If you want to learn to navigate, throw away the map

My background is as a teacher and youth worker and so what I know is mostly about young people. I believe that what I have to say about young people in the context of education for sustainability has wider implications to adults as well. This is either because they also missed out on the education I believe is lacking for young people or because they are the people who can provide that missing education for both themselves and the youth of today. I live in a liberal, capitalist, democracy. The trends in this culture have has made a major impact on the experience of being a young person. In three generations the UK has moved from a culture in which financial independence was achieved, on average, at 16 in 1950 (my parents generation) to 25 in 2000 (my children's generation). This has created nine years of previously impossible youth. These young people have a longer education, more leisure time, more disposable income, fewer jobs and greater economic and class mobility. A rich youth culture is one of the outcomes of this. During this time young people are expected to construct a lifestyle for themselves from a broader range of employment, education, faith, friendship, housing, relationship and neighbourhood choices. Guidance on this project also comes from a wider range of sources and is often less easily accessed or offered (Roche and Tucker, 1997)