DH 9 Learning Between Generations Develops Us All

DYNAMICS FOR HOPE 9 DH 9: LEARNING BETWEEN GENERATIONS DEVELOPS US ALL. Respectful relationships multiply imagination and creativity Nurturing Hope invites us to ensure that the relationships we have are open and trusting. When people who are open to different others belong to structures such as groups or organisations, these very same structures multiply openness, imagination and creativity. When our relationships are full of rivalry and when we harbour hurt against one another, such relationships diminish us all! When we take these rivalries into our groups and structures we disable them, they become dysfunctional! It would be most helpful if the relationships and structures between older and younger people were open and clear. If that was the case, then younger people would experience more freedom and possibility, more space for their imagination, passion and creativity to flourish.

There are inter-generational justice issues that need addressed urgently. Some issues are: • the debt burden being left with younger generations by those currently in the generation of 60 plus years; • our failure to address the environmental sustainability challenge; • the threat of pandemics due to the continued invasion of natural habitats in pursuit of cheap food; • the failure to stand with young people whose experience of democracy is being limited; • the new structural inequalities unmasked by Covid19; • the diminishing of so many employment and training opportunities for young people. • the costs of Further and Higher Education. Many young people want change throughout the world and should be listened to. “The well-being of future generations has become an imperative goal of present-day society. Modern science and technology have given us an unprecedented power to change the environment extensively, lastingly, and, in part, irreversibly…Do we have any obligation towards far-distant unborn generations? Can future generations claim anything from us as their right? To live more openly with one another across generational lines is to work with, for, and alongside one another. This is a way of being marked by respect for the energy, initiative, imagination, experience and creativity of the other.”lvii Inter-generational cultures need to be open and continually refreshed. They are no different to sectarian, ethnocentric and racist cultures, in that, untended, they can be dominated by silence and suspicion. Ageism Ageismlviii is the writing off, or having prejudicial attitudes about, older people. Older people might, too readily, be referred to in demeaning ways or through poor public policies that stereotype all older people. Ageism, in terms of demeaning the contribution and abilities of young people, is the other side of this dynamic. Young people often experience it when their voices are not heard, or their talent and energy is not valued. Intergenerational spaces where people address sensitive historical issues The intention behind Nurturing Hope is that very different people, of all ages, have the opportunity to meet together in relationships where all are welcomed, valued and their experiences and insights acknowledged. As such these meetings, outside traditional or societal rivalries, might become open spaces of deep learning and sometimes surprising relationships. Spaces where the imagination, experience and creativity of all is released and multiplied. If we are to nurture hope then we need to value relational spaces between people of different ages that nurture and sustain contrasting ways of living and working together. In these spaces people learn together about the challenges and pain of living through earlier societal conflicts. These spaces are where

younger people can reflect on, and learn from, histories of harm that need acknowledged and addressed in such ways future generations might not repeat the mistakes of earlier generations. In the 21st Century many young people are making their voice heard It is a reality that, on many continents, young people have taken to publicly protest strongly on a number of themes such as: challenging totalitarian regimes; demanding that environmental policies are given priority; protesting against the failure to address institutional discrimination on the basis of race and ethnicity; protesting that their educational opportunities are being eroded; challenging cultures of violence against women. This is a major change from the role taken by many young people in the later years of the 20th Century The next generation is important. Nurturing hope across generations is about: • Freeing people to share their diverse experiences of relationships with family and friends; • Exploring how rivalry and conflict is, or might be, dissolved and how new, more open, relationships across generations might be usefully established; • Freeing the imagination, creativity and ability of young people within a society too often dominated by sectarian, sexist, homophobic, racist or ethnocentric cultures. In conflict affected cultures and societies many people, understandably, can believe that they need to protect themselves and those like them. For us, this is not the way forward! Nurturing Hope is not about condemning people who hold strong views and beliefs; rather it is an invitation to each one of us to establish relationships through which we all might secure life-enhancing opportunities. In inter-generational spaces older people might stand in support of younger people taking risks, especially where the possibility of them being scapegoated is high. If older people are in a space where they feel free, with no need to rival or impress, they can be confidantes or supporters of younger people who wish to take new and considered risks to make positive changes such as: • breaking free of set cultural expectations on behaviour; • trying to change cultural norms that maintain conflicted relationships as they are; • challenging the cultures of organisations where progress and promotion might only reward those who conform, not challenge; • people taking new first steps into something different together. Such actions are often accompanied by the risk of being readily isolated or scapegoated. Such people need stood with.

Liberating the multiple talents of young people is an intergenerational task. Nurturing Hope inter-generationally is about: • developing open, trusting and conflict-free cultures of relationships and structures around young people, • supporting them exercise their freedom to choose and being responsive to others around them, • formal and informal learning that supports young people explore how they might live outside and beyond cultures of exclusion and judgement, • the importance of strong, inclusive and future oriented educational cultures and policy developments; • the gifts of each person being valued, not diminished; • the valuing of the diverse experiences of: people by ability, gender, sexual orientation, social background, ethnicity, culture and other experiences; • nurturing contrasts to the many demeaning cultures based on rivalry, power and domination. The sustainability of hope is enhanced by inter-generational learning communities supporting individuals and groups take the risks of trusting the ‘so called different other’. “It is time for every parent to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and strength” (Maya Angelou Quote 2). Such inter-generational learning communities would mentor each person, and whole groups, as they develop habits, stories and practices that move us all out of distrustful or fear-filled relationships.

DH 9: LEARNING BETWEEN GENERATIONS DEVELOPS US ALL.

Summary

For young people and older people, inter-generational education, if imaginatively promoted and robustly taught, would be a challenging topic. What scope might there be for this in classrooms, further education and cicil society groups? The need to develop ‘competency based curriculalxi that support young people exercise their power of ‘self agency’xlii for the common good, is a major challenge for national school curricula, further education and higher education in conflict-affected societieslxiii. This challenge is often avoided. The restorative task of inter- generational work is to ensure that all experience being at ease with different others and that younger people are affirmed and supported. Through more restorative cultures becoming the norm, people of all ages are encouraged to put relationships right rather than let relationships and grievances fester. To create and support spaces of inter-generational engagement is a central task of people committed to building a civic culture, which nurtures hope, even in a contest. Creating spaces that are shared, spaces where others are not scapegoated or denied their place, is a central task for educators of all descriptions! This applies equally to programmes engaging with local issues as well as issues of international concern. An Idea: Might a renewed charitable and social enterprise sector be generated by giving resources to younger people from diverse cultural backgrounds to develop relational and structural cultures that are diverse, open and trusting? This could be sustained by supporting: a. Networks of youth and community workers; community development practitioners; student union organisations; workers with young people in care; young carers; newly arrived young citizens considering what potential they have to energise diverse groups of young people and young adults in social action initiatives? b. existing charities and foundations setting aside funds and inviting diverse groups of young adults to establish new charitable organisations? c. inviting prestigious higher education law schools, business schools, management and accountancy schools to empower diverse groups of young students identify the essentials of charitable and social/ community enterprise management to support other young adults develop such enterprises.