Many Potential Leaders of Tomorrow Reject the Role

[DeepModem Mom]

WP: Many Potential Leaders of Tomorrow Reject the Role
By Laura Sessions Stepp
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 27, 2008; Page A04

A new nationwide survey of girls and boys found that a majority of children and youths in the United States have little or no interest with achieving leadership roles when they become adults, ranking "being a leader" behind other goals such as "fitting in," "making a lot of money" and "helping animals or the environment."

The study commissioned by the Girl Scouts of the USA and released today determined that three-quarters of African American girls and boys and Hispanic girls surveyed already identify themselves as leaders, a much larger group than white youths, about half of whom think of themselves this way.

The youths defined leaders as people who prize collaboration, stand up for their beliefs and values, and try to improve society. Girls in particular endorsed these approaches, although a majority of boys did, as well. Yet when asked in focus groups about leadership styles among adults, what they described was traditional top-down management...."The millennial generation has ambivalent, even negative, feelings about formal leadership," said Peter Levine, director of a nonpartisan research center at the University of Maryland that studies young people and civic involvement. "They prefer horizontal leadership in which everyone's a leader."

Youth experts said the survey, which included a random sample of more than 4,000 children ages 8 to 17, provides a rare in-depth look at how the next group of voters -- especially female voters -- views leadership of all kinds. With 2.6 million members, Girl Scouts of the USA is the nation's largest organization for girls. The group's executives were pleased that four-fifths of both sexes said that women and men are equally qualified to lead. This was not the case in the mid-1980s, said chief executive Kathy Cloninger.

What concerned Cloninger and others was not only that girls did not desire to be future leaders but also that many feared they would not be capable enough to assume leadership roles. Twenty-one percent of girls said they had most of the qualities of a leader, such as being outgoing, hardworking and responsible. They also said they lack the ability to command people and, if they tried to do so, they would be laughed at by their peers or seen as bossy and make people mad. "Some girls still struggle with the unwritten rules of what it means to be 'feminine,' the Girl Scouts report concluded. They worry about "exhibiting stereotypically 'female' behaviors, like being nice, quiet, polite, agreeable, and liked by all."

Boys cited far fewer personal reasons for not wanting to be a leader, including a lack of experience and simply being uninterested.

African American and Hispanic girls are considerably less likely than white girls to worry about their capabilities. Adults who work with girls suggested several reasons for that. Young minority females tend to have more responsibilities than whites at home and in their communities, experts said....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/26/AR2008032603036.html?nav=most_emailed

[Juche]

1. All kids are like that

You can't extrapolate how a person will view the world at age 40 based on a survey taken at age 11. As people grow older they have more experiences and gain more independence. I'm sure the majority of today's leaders had no interest in leadership at age 11 either.