Michelle Pidgeon: Our next generation of leaders gives hope for Canada’s future
rerolled on giantweed from the source
If I told you the negative stereotypes commonly parroted about young people are mostly bogus, would you believe me? You should.
This is the conclusion of the first ever Voices of Our Youth survey, a report I worked on with the Horatio Alger Association of Canada, in collaboration with Nanos Research, which polled over 2,000 young Canadians on several political, social, economic, educational and personal issues.
The study treads into new territory. While Millennials (those born between the early 1980s and mid-1990s) have been the subject of many reports and think pieces, little has been written on the following generation, Generation Z, those born between the mid-1990s and the mid-2000s. Thanks to our report, we now have some insight into their views, values and attitudes.
Canada’s 14- to 23-year-olds are far from lazy. Generation Z members overwhelmingly believe that hard work is more important for achieving success in life than luck. For example, a good portion of high school students work part-time. In terms of how they view themselves as having a successful life, they are determined to gain financial stability while still placing great importance on helping others and the environment. Often portrayed as being pessimistic, nearly three-quarters claim to be hopeful or somewhat hopeful for the future. Young people today also identified freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression as being the most important freedom that Canadians enjoy.
Young people are often castigated for not thinking of their long-term future, but this actually forms one of their most common anxieties; 77 per cent of high-school graduates feel their top pressure is to have their lives figured out. For the majority, this pressure is self-induced, in combination with parental/guardian pressure.
Like generations of Canadians before them, young people have high aspirations to earn some form of higher education. Those deciding to wait to go to college or university are doing so mostly for financial reasons or to support their families. Young people want successful and fulfilling lives, even if the path for them isn’t always clear.
Parents may be surprised to learn that young people report that they feel very little pressure from their peers to do drugs — a reassuring statistic the month before cannabis legalization. Youth reported that their parents/guardians are engaged and interested “just the right amount” in their lives, particularly their future plans and academic successes. While they think their parents and guardians spend too much time worrying about their health and safety — and are too interested in their romantic relationships — youth wish parents took more interest in their extracurricular activities.
In these ways, Generation Z may be surprised by just how similar they are to older generations. Voices of Our Youth provides the sort of data necessary to dissect the minds of a complicated generation but it also provides a lens on where society has room for improvement.
Most notably, 14- to 23-year-olds think the government should be doing better in supporting Indigenous peoples. Three-quarters say Canadians should be concerned with native issues and over 60 per cent believe all Canadians are responsible for the call to action put forward by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
On average, high school students give their schools a B. The majority feel their schools do an average or “somewhat” good job preparing them for life. They wish they were taught more about basic life skills and economic literacy, including budgeting, taxes and investing. When asked to identify the top contributor to the quality of their education, most replied teachers.
The results of the Horatio Alger Association of Canada’s Voices of Our Youth survey gives me extreme confidence that tomorrow will be better. My hope for Canada is strong with the next generation of leaders.
Michelle Pidgeon is an associate professor at Simon Fraser University and the author of the Voices of Our Youth report, available at horatialger.ca.
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