It is a broad generalisation, but not inaccurate, to say that many young people have less sense of their responsibility and need for self sufficiency today. This is in my view caused by, amongst other reasons, a generous welfare state which can lead to dependency within a family across generations. We are subsequently faced with young people without motivation who are in fact selecting the rational choice based on what they observe around them of less work to achieve payout comparable to the working population. The solution here needs to be of the “stick” variety rather than “carrot”. The former is needed to stem the spread of the problem; the carrot is used to address the prevalent symptoms.
For the wellbeing of individuals and society as a whole, it is in our collective as well as selfish interest for each of us to pursue occupations that we hopefully enjoy and have a natural interest in. This is the ideal aim that most working adults might not relate to as they head to work each morning but it is the ideal that ought to be targeted through increasing exposure. Students and young people can only identify what they enjoy based on what they have come across. The education system needs to be able to expose them to ideas beyond their usual comfort zone. This can be in the form of exposure to occupation, languages, culture but also the working environment, social work, community involvement, etc. The aim here is to also provide a reality bite by subjecting them to the real world notion that actions have consequences and that there are pressures of adult hood to be prepared for. If students see more, they identify options that they are naturally inclined towards and are self motivated in pursuing these (the “carrot” approach).
Along with Sir Terry Leahy’s publicised remarks about the education system not supplying employable youth, the recent articles in the FT(Jobs for the young and Education system ‘failing business and workforce’, Feb 21) discuss the softer skills and training that are lacking in young people ranging from personal presentation, conversational skills, work ethic etc.
How do young people get the idea that wearing a hoodie to a job interview is not appropriate? To some extent it is an observation of a generational gap. The evolving trend over time has been to adopt informality and the younger generations are naturally less formal and more relaxed than older ones. However there continues to be a need (at least for now) for professionalism in the work place. The stick approach will state that young people learn to do whatever is needed else they pay the consequences for not abiding i.e. unemployment and low income. The carrot approach means that they are given experience while at school to become familiar with and understand this concept of making themselves better employees and productive workers.
At the end of the day, this is a social issue. The culture supported or created by the welfare state has contributed to its establishment. Poor standards of literacy and numeracy are more directly targeted by education but the softer skills and life training needs to become a core part of the school experience. This is not about the state taking over and interfering it is about the state (since we have one) being concerned for its overall wellbeing.
A few points I would like to see executed in mainstream education that every student has to go through:
While attending University and further education is not a must for every student, getting a job and being self sufficient is.
For the wellbeing of individuals and society as a whole, it is in our collective as well as selfish interest for each of us to pursue occupations that we hopefully enjoy and have a natural interest in. This is the ideal aim that most working adults might not relate to as they head to work each morning but it is the ideal that ought to be targeted through increasing exposure. Students and young people can only identify what they enjoy based on what they have come across. The education system needs to be able to expose them to ideas beyond their usual comfort zone. This can be in the form of exposure to occupation, languages, culture but also the working environment, social work, community involvement, etc. The aim here is to also provide a reality bite by subjecting them to the real world notion that actions have consequences and that there are pressures of adult hood to be prepared for. If students see more, they identify options that they are naturally inclined towards and are self motivated in pursuing these (the “carrot” approach).
Along with Sir Terry Leahy’s publicised remarks about the education system not supplying employable youth, the recent articles in the FT(Jobs for the young and Education system ‘failing business and workforce’, Feb 21) discuss the softer skills and training that are lacking in young people ranging from personal presentation, conversational skills, work ethic etc.
How do young people get the idea that wearing a hoodie to a job interview is not appropriate? To some extent it is an observation of a generational gap. The evolving trend over time has been to adopt informality and the younger generations are naturally less formal and more relaxed than older ones. However there continues to be a need (at least for now) for professionalism in the work place. The stick approach will state that young people learn to do whatever is needed else they pay the consequences for not abiding i.e. unemployment and low income. The carrot approach means that they are given experience while at school to become familiar with and understand this concept of making themselves better employees and productive workers.
At the end of the day, this is a social issue. The culture supported or created by the welfare state has contributed to its establishment. Poor standards of literacy and numeracy are more directly targeted by education but the softer skills and life training needs to become a core part of the school experience. This is not about the state taking over and interfering it is about the state (since we have one) being concerned for its overall wellbeing.
A few points I would like to see executed in mainstream education that every student has to go through:
1. Classes for managing personal finance
2. Compulsory community work
3. Compulsory work shadowing/experience (paid or unpaid)
While attending University and further education is not a must for every student, getting a job and being self sufficient is.
No comments:
Post a Comment