Modernity and Aspirations: Youth Organizations in the Third World

Abstract

The interest in national youth organizations in Third World countries is one aspect of the inquiry into nonformal education as an agent of social change. This inquiry is due to the mounting criticism of formal schooling in the Third World. While the school systems of various Third World countries have often been criticized for being too selective, rigidly structured, and meritocratic, programs of nonformal education have been praised for their flexibility, their nonelitist approach, and their responsiveness to clientele needs.' Nonformal education is consequently viewed as a potential agent of social change. National youth organizations are an important segment of the nonformal framework of education in many countries, especially in Africa and in Latin America. Such organizations are backed by the state and are officially aimed at a greater involvement of youth in national development. They therefore emphasize the inculcation of modern values and norms of behavior and the actual involvement of youth in various development projects. Participation in these youth organizations is voluntary, and the members are either high school students or out-of-school adolescents. National youth organizations thus serve either as a substitute or as a mere extention of the formal school. Though their total membership frequently consists of no more than a couple of thousand adolescents, their backing by the state makes them one of the largest and most effective agencies for nonformal socialization of youth in the Third World.2 The effectiveness of nonformal education as an agent of social change has recently been reexamined. La Belle, and La Belle and Verhine3 have argued that most programs of nonformal education in Latin America are characterized by a narrow psychological approach. These programs emphasize the teaching of new values and norms, and thus regard individual change as their ultimate goal. But since nonformal programs provide no formal accreditation which is redeemable in the labor market, they have no