A survey released yesterday suggested that Taiwan's youth are feeling increasingly hard done by and are less optimistic about what the future holds.
Fears over the country's future scored highest in the survey for the second year in a row with 3.66 out of a maximum 5.
The top score in 2000 was given to worries over the ability of the police to protect them.
Tied for second in the survey were the education policy chaos and the poor conduct of politicians, which both scored 3.61
The survey was conducted by the ToSun Foundation, which is chaired by former minister of justice Liao Cheng-hao (
The foundation has conducted similar end-of-year surveys for the past three years, with the results highlighting a growing trend of dissatisfaction among the young.
This year, the average overall score of the index was 60.58 compared to 60.42 last year and 58.92 in 2000.
The survey was conducted between October and November and elicited 2,310 valid responses from 37 schools, ranging from junior high to junior college.
According to the survey, Taiwan's youth are most satisfied with parental treatment, which scores 2.09, the lowest among 34 items listed on the questionnaire.
The 34 items were divided into seven categories -- education, family, leisure, law, environment, gender relationship and future expectations.
Executive officer of the foundation Hsu Fu-sheng (許福生) said that the young generation receives muddled political messages every day, which confuses their emotions.
"The results of the survey over the past three years have not changed much. Political situations always give headaches to the young," Hsu said.
He added that politicians in Taiwan should take a look at themselves and try to give teenagers a clear and reliable democratic society.
Sharing similar views, Liao said the young obviously feel confused about the future of the country. He contributed this to unsound policies proposed by the government as well as politicians' bad conduct.
"Our politicians do not act as they say they should. Young people can't trust politicians any more and this might become a more serious problem in the future," Liao said.
As to the most satisfying result of the survey -- the treatment from parents -- the foundation said it showed that the family unit plays an important and stable role in terms of supporting young people in society.
Also, the foundation thought weak education policies have become a major source of youth anxiety because education reforms taking place over the past 10 years have not only failed to allay fears but have also added to the pressures of study.
RSS