Study on Civil Awareness & Moral Values of Youth

In October 1997, the Chief Executive tasked the commission on Youth to carry out a study on how our young people could take up a more active role in building up the Special Administrative Region and in voluntary work.

The study began in November 1997 and lasted through May 1998. The findings reveal that many of our young people hold positive values which are recognised and accepted by the community as such. However, there are noticeable perception and expectation gaps on the part of adults regarding young people's civic awareness and value systems. While we are encouraged that our young people are sufficiently liberal minded for new concepts and ideas and are able to differentiate right from wrong, we are concerned that they lack the motivation to accept responsibilities and take decisions. It is clear that the community would like our young people to do better in a number of areas.

Overall, we believe that our young people have the potentials to face the challenges of the new millennium and to take an active part in building up the Special Administrative Region. Our recommendations, therefore, seek to assure that they can realise their potentials as much as possible. We have suggested a three-prong approach.

First, we should reinforce the widely accepted positive values among the young people so as to equip them with the necessary social and life skills (paragraph 41). This could help bridge the perception gaps between adults and young people on the one hand and would encourage the community and the young people to work for the betterment of Hong Kong on the other. We note that such principles are enshrined in the Charter for Youth and have therefore recommended that promotion of the Charter be stepped up (paragraphs 42 to 43).

Secondly, we recommend that structured leadership training programmes be devised on a continuing basis, to meet the training needs at every stage of a youth's development. We believe, through empowerment, our young people would be more confident and motivated to take up responsibilities on the one hand and be competitive in the region and the world on the other (paragraphs 58 to 63).

Thirdly, we call for full community ownership of the responsibility for nurturing and developing our young people, with the Government taking the lead and supported by all other stakeholders, including the family, the schools, the employers, the media, non-governmental organisations and youth groups and also young people themselves (paragraphs 44 to 57). Young people need lots of tender loving care. They need to be nurtured by a community which cares so that they would grow up to be caring and responsible individuals. We recommend developing this caring attitude in the community by promoting participation in voluntary work, particularly among young people (paragraphs 63 to 66). We further recommend that the community be encouraged to provide more opportunities for young people to realise their potentials and widen their vista. Projects could range from community related services to visits and exchange programmes to the Mainland and other countries. In the process, it would help young people build up their identity through experience (paragraphs 67 to 70). Finally, we urge that early consideration be given for the commissioning of a central facility for youth development. This facility will signal a long term commitment of the Government and the community to help our youths to realise their full potentials (paragraphs 71 to 73).

We are conscious that many similar studies before this one have been commissioned and we do not think that our study would provide answers to the many and varied problems associated with youth and youth development issues, nor do we believe that it should or would. We hope that our recommendations can address some of the problems highlighted by the Study and provide food for thoughts for individuals and organisations working for the best interests of our young people. More importantly, we hope to see action. We would not expect too much debate and discussion over our recommendations, none of which are meant to be controversial or divisive. These are reasonable recommendations based on empirical research. We think that the issues involved have been discussed long enough. It is time to act.