Reports that a quarter of graduates are low earners 10 years after leaving university bangs another nail in the coffin of the “degrees for all” project that dates back to Tony Blair’s premiership.
This project always depended on the economy being able to provide graduate-level jobs for those who earn the qualifications – but as we’ve discovered, that doesn’t necessarily happen. Perhaps it might be a good time to stop telling youngsters that higher education and the debt that comes with it are the only way for them to get on.
Most people who work in education are familiar with the unhelpful student who thinks they’re cleverer than their teachers and that formal schooling has nothing to offer. Not so many are willing to admit that sometimes those students are right. One mum I bumped into at the weekend was fed up at one time with apologising for her daughter’s lack of interest in college. In her early 20s, that daughter took her chances in a temporary job and is now earning twice what I did when I was a graduate of her age. One of my relatives married into a family where a brother expelled from school at 15 went on to start his own business and become a millionaire.
As a former teacher, I’m heavily in favour of an education system that allows everyone to develop their potential to the maximum extent. The key problem now for policymakers is how to create well-paid jobs that allow people to continue to develop after completing their studies. But we should also be considering how we could create an environment where dissident and non-conformist youths could do things differently. And we can start that process by refusing to express horror at youngsters who drop out of school as soon as they can, or show no interest in university league tables.
Apocalypse soon?
There are no millionaires in my family but I do have one elderly and clever relative who’s famous for responding to reports of wars and disasters in the same way. She nods sagely and warns us that these events were all foretold in the Book of Revelation.
They are, in fact, clear signs that the end times are upon us. Given that the whole of recorded history is one long and depressing list of wars and disasters, I’ve always been a bit sceptical myself. It’s also undeniable that end-of-timers have a rather poor track record when it comes to picking a date for the Big One. But just because they’ve always been wrong in the past, does that mean they always will be? And could there be portents in God’s own country?
The pundits are making reassuring noises about Donald Trump’s chances of making it to the White House. But even the possibility that this erratic and touchy candidate might have the nuclear codes in his wallet is a cause for serious concern. I’m not going to suggest for a moment that Trump is the Antichrist: that would be ridiculous. But if there is any suggestion in the Book of Revelation that the apocalypse will be presided over by a man who’s big on guns and down on women and minorities, it might be time for all of us to get our affairs in order.
In with the out-laws
I spent Sunday in Norfolk celebrating my in-laws’ diamond wedding anniversary. Actually that’s not true, as my partner and I have never made it legal, so his mum and dad aren’t really my in-laws. It seems odd that there doesn’t seem to be any equivalent to “in-laws” for a non-married partner’s relatives. I would suggest “out-laws” but that might be open to misinterpretation. Or is there another term in use that’s passed me by?
