GENERATION IRRELEVANT..
By David Vance On July 31st, 2012Interesting article here which posits the idea that young people are going to bad universities to study subjects no employers want. We’ve been saying this on ATW for years but nice to see such a distinguished commentator as Dr Martin Stephen spell it out for the slow of thinking.
“Surprised to hear that more than 20,000 graduates from the year of 2011 were still unemployed six months after they graduated? We shouldn’t be. This is a full-scale tragedy written, orchestrated and adapted for real life by the Government, and the victims are our young people.
We need to see the figures that show employment numbers broken down to show the difference between the “new” universities, and Oxbridge or older, more established universities. We need the figures broken down also by degree subject. If they are, we start to see the true story: aspirational young people encouraged to go to universities that lack credibility to study subjects employers don’t want. Result? Massive debt, wasted years and slapping hamburgers in an outlet where the manager joined McDonald’s straight from school.
It’s our fault we’ve let our young people down. We have no definition of what a university is – is it academic, vocational, for research or for use as a finishing school? Is it what we understand by a university, or simply a glorified college? We have no real means of matching the numbers taking degrees to the needs of either the country or the employment market. We can’t fund the universities we have, and the contact time on some arts courses is derisory.
The funding crisis created by maniac expansion threatens our world-class universities with demotion, as well as the creation of a disaffected generation who feel they were sold a pup. Is there anyone in there brave enough in there to admit that we can’t afford to send 50 per cent of our young people to university, they can’t afford it and we really need to bring back the distinction between College and University? Or are we happier to have thousands of new unemployed who as well as no jobs have no prospect of paying back the £30,000 debt they acquired to prove there were no jobs for them?”
I think the answer is, remarkably, that we are happy to have thousands of young people mired in debt with no prospect of a job but waving worthless Degrees. Enjoy.
There’s more to education than what employers want, surely.
Not at that level Petr. You go to University to get qualifications that enhance your job prospects and help you enter your chosen career path. If you are getting qualifications that do bugger all to enhance your job prospects and have no viable career path then it is a waste of time and money.
“We have no real means of matching the numbers taking degrees to the needs of either the country or the employment market.”
Well, we do. It’s called the market. Let prices work.
What do universities care for graduates in Golf Course Management not finding jobs? They’ve trousered the fees already, and that’s what it’s all about: recruiting thousands of suckers into going into debt for a pointless education.
Hardly surprising, – the old saying ‘Rags to riches and back to rags in three generations’ – seems to be proven yet again.
From the pre and post war ‘generation’, – a real ‘rag’ generation, – the generation of hard work, opporunity, sacrifice and principle, through to ‘generation X’, – the ‘Boomers’, the generation whose chant was a non-stop ‘I want it, and I want it now!’, ridden with debt, greed and far too little principle, and to complete the circle, the third generation, – ‘generation irrelevant’, – the generation of the feral attitude, with so much to offer, but very few takers, a generation of welfare and subsidy, also a ‘rag’ generation, – perhaps ‘rag Mk2′!.
Having just read the ‘Olympic Qatada’ thread, we could, and perhaps should call that pre-and post war generation ‘Generation Betrayed’…
Seamus,
“You go to University to get qualifications that enhance your job prospects and help you enter your chosen career path. If you are getting qualifications that do bugger all to enhance your job prospects and have no viable career path then it is a waste of time and money.”
Not really true. If you have a relevant qualification that’s nice but (at least most) degrees are better than no degree. Most qualifications have a short shelf life anyhow, certainly technical ones. The pace of change is too fast, details will be out of date before the ink dries on your diploma. It’s the ability to learn and ideally work from first principles that you can evidence by having a degree.
The pioneers of computer science didn’t have a computer science degree, for the obvious reason – there was no such degree, they had yet to define the field. A disproportionate number of them did have degrees in things like greek and classics though. Obviously not as useless as they might appear.
So it depends on the degree, yes, but not as much as all that.
Degrees in David Beckham studies were never likely to be in demand on the job market.
Said it before and I’ll say it again. We need a good long and bloody conventional war to thin out the numbers of people in this country.
May I suggest five years compulsory active national service for all under 35. Watch the number of immigrants fall overnight! Full employment so Milli-Balls will be happy.
What…too much?
I take it Dogisgreat that you aren’t under 35. What about those of us who don’t want to spend five years in compulsory active service? What do you do with us?
What part of compulsory did you miss? You could always hop over the border into
CanadaEire if you like.You’ll have a great time dodging the British Talibans Holy Death Squads bullets and ied’s.
Don’t be such a baby.
And what about those of us that refuse that compulsory service? What would you do with them?
As Patton said when you put your hand into a pile of goo that a minute ago was your best friends face, you’ll know what to do. Or you could make friends with the Bradford Brigade of the Talliban really quick. Your call. Or go to Eire?
What a ridiculous proposal DIG. if they couldn’t impose conscription in Ireland in WWI or in the state of N.I. in WWII you think that they’ll impose compulsory military service in the 21st centuary?