The Christian, the Muslim and even the Humanist admit readily that we are now standing on the brink of the most momentous decade in the history of man. In the words of little apocalypse “Men look with fear at those things that are coming,” and youths revolts against the adults in one version of it. If we pause for a moment and look into the past we will find that this conflict has been a perennial one which has engage the mind of thinkers all down the ages.

In the Bible we find Absalom revolting against his father, David. This began with Absalom criticising his father’s administration as being slow, and ended in an attempt to overthrow his father. The result was an open conflict, a civil war between father and son. In the New Testament, too, we are not told the reasons why the prodigal son demanded his own share of his father’s inheritance and packed away from home except that he was dissatisfied with the way things were moving in his father’s house.

Even in the literary world, there are numerous example of this conflict. For example in ‘King Lear’ by Shakespeare, we find Goneril scolding her father as if he were his own child who must be taught to reason.

“Now by my life, old fools are babes again, and must be use with checks…” Synge in his playboy of the Western World, entertains us with the Playboy revolting against the father’s domination, and having knocked down his father in open combat, he takes a pride in doing so, and is acclaimed a hero by the maidens of the place.

Today we are witnesses of youths revolts in various parts of the world, and Africa can be said to have had a fair share of them. In Nigeria for example, a terrorist group simply known as Boko Haram has put the country in a state of chaos. Over 1000 Nigerians are believed to have died in the last one year from ethno-religious and socio-political crises. And that’s being conservative. And on Christmas Day, over 50 people were killed in a bomb blast in a church planted by the same sect. Syria, Egypt, Yemen, Libya, Bahrain to mention a few have their own fair share of the conflict.

Similar revolts and conflicts have been recorded in other parts of Africa and the world at large, to the extent that an English historian has claimed that three quarters of the present troubles of the world are due to the moral and intellectual confusion of the aimless adolescents. The alarming thing is that the situation in Africa have so deteriorated within the last few years that parents have no fame basis of authority over their children. As a result, students are taken to drugs and crime.

Apart from demonstrations and open revolts, this conflict often takes the form of blame. It is common knowledge how the youths blames the adults for whatever goes wrong in the society. So wherever we turn, we find conflict. All over the world, the adult is asking, ‘what is wrong with the youth?’. These revolts have very often been violent in nature with the destruction of lives and properties.

Causes of the revolts: One of the chief causes of these conflicts is what we may call Generational Gap between the old and the young. This gap has also created amongst other things by evolution and civilisation. It has to be accepted that as long as evolution and civilisation expand, the more this generational gaps widens. It is this gaps which has led to criticisms from both sides rightly or wrongly.

This gap has also created lack of proper understanding between the two generations with the results that the adult looks upon the youths as being worse than their elders in all generations. In an attempt to discipline the youth, stringent measures are adopted which only drive them to excesses.

Shakespeare illustrates the results of his lack of education in the youth when Orlando revolts against his senior brother who has left Orlando untutored at home when Oliver asked “what make you sir?” Orlando replies, “I am not taught to make anything,” Oliver, “what mar you then?” Orlando: “I am helping you to mar that which God has made, a poor brother of yours, with idleness.” This scene ends with Orlando grabbing his brother by the neck and threatening to pull out his tongue.

The second cause of conflict from the side of the youth is the bad examples copied from adults themselves. Most bad traits of character exhibited by the youth are those copied from their elders especially those that pertain to moral laxity. The youth see and hear of cases of stealing, official corruption, bribery and adultery (often from their parents and those around them). They, the youth, imitate these things as a normal way of life only to be scolded and rebuked by the adults, who seems to say, “Do as I say, but don’t do as I do.” This the youth can’t understand, and is often confused and embarrassed.

From the points mentioned above, it is clear that the youths are not completely to blame for their conflicts with the older generation. Often the older generation has treated the youth harshly or looked at their suggestions or innovations with a jaundiced eye, and this has driven a feeling of respect from the youth.

How can these conflicts be resolved? Whatever method we employ must be aimed at ending the wastage of youth. Foremost among these measures is proper education right from the home. Parents should take greater pains to teach or educate their children on the values of good behaviours or morals, not only orally but by their practical example. This is equally true of those who are responsible for the education of the youth in schools and colleges. Teachers should be well-disciplined themselves. The government of each country should have a code of conduct for those responsible for the education of the youth. Only a good tree can produce good fruit. As the teachers, so are his children.

Amadi wrote in from  Brookstone Secondary School, Port Harcourt

Emeka Amadi