Matikainen, Ada

Introduction

Hi! I’m a 14-year-old upper comprehensive school pupil from Torpparinmäki. I chose to stand as a candidate because I would like to have the opportunity to make a difference in current affairs. I think it would be important for Helsinki to be a safe and equal city for everyone living here. All young people should also have the opportunity to influence the future of Helsinki because it’s their future, too.

My hobbies include playing the guitar, the clarinet and cheerleading once a week. In my spare time, I like to draw and listen to music. I’m also interested in languages. I’m trilingual myself: I speak Finnish, German and English.

Torpparinmäen peruskoulu

Answers to the election machine

Schools should have more days during which they only serve vegetarian food.

Now, we only have one vegetarian day per week. If we could bring that up to two, it would be twice as many. If we invested more in vegetarian food, more people would probably eat it.

 

Schools should focus on grouping more extensively than now.

When I lived abroad, I saw the consequences of belittling the importance of grouping and building community spirit. Class spirit was not invested in and many pupils were lonely, because other pupils would not accept them. Pupils should be encouraged to form a group from the start so that they will learn to be kind to each other as well as accepting of others.

 

Distance learning needs to be established as a permanent learning method in addition to contact teaching.

No, but maybe not a definite ‘no’; experiences from distance learning could be collected from the past year and a half to see whether teaching and learning could be improved with some distance learning methods. Remote schooling is difficult for some pupils, because focusing on things and learning matters can be difficult. That is why permanent distance learning could be a big risk for pupils’ mental health, for example.

 

The competitiveness of young people’s sports activities should be reduced.

Competitiveness prevents people from sporty hobbies, because they might fear failure. Competition may be stressful for them. People should be given the choice to decide whether they want to go to a competitive or non-competitive group when starting a sports hobby. If there was a chance to choose, more people would likely be interested in sports as a hobby.

 

The City of Helsinki should primarily offer summer jobs to those young people who do not yet have work experience.

This would maximise the amount of people getting summer job experience and an opportunity to have at least one summer job.
There should be more summer jobs available anyway, as they are a great way to learn things, experience working life and make some money. A summer job is a good experience in every way.

 

The public spaces in Helsinki should maintain the division between women’s and men’s toilets.

The division to men and women is deep-rooted in Finnish society. The world is moving forward, however, and many don’t consider this division into men and women natural or comfortable. I don’t think it would be a major expense for the City to start using unisex toilets in addition to gendered toilets. The division could be removed in places where unisex toilets are not possible for structural reasons, for example.

 

Helsinki should start offering free public transport to those under 18.

Not all underage people may afford to use public transport if they need to pay for it. Public transport is the primary mode of transport for many minors in Helsinki, and it can become expensive if they use public transport often. Free public transport would probably also increase its utilisation rate, which would hopefully reduce car usage.

 

It would be better if there were no e-scooters in Helsinki.

E-scooters are not the problem.  The problem is people that are negligent about their use and traffic rules. People’s behaviour can be guided through instructions, restrictions or by developing infrastructure, for example. If people ride e-scooters on the walkway, it is likely because there is no cycling lane or because riding on the car lane is frightening, not because people are being mean.

 

For a member of the Youth Council, pushing their own goals through is a more important quality than agreeing on compromises.

The Youth Council is a group of people, not just one individual. This means that everyone should be able to compromise so that they can push our common goals forward. A Youth Council member is thinking about things on behalf of the whole city, not just on behalf of themself or their limited reference group.

 

On which topics would you like the Youth Council to focus, in particular? Select the three that are the most important to you.

Young people’s influencing opportunities; Equal opportunities and equality; Leisure time and recreation

– I think that it is important that everyone can be equal and satisfied in our city.
– It is also important to allow young people to impact the city, as young people have great thoughts and ideas that need to be considered. Young people are the future of this city, after all.
– Young people should have more chances for hobbies during their leisure time. Hobbies are a great place to meet nice people and have fun.