The Future of the Adolescents

Dumagat youths of San Ysiro, Antipolo, Rizal together with the Porta Coeli staff. Porta Coeli Center helps the Dumagats plan their future through education.

Adolescence and Its Future Orientation

This is part of my report on Child and Adolescence. I hope this can help adults like me understand our youth. This is a result of my research thanks for all the writers and authors of Human development.

Adolescence is a distinct stage of preparation for adulthood. It is also the period of exploration. A time for planning for the future, this emerges as an important developmental task (Erickson). Adolescents develop an extended future orientation in which they are able to think, dream, and plan for their futures. It is a crucial link to the future of a society. It is the period when adolescents either become prepared for or enthusiastic for taking over adult roles or they rebel against the expectations and responsibilities of adulthood.

Future Orientation is a "complex cognitive motivational phenomenon". It has been explored in multiple literatures and related to adult competence, attainment and educational outcomes. It is used to predict behavior, planning and transition to adulthood. Personality, skills and cognitive factors influence the future.

Nurmi described future orientation through three basic processes: motivation, planning and evaluation. Motivation is an essential part of future orientation. Motivation is goal setting. Goals are reference points by which we evaluate our present state of behavior. Planning involves different schemas and cognitive processes. After goals are set motives and values in mind, one needs to plan how to realize them. Evaluation is the extent to which they expect their plans to be realized.

As the adolescents prepare for their future, we adults should help them realized their plans by making pathways available for them to be successful. Some of these pathways are the following:

• Civic Engagement, Government and Inter-Group Relations
• Media and Information Technology
• Research and Scholarships
• Policies and Programs which are tailored for the youth which will keep them at the center

Porta Coeli Center for Continuing Education is doing its share in helping the youth especially the indigenous people like the dumagat tribe of San Ysiro, Antipolo, Rizal in the Philippines. Porta Coeli is a distance education institute which offers scholarships to our youth and adult learners as well.

Adolescence as we have said is the period of exploration. May our youth find the right path to success and be the real hope of the future.