Must reinvent youth programs

Since the preliminary introduction of legislation to establish the CNMI Youth Congress, I had mixed feelings of the obvious reconfirmation of our well honed belief of “everything that is government”.

In our infinite wisdom, we did nothing but return to a favorite pastime–preparing our young people for bigger and more government–the effects of which would be devastating down the stretch.

The US Department of Interior did a sterling job turning hardworking and productive indigenous people into paper pushers. Through the years, we’ve learned to work for the government as to nurture the notion that a job in the public sector is indeed the very definition of success.

In the process, we strengthened the superficial belief that private sector jobs are for failures and foreigners. It is no wonder that we find most indigenous workers in the public sector. It is now the bedrock and launching pad for complacency in perpetuity. And we treat it as a birth right! This is wrong, friends.

I am not about to deny our young minds the opportunity to learn the functions of the legislative branch of government. But most of these students have student body organizations in their respective schools. This is the venue which they can learn, in concert with their teachers and advisors, the role of the legislative branch of government.

If an issue really matters to them, then they should collectively bring it to the attention of the commissioner and board of education for answers. Teaching our young minds piles of more government isn’t the answer in their preparation for life after high school.

It is time that we turn the tide of permanently emplacing non-productive with productive citizenry. Rather than a Youth Congress, how about establishing a Junior Entrepreneurship Program in our schools so we can encourage and teach our young people how to establish their own businesses? There’s a dire need to do this today and it behooves leadership from all sectors to converge and explore opportunities where we can gradually instill greater confidence in indigenous business development.

It’s so unfortunate that we have turned Interior’s crowned jewel of complacency and hopelessness into a full-blown savior. This old paradigm must change too, friends. The future economic survival of the indigenous people will be determined by how well we can forge greater participation in the productive sector of the Northern Marianas Community–private sector. It is here where money is generated to cover our needs in health, education and other basic services.

In fact, the board of education ought to explore how Hong Kong has made instructions on investments mandatory at the primary level. Unless we learn to invest so to change the prevailing attitude of everything that is government, there really isn’t much future for our children to break out on their own. We would have perpetuated a good old pastime of living pay check to pay check as droned public sector employees.

This isn’t my vision of the future for posterity. We must regroup and collectively chart what needs to be done to ensure that we gradually shift emphasis to entrepreneurship. Si Yuus Maase`!