We live in an age where many people across many cultural and religious boundaries are feeling displaced, alienated and excluded.  The feeling can be rocket fuel for a desire for change - almost any change - that creates an anchor in a sea of emotional chaos.  Add the usual disruptive anxieties of being young, economic uncertainty, and a desire to do something "significant" with your life, and the fertile field is ready to receive the dark seed of radicalization.  (This is not just an Islamic issue, and all you have to do is look south of the border to see that.)  

Youth need grounding while they adapt to their world to become adults.  Anything that helps give a sense of security while also affording opportunities at self-discovery and self-expression is welcome.  With opportunity to participate and the hope that aspirations can be realized - rather than continuously dashed - is what is needed.  How we do that is an open question.  Katimavik, Peace Corp, etc.; we need something.