Selfishness bodes ill for future

The decision-makers of the future might turn out to be narrow-minded specialists who have no interest in other people's problems. This warning is put forward by the Northern Finnish regional newspaper Kaleva (11 November 2001).

In an editorial, titled "Only one's own business is of interest", Kaleva quotes a traditional saying according to which it is possible to predict what the decision-makers of the future are like by observing today's students.

Kaleva then analyses students' behaviour in recent student organisation elections. The turn-out was depressingly low, not over 30 per cent on average; at one university it didn't exceed 19 per cent.

The newspaper's conclusion is that today's students are only interested in their own studies. The leading article compares this with the current generation of decision-makers who more often than not were student activists. Representatives of this generation are puzzled even concerned by today's students' lack of interest in public life. Kaleva agrees with these worries.

"If people always only worry about their own interests and success, they don't learn to feel empathy towards other people's fate. The decision-makers of the future might turn out to be selfish people who see their powerless and vulnerable fellow citizens only as cost factors."

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