Nov 08 2008
Student entrepreneurs do the job?
Young Friends Having Fun
Many years ago I decided to go to university. At the time, this was a very strange decision. I didn’t actually know anyone else who had ever been a uni student. I didn’t know why you went, what you did or what happened afterwards. Naive is one of the many words you might choose to describe this state of innocence or ignorance.
I just knew I loved learning and university seemed to be a pretty good place to go to learn some more!
How different to the young people I see today.
Some are desperately keen to go to university. They have a passion for their subject and want to learn more about it. Others just know that they have to go to uni. No, it’s not about them being forced to do something against their will, it’s more of a realisation that there are few other options.
Part of this is to do with government targets to get more young adults into higher education.
Mostly it is the realisation that, getting a job that pays more than the minimum wage is dependent upon having more qualifications.
As far as I can see, young adults are all too aware that they need to have a good career lined up after university. The university education, pleasant and diverting as that experience might be, is just a stepping stone to a job where they can earn money.
Now this seems to be for a number of reasons.
The increasing numbers of people in the employment market means there is more competition for jobs. There seems to be a national dislike of doing “menial tasks” by which I mean doing anything well in a “service capacity” (how we need to change that attitude!). Our aspirations for success, if not for affluence and conspicuous wealth are so much greater than for our parent’s generation.
Maybe the biggest reason for “needing a good job after uni” is that it just costs so much more to go to university! The reduction in student grants, the emergence of student loans… student debt today is not just about the odd 50 pound overdraft, it’s about handling a debt the size of a small mortgage!
And are we preparing this next generation to properly deal with debt, to manage their money, to really dramatically increase their earning potential?! Well, not so much as I’ve noticed!
Getting a good job is one part of the puzzle. Are we encouraging our young students to become entrepreneurs, to give generously, to think differently? There is so much evidence to show that many are highly motivated by deeply felt values and the desire to make things better, to give something back…
Perhaps it’s time to give our young people the tools and let them do the job!
