I now will give the floor to Milena Dudasova,
also Youth representative
from Slovakia.
Madam, you have the floor...
10 seconds.
10 seconds is what it took to Thomas Edison
to invent the lightbulb.
In exactly the same amount of time we´re sitting here
brilliant man changed the history.
Short while, but preceeded by years of preparations
and thousands of mistakes.
This is just one example,
but my main question for you today is:
Is youth getting prepared and being supported
for unique stories and discovery moments like that?
Dear Mr. Chairman,
ladies and gentlemen,
Distinguished delegates,
it´s really an honor for me to speak here
at the United Nations General Assembly today
on behalf of young people from Slovakia.
What I would like to emphasize today is
the problem of general phenomenon of low expectations towards young people.
Edison started developing his laboratory when he was 10,
founder of American Red Cross, Clara Barton,
started nursing at the age of 14.
George Washington, at the age of 16, became a great land surveyor.
Historian Friedrich Heer made a following comment in this regard:
"At their time period, young men and women like that
were nothing unique."
Today, however, people in their age are only considered being teenagers
and majority of adults would be pretty sceptical
about credibility of their work.
My question is WHY?
Approximately 50% of the world population is YOUTH.
Can we see that in our economies
that half of the population is in their most productive years?
Being young is currently perceived as not being capable enough,
so let me give you a question:
How old do you think the word teenager is?
Most of the people would say 500 years or 200...
The answer is
that the 1st documented usage of the word teenager is
from 1941.
That´s not even 100 years ago.
For me that was pretty unbelievable,
but more unbelievable is the radical change in usage of young years in general.
Until 20th century there were only 2 categories:
kids or adults.
The dividing line between those 2 groups was determined
by one´s responsibility and independence.