Youth are central to UNESCO's mandate. The more than one billion youth and adolescents in the world today hold the key to our shared future and to global sustainable development. With a focus on Latin America, this publication addresses the need to regain young learners' trust in education and to arrive at more positive social constructions of youth among educators, parents and education authorities. In so doing, this study looks at educational experiences as meaning makers that shape youth cultures and identities as well as their attitudes toward education and its potential to improve individual and collective well-being.