Unassuming, without initiative, without power and desire for decision and totally uninvolved. It is the hard x-ray of a generation of blasé young people, believes Marian Staș, an expert in education. The specialist’s conclusions follow the publication of a CURS study, carried out at the request of the Ministry of the Family, whose conclusions at first glance seem optimistic. But, while the outside painted the fence, inside is the leopard.
Young Romanians have neither courage nor initiative. Photo source: archive
In the context of absolutely disastrous results obtained in the PISA tests, of high school dropouts, but also of the functional illiteracy that seems to characterize us as a nation, young people in Romania declare themselves satisfied and very satisfied with their level of education, with what they receive from the school side. In contrast, when it comes to jobs and related wages, young people complain. He would like more. These are just some of the conclusions of a CURS survey, carried out at the request of the Ministry of Family and commented by Marian Staș, an expert in education who pointed out a big problem: the total lack of commitment, involvement, fear and hesitation of young people when it comes to taking your own life and future in your hands.
“There is a question here about the intention to start one’s own business in the future. 31% answered “Yes”, but 24% and 45% said “I don’t know” and “No”. What do we deduce from this? This means a social attitude lacking courage and commitment. Owning your own business means having the courage to take charge of your own existence. But they go to work. And then all responsibility for their stability and life rests with the employer.” But the evil is much deeper. “This principle of assuming responsibility demonstrates the dependence of young people on bosses, on others, on those around them. Why? Because if it goes wrong, they have someone to blame.”
Young Romanians without power but also without the desire to make a decision
The research reveals another aspect, the specialist draws attention: namely, the lack of decision of young people. They do not decide on the way of learning in school, in the workplace they have no control over the schedule, which can sometimes extend to their personal lives, they are not involved in decision-making within organizations, the study shows. “Deciding means that things are either white or black: to marry or not to marry, to have a child or not to have a child. This is about the fear of change at the level of this generation”. Moreover, when they want to start a family, this decision is often made depending on the existence or non-existence of suitable housing. “As if that’s important when you want to start a family. Not. When you want a family, you assume that with everything that comes with it.” Children could be taught to decide for themselves, to be encouraged in this regard from the school desks, the expert believes. “I kept talking about the curriculum at the students’ decision. There is something deep behind this: when I say curriculum to the students’ decision in the school’s offer it has 1% to do with learning biology instead of chemistry. 99% has to do with art, craftsmanship, and the whole process of deciding and owning the consequences of your decisions. And this is exactly what our study says: that young people are inert, numb to what it means to make a decision. They don’t want to, they can’t, they’re afraid to take it on.”
“Let’s do something for ourselves, not wait for others to do it”
Could we attribute the fear of taking on responsibility, the fear of making decisions, the lack of courage and initiative to the fact that young people are hardly encouraged by the Romanian state? That when they want to build something, they put sticks in the wheels? Marian Staș has a sharp answer. “Not. No way! This thing with “să ni se da” is the most poisonous thing that the Romanian has on his brain. No one has to give us anything, we have to get it ourselves, by our own forces”. The specialist explained how the situation is in other countries, where things are moving and moving well. “In other parts of the world, these people are taking their lives into their own hands. Of course, it is important to open a business in 3 minutes or 7 minutes. But regardless of how it happens, if I sit and start crying for pity..what a shame, it’s not done to me, let it be done to me too..You go and do it!”
More than three quarters of young people in Romania declare themselves satisfied or very satisfied with their level of education, according to the same survey. “They are satisfied with what they get and we will see what we do later. What I’m given, what I’m told, that’s what I do. And that’s enough,” Marian Staș also explains this attitude of accepting with an open mouth everything that is stuffed down your throat, without objecting, without thinking if what you receive is what you need.
Inert in reaction like the wort in the pot of boiling water
The expert’s conclusion: Young Romanians have become so used to the evil in the system that they no longer have any reaction, any initiative to fight against it, to do something with their lives, with their future. They wallow inertly in a sticky and comfortable slime: they don’t assume anything, they don’t take responsibility, they don’t have the courage to start on their own two feet, they hesitate in making decisions, they indulge in a lukewarm and mediocre place. It’s the boiled frog syndrome, Marian Staș exemplifies: “If you put a frog in a pot of boiling water, the huge temperature difference contracts the muscles and the frog jumps out of the water. Conversely, if you put the frog in a pot of cold water and then put the pot on the heat..the water will gradually heat up, then become hot, then boiling. The frog, however, is not able to sense the temperature, which gradually increases, and ends up boiling to death. That’s what happens with this generation as well.”
The study also says that the appreciation of one’s own education is superior to that of one’s job or income: 58% of young people declare themselves satisfied or very satisfied with their job and only 44% with their income. At the same time, almost half (45%, down from 54% in 2020) believe that access to education is a problem. In this context, the authors of the survey show that “the educational system is perceived by the majority of young people as rigid and ineffective”.
The data emerge from the 2024 Youth Barometer – a 2024-2020 comparative study carried out for the Ministry of Family, Youth and Equal Opportunities, by the Urban and Regional Sociology center (CURS). The study was carried out between April and June 2024, and the survey component was carried out on a sample declared representative at the national level, among 1,100 young people aged 14-35. The survey commissioned by the ministry looked at a number of aspects, from quality of life to education, work, participation in civic and political life. And the results mark a four-fold increase in optimism and satisfaction across the board.
