Dutch essay for Denmark 2
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Essay 'Social Inclusion'
Title: The untapped potentials of our society
Author: Babette Englebert
Date: 4-2-2016
For youngsters, it is one of the most predictable questions on social occasions: 'So, what do you want to be when you grow up?' From as early as childhood one is regularly asked about their job aspirations. Secondary schools offer countless programmes and workshops to help students pick the profession that they will practice during the 40 years that follow graduation. However, what most of us do not realize is that not everyone is 'fit' for these types of social participation. Consequently, multiple social groups are currently unable to actively contribute to our society, or simply do not have a slightest clue how to contribute. It is for this reason that the concept of 'social inclusion' has been established. The aim of this concept is to try and find alternative social functions for these people to fulfill, that are, preferably, advantageous for those people as well as for the rest of society.
Firstly, the elderly could very well contribute to our society in an innovative, alternative way. Nearly half of the elders aged 75 and over generally feel lonely, and, on average, merely have a single instance of social interaction with a familiar contact a month (1). A solution to this problem could be the foundation of local 'elderly communities' by the local government. These communities would organise activities such as crafting, painting flowerpots and planting bulbs in them, baking, et cetera. In this way, the elderly are stimulated to have social contact. Moreover, their end products could be used by local municipalities. For example, baked pastries and festive crafts could be used for local activities and/or festivities. Flowerpots could be placed around town, to make the local area more aesthetically attractive, which would in turn make area more attractive to house-seekers. In this way, the elderly do not only profit from the communities, the local government does too.
Furthermore, local municipalities could help school dropouts: Dropouts oftentimes encounter difficulty with finding a job as a result of their lacking education. Municipalities could offer unemployed dropouts to help the local governing body, by, for example, allowing them to assist in the organisation of local activities, or in the development of a local newspaper/magazine, and so on. Besides the fact that this enables dropouts to improve their resume, those who turn out to have a talent for organisation and/or governance get the opportunity to further build their career in a professional and thusly educative environment.
Another social group that could prove to be more beneficial for our society than one would expect are the prisoners. In order to give them an active position in society despite their imprisonment, countries could follow the example of Norway. Norway has an extraordinarily humane penal system; Currently, the highest sentence than can be given in Norway is a 'mere' 21 years of prison. What's more, guards and prisoners treat each other as equals, and prisoners are allowed to use televisions and computers. Actually, this is an example of quite a high-security Norwegian prison - Lower security prisons, such as Bastoy, take 'prison luxury' to a whole new level. Bastoy is an island that is merely accessible by boat. Prisoners live in bungalows, are allowed to walk freely on the island and fulfill agricultural tasks in the open air [2]. This penal system turns out to have a surprisingly positive influence on the Norwegian crime rates: Norway has one of the lowest crime -and recidivism rates in the world [3]. In addition to that, society can profit from the agricultural work that is done on the island. The establishment of these 'luxury prisons' might actually be an excellent measure for other countries to also take: Public safety would increase, as well as active working population (which would be good for the national economy).
Similarly to prisoners, immigrants and refugees should not be treated in a condescending manner. Immigrants will be tempted to separate themselves from the native population, which leads to segregation. Natives should make immigrants feel like they are willing to help them integrate rather than force them to be socially participant. The government could offer immigrants free language -and culture courses to help them integrate. As a part of this course the immigrants take part in a social activity that involves social interaction with natives, preferably of about the same age. For instance, a teenage refugee could help (native) students with the preparation of snacks and drinks at a local high school's preview day. In this fashion, foreign individuals do not only help improve society, the small age gap between the individual and the native people he or she would work with might cause new friendships between natives and non-natives to form. As a result, the degree of segregation will decrease. On top of that, immigrants learn more about the culture of the country they are living in, and they might possibly grow more sympathy for the culture and the natives than the immigrants do now because they are stimulated to socially interact with natives and to 'explore' their new culture. Among the native community the collective empathy towards refugees, who currently reside in asylum centers, will grow as the realisation starts to dawn that not every immigrant is necessarily an 'economic refugee', 'an Islamic State asset' or in any sense a danger or harm to society.
In conclusion, it appears that the aforementioned social groups might be able to make a much greater contribution to our society than they currently do. These solutions would not only have a positive effect on the lives of these minority groups, they would positively influence the society in its entirety – It is a win-win situation. In our endeavour to create an ideal society, one should not forget that every individual holds potential, and every negation of that is not only a missed opportunity for the individual but also for our society.
[1] https://www.ouderenfonds.nl/onze-organisatie/feiten-en-cijfers/
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01mTKDaKa6Q
[3] http://uk.businessinsider.com/why-norways-prison-system-is-so-successful-2014-12?r=US&IR=T