A LOST GENERATION ?
Over the last twenty years I have dedicated a considerable amount of time to teaching economics to undergraduates in a number of institutions across Belgium’s three regions.
In recent years, a devastating change has happened: many of my students do not see their future in Belgium anymore.
True, it could be argued that this scenario is far from being unfolded and that the enthusiasm from Erasmus programs creates the desire to take hold of life and travel the world.
The drive to explore always attracts the boldest among us, and in the process students learn about management and economics, typical international disciplines that lead people to venture out into the world.
Quite rightly so, people will remind me that not everyone is in a position to set off in search of the world and the majority of (less qualified) students will not have the choice – or even the desire – to do so.
Nevertheless, I think that something deeper is happening when I hear what these students’ parents are saying.
I know very few that do not recommend their offspring to choose jobs that will give them professional geographic mobility.
How disheartening, then, to hear that these young people are the future of the country and that the education system is the legacy of the previous generations.
However, since the downturn started we have all felt like something is beyond our control. This crisis is unlike any other.
The country seems to be intimidated and its life forces are leaving it. Belgium is starting to get worried, and there is a pervasive feeling of powerlessness.
A few months into the crisis, our concerns became local ones, as if the country had abandoned the idea of being a player on the international stage. Is this melancholy? A small dip? Has the post-war model run its course? Or, even worse, is this a social depression or an economic burnout?
Nowadays, the economy shocks of 2008 have almost been trivialised.
Nevertheless they conceal a deeper reality: the absence of a project to get the country going again and, above all, a prosperity plan for future generations. There is a lack of vision on the way that Belgium and its regions should develop and project themselves in Europe and the world.
Political speech and media talk a lot about pensions, structural deficits, redundancy plans and relocation but very little about the future of our young people. Not enough is being said about their professional opportunities and the optimism that should be offered to them.
Young people learn that the crisis is similar to that of the 1930s, but nothing is said about their future. On the basis of what is happening in all other European countries, these young people do not understand that the problems of the previous generation are not playing in their favor.
Jobs disappear, and they are realising that they will have pay off the debts of the previous generation. They are becoming aware of the burden of public debt, which they do not want – or will not be able – to absorb.
So, what to tell them? Something must have gone wrong in the Belgian economy. Over a decade or so, our communities have been deeply transformed, negatively impacting social solidarity and the entrepreneurial spirit.
Then there is another factor, which we suspect will have tremendous impact: the loss of higher moral values that stimulate collective thought.
It is up to us to transmit to young people the desire for improving the future and engaging in entrepreneurship, by leading the way and sharing our personal experiences. Why? Because they are the future of Belgium.
