Saudi youth under 30 years of age comprise 64 percent of the country's 19 million citizens, compared to 41 percent of Americans less that 30 years old. Young Saudis are spread out across a vast nation and are divided by religious sects and among some 45 tribes. Members of such a considerable youth population are said to be more pessimistic about their future prospects and tend to over exaggerate the negative aspects of the living conditions that exist in their homeland. This growing negative feeling is believed to be the result of several pressing factors that increase the complaints of young Saudis. These complaints often expressed in angry denunciation have attracted the attention of those interested in Saudi affairs, especially foreign analysts, and indeed it is a highly complex issue that cannot be ignored because the direction and future of the country will be shaped by the expectations, demands, aspirations, and sentiments of young Saudis about their communities and the different institutions of the government. The question is: What makes young Saudis more than ever before eager to voice their opinions on a wide variety of matters through different outlets? Until recently, things seemed to be quiet in the wealthy developing Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. However, new developments have led to a change in the mindset of the nation's young citizens who have become more vocal in demanding their economic, social, and even political rights. The prevalence of social media in Saudi Arabia is the main driving force for the momentous social and cultural changes underway. Internet users total 14.7 million, more than half of the country's residents, and Facebook users total 5.8 million. Additionally, Saudis rank first among all Arab countries in terms of Twitter users who have reached about three million. The outlet of social media gives young Saudis an open space for a lively exchange of views on the new media platform and increases their engagement in public affairs. Specifically, they make use of it to critique social and political norms, policies that affect their lives, and in some cases they use it for expressing political dissent and organization. Young Saudi citizens also regard social networks, and Twitter in particular, as means through which they can express their frustration and dissatisfaction about the current situation, hoping that their voices will reach officials so that change for the better can occur. The availability and accessibility of social media allows young Saudis to vocalize their concerns about a number of matters, such as the high rate of unemployment among youth. The unemployment rate reached about 12 percent in the second half of 2012 and 75 percent of the unemployed are 20 to 29 years old, with 40 percent of those aged 20 to 24, and with a total of 603,000 unemployed Saudis. Other issues of concern to the nation's youth include greater freedom and space in their personal lives and finding an affordable home for their family. According to some estimates, 70 percent of Saudis cannot afford to own a home. In addition, young Saudis are concerned about the perceived favoritism in government services and the need for contacts to get many things done. Young Saudi women also play a significant role in intensifying the current situation in Saudi Arabia. They are moving from quietly dealing with their constraints and frustrations to pushing for and demanding more options and opportunities. Currently, 60 percent of Saudi college graduates are women, but they comprise only 20 percent of the workforce and make up only 16.5 percent of the overall workforce. The unemployment rate among Saudi women has reached 60 percent. Young Saudi women are demanding more rights, especially civil rights, to carve out new career opportunities and gain more personal autonomy and to resolve the perils of legal inequality. In addition, they want to manage their own businesses and have the facilities and mobility to achieve their career aspirations. However, it is not yet known whether these young Saudi women realize that liberty and rights come with responsibility. Another area that concerns an enormous number of young Saudi citizens is the educational system, which many of them feel has failed to adequately prepare them for jobs in the labor market, including the digital marketplace. The educational system does not provide sufficient job-oriented fields of study, especially in technical and vocational education. It places a high degree of emphasis on rote learning at the expense of teaching problem-solving and critical thinking skills, such as analysis, inference, and interpretation, as well as technical skills, language proficiency, and better ways to adapt to global changes. Other fault lines that are growing deeper and more explosive come from graduates of the King Abdullah Scholarship Program, which includes about 150,000 graduates from foreign universities in 19 major fields of study. Upon successfully completing their studies, these graduates eagerly return to the Kingdom hoping to make a difference in the lives of their own people. Today, the voices of those who have already returned home (about 15,000 graduates with state-of-the-art knowledge in various fields) are louder because of the lack of a tightly formulated post-scholarship plan that takes into account the experience and competence of students following their studies. Currently, there are no plans to accommodate and cultivate the expertise and the advanced knowledge that has been gained by these Saudi scholarship students. It is also true that little consideration has been given for identifying the potential roles that will be given to scholarship students once they return home so that they can contribute to rebuilding the country and advancing its sustained development, making positive social and cultural changes, and playing a role in pushing forward economic and political development and other aspects as well. Moreover, returning graduates are not informed of job opportunities appropriate to their specialization nor are employers made aware of scholarship students' specialties and qualifications. The justification of their concerns can be seen because a growing number of scholarship graduates are returning home with a bachelor's degree only to find that they are competing for the same career opportunities as their graduate counterparts from local universities who are attempting to find a job. Young Saudi citizens, due to the availability of technological communication, being well educated and becoming more inquisitive, and more aware of global trends than ever before, are starting to question decision makers and relevant government agencies about a number of crucial matters and policies, expecting them to devise suitable plans to deal with the problems affecting the course of their lives. As such, it is time to acknowledge their concerns, address them in a transparent manner, and develop working plans to resolve the ills that are adversely affecting their future, hopes, and aspirations. We need to take into account that youth are an important part of any society and that civilizations depend on young brains that are capable of meeting challenges and taking nations to the highest levels of achievement. — The writer is a Saudi academic who can be reached at [email protected]
