MEYI Experts Answer Questions About Youth in Algeria

The New York Times features expert analysis by Brookings Fellows Navtej Dhillon, Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, and Tarik Yousef of the Middle East Youth Initiative in response to "In Algeria, A Tug of War for Young Minds," the latest story on “Generation Faithful,” an exclusive Times series on examining the lives of young people across the Middle East.

Navtej Dhillon: "Despite years of hard-work in school, young Algerians get little value for their education. They face one of the highest levels of unemployment (43 percent) in the Middle East. Low-quality education and unemployment force them to involuntarily delay marriage. As a result young Algerians find themselves trapped in “waithood”: a long phase in which they wait for a full state of adulthood. Adulthood eludes them because they are deprived the building blocks of adulthood: skills, jobs, housing, credit and spouses. Because difficulties in one area of life spill over into the others, youth find themselves in a debilitating state. Jobs require skills; housing and credit demand stable incomes; and marriage requires all of these. Thus they age without becoming adults."

Djavad Salehi-Isfahani: "Students in Algeria study subjects that only seem to matter for passing one test – the baccalaureate. Since by necessity most fail, fear of failure rather than anticipation of success drive daily effort. Education is supposed to be about becoming such and such a person as defined by a career or a profession, not simply avoiding failure. "

Read more expert commentary and reader responses at "Ask The Experts About Algeria."

…أقرأ المقالة "الشباب الجزائرى ممزق بين جذب الماضى وجذب المستقبل" باللغة العربية وشارك أرائك 

The Arabic language blog featuring the article and commentary can be found on AlBawaba.com. 

Photo: Krystina Derrickson