Young people are fed up with the fact that there are still quarrels and a lack of substantive discussion, lack of agency. We lack an in-depth social debate – said Patryk Kral, the winner of the competition for this year’s high school graduates for a text about the future of Poland after the 2023 elections, in the TVN24 studio.
In May, the Collegium Civitas Foundation announced a competition for this year’s high school graduates for a text about the future of Poland after the 2023 elections. The winner of the competition, Patryk Kral, was a guest at the TVN24 studio on Saturday.
– My work depicts a young man who notices social problems, but does not react to them and later suffers severe consequences. This also shows that agency, willingness to act is important, and not just passive watching, he described.
When asked if this is also the image of his friends and peers, he replied: – It seems to me that we still passively look at the political or social situation, instead of simply reacting to these problems. For example, often in public transport, when someone accosts someone, you can just see this passivity.
Kral vehemently denied when asked if his friends were interested in politics and events around them. “Unfortunately not,” he admitted. – It seems to me that there is a satiety that we are fed in all kinds of media, but also a simplistic message, where critical thinking is often lacking and we trust the information we encounter implicitly – he argued.
– Young people are fed up with the fact that there are still quarrels and a lack of substantive discussion, lack of agency. We lack an in-depth social debate, he stressed.
Patrick KralTVN24
“We would simply expect an intergenerational debate”
When asked further what he would like to discuss and encourage, Kral pointed to social activities. – Working at the grassroots will be the basis for entering a good education, a good future for the good of Poland – he said, explaining that in his opinion good education is one that is “based in particular on knowledge, plus not such an overcrowded program that we currently have”.
– We learn a lot of things, which is of course not a bad option, but we often skip the main part, the most important information. There is a lack of reliable sex education, there is also a lack of psychological knowledge, empathy and such matters – he mentioned.
When asked what the young generation expects from politicians, the TVN24 guest replied that “we would simply expect an intergenerational debate.” – This is missing. However, we know that in Poland, as a rule, each party has its own discipline, has its own beliefs, often without taking into account the voice of many generations, be it young or old people – he pointed out.
Żakowski: adults are no different from you
In the studio, Kral was accompanied by Jacek Żakowski, a journalist and head of the Department of New Media and Journalism at Collegium Civitas. In an interview, he noted that the young generation “is not very different from us when it comes to being uninterested.”
– We had yesterday debates all day, today and tomorrow too, at Concilium Civitas. How many people come to the auditorium? The smartest Poles from all over the world come for political and social matters, and several hundred people register, and dozens come, he admitted.
As he assessed, “this shows a lack of interest in a deeper understanding of reality.” “It seems to me that grown-ups are no different from you,” he said.
When asked why young people are not interested in politics, Żakowski pointed out that “two big political camps are headed by two pensioners.” – What is the communication between these groups? These are pensioners repeating the same texts for several decades. They haven’t really changed. So I think this is one very serious problem. And the second is the lack of influx in the politics of young blood – he said.
Main photo source: TVN24