Quote:
Originally Posted by gynn
I agree that many young people are being misdirected into further education courses that will have little long term worth, but isn't one of the main reasons for that is because they have little or no alternative? There are no jobs for them to go into, so they opt for the easy way out. A further course of study to postpone the fateful day.
In the current economic climate, with businesses having to cut back on every item of "unnecessary" expenditure, the first victims of the cuts are training budgets. Apprenticeships are axed, and businesses make do with what they've got. But in reality, it is at times like this that apprenticeships and training are vital, as it is those people on whom the future recovery will be built.
To illustrate my point, perhaps Councillor Moss can tell us how many school leavers Hyndburn Council (the largest employer in the borough) is taking on this year?
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The simple answer is that I don't know but with the trims that are being made I would imagine 'not many' would cover it.
I was encouraged to go to university and was in the last batch of school leavers to get their fees paid. If I was in the same position now I would think twice, particularly as the average debt is £21k at the end of it. Not the best way to start your working life.
What I also found was that while I worked for three years to get the qualifications to catapult me into my new role as Director General of the BBC, my peers went to Granada as tea boys and ended up producing their own shows.
I did feel as if I'd made a mistake but put that new knowledge to practical use and set up a business of my own which is still thriving after eight years. University is not all it's cracked up to be in the real world and 90% of those who go just use it as an excuse to get wrecked every night away from home. Having said that, the foreign students all worked their nuts off, particularly the Chinese.
People fall into two brackets: academic and practical. I'm in the academic half, not bad with my brain but a complete idiot with any sort of DIY implement. In contrast, my brother is one of the best joiners I have ever seen in action but has absolutely no idea about how to run a home. He didn't bother with university and yet we are both successful in what we do.
I feel it depends on strength of will of the individual. I was convinced in my own mind that university would give me a huge advantage over those without a degree and I was wrong but the push to get young adults into further education is much stronger now and to go against that flow is going to take some doing, especially if all your mates are going as well.
We're living in an unfriendly world which is obsessed with making everyone equal, whilst at the same time deifying those with minimal talent and fame who appear on cheap television like
The X Factor.
School results are based on the performance of the student on a handful of days in exam conditions, something you will never suffer again in your entire working life. My advice to any school leaver would be to look at the general direction in which you would like to end up going and only tackle university only if you
really want to.
Getting a job at all these days looks like a nightmare and a degree is not the guaranteed ticket to employment that it once was.