somehow overlaps with that of the adolescent, or specifically a person within the age bracket of 13-26

I am of the opinion that the later view-pount which classifies the youth by age is more logical than the former

Argument against classification of youth by status

Socioeconomic and physical factors such as education, marriage, employment and physical stature are certainly inadequate to determine who a youth is.

I have some facts to buttress this argument

• Not all that is in school as students are youths. There are evidence of adults in schools studying as mature students in primary and secondary schools, in seminaries and university. I have seen so many of them even during my undergraduate days

• Not all that are unmarried are youth, and not all that are married are adults. There are so many youths who married early and adults who married late. So to determine a youth by marital status is really inadequate

• physical size of a person does not always suggest a person's age, popular African adage says and I quote

Height is not that my child is mature

Some youth are tall and bigger than their parents or elders in stature while others are smaller.

These are the little ways I understand and classify youth, using the comment box, your suggestions, arguments and opinions concerning the youth are welcomed.

In my next post concerning the youth, I will be writing on Excellent youth in terms of ways of managing crisis facing we the youth

Cheers!!!