Главная страница «Первого сентября»Главная страница журнала «Английский язык»Содержание №23/2009

Youth Problems

School, lessons, games, clubs, homework. A bell rings. However, one day young boys and girls will attend school for the last time. Then they are confronted with difficult choices. They must make a decision: to enter a university or try to find a job. One actual youth problem is the difficulty of getting an education. Many young people think that education is inaccessible because of lack of money. They would like to get a higher education, but it could be very difficult to enter the university or it might be very expensive.

The housing problem is still unsolved. Usually young people have no chance to buy or to rent an apartment on their own because of soaring real estate prices. No housing and no hopes to get it. They have to live an unsettled life in hard conditions. Some of them have even nowhere to live. Lack of your own home discourages the creating of young families.

Alcoholism and drug-addiction are relatively new problems but they are becoming more and more dangerous. Millions of young people today are using drugs. Usually they want just to try it. Then they cannot stop and after maybe two years, they will die. Drug-addiction is a disease. Drug and alcohol consumption can destroy an individual’s life. Another problem is alcoholism. Early alcoholism is caused by beer-addiction. In addition, problems develop from bad habits such as smoking, especially among adolescents.

The problem of unemployment also leads to material problems. Young people have to pay for everything, they have needs, they have to pay their bills etc., but they do not have enough money. Almost all young people face a shortage of money.

Young people face difficulty finding a good job after graduation. It is hard to find a well-paid job, you must have connections everywhere. Young people are discriminated against when they seek a job, for they are inexperienced. It is also hard to find a job according to your qualifications.

I think that in Russia we have the same problems as anywhere else and some additional ones. In Russia, it is also hard to find a well-paid job, and people go to big city to find a job or to get a good education. Many young men want to enter university because they do not want to go to the army. Now people want to be well-educated, because the majority of firms and companies employ only highly qualified people. But universities can’t educate all of them for free, so those who don’t have enough money can’t easily enter these universities.

By Julia Tsebro ,
10th grader, Gymnasia MIIT