Opinion: Young people can say the funniest things

In David Bowie's song Changes, he used the term "strange fascination", which is a useful concept for youth work when we are thinking of our educative function and, thereby, our contribution to effecting change in young people's lives. Nothing causes more amusement to youth workers than the unexpected, impromptu observations made by young people when they are outside of their natural context and exposed to new experiences. And we build on those surprise comments to educate, inform and discuss. I was once walking through Prague with a young woman from China who had never seen graffiti before. She wanted to know what it was for, why it was done, who did it. She marvelled that somebody should have the courage, or stupidity, to draw on walls in public space. A wall painting of John Lennon elicited little reaction; she had no idea who he was.

Closer to home, there have been some classics. One young person thought that the Welsh must be very rich because they could afford to put lights in the middle of the roads. She had never seen, or at least had never noticed, Catseyes before the youth work residential she was on. The same individual was mortified that somebody had spray painted the sheep, and wanted to have a go at the farmer who had allowed such cruelty to happen. And a lad on one of my residentials said it was so very lucky, since we had no running water, that there was a spring in the garden.

It had not occurred to him that the cottage was located where it was because of the accessibility of water.

All such strange fascinations hold the possibility of triggering a range of discussions, what might be thought of as the structuring or framing of informal learning. Good youth work can capitalise on such opportunities in a myriad of ways, rather than simply providing a matter-of-fact response or explanation. Not that they can be anticipated in advance, for they are not issues that we ourselves are likely to be aware of; they are already taken for granted and therefore below the iceberg of perceived intercultural communication.

Of course, some such observations are simply hilarious in the extreme, relaying the parochial circumstances in which so many young people live.

On a recent royal visit to south Wales, Prince Edward was chatting with a young lad involved in a youth inclusion programme who, out of the blue, asked him whether or not he had ever met the Queen. We might be amused, but we should never be amazed that such questions are posed. And we should always recognise the fertile soil they provide for developing new perspectives and new understandings on the part of the young people concerned.