|
When he first became Prime Minister, Tony Blair proudly announced that his party’s big focus was “Education, Education, Education�. A worthy enough focus and definitely not something a person would couple alongside the horrors of frustration and increasing personal debt. But as time has gone on, as more and more institutions have gained university status, and student loans have become easily available to everyone, schools have encouraged greater numbers of young people to go for degrees without actually pointing out the cost.
There’s no question that we need a more highly educated society, but is everyone often getting the most appropriate advice? Let’s be honest; is it such a tricky sell to encourage a young adult to leave home and live with their pals, not concern themselves about obtaining a job for three or four years and get cheap beer at the student union bar. A simplified interpretation maybe – inevitably there’s a bit of lessons to attend, and a degree of juggling to make ends meet, then the rewards will be worth it eventually. But is that true For a lot of families, the cost of university education can go on for many years after graduation, both socially and financially.
The student loan system (the best method of funding for university undergraduates), tuition fees, rent and day to day living expenses over the time spent studying can set you back well into five figures – and still no guarantee of employment. It’s ironic that freedom-seeking teenagers out to conquer the world too often become back-at-home twenty-somethings who haven’t even conquered their first job. Not only do parents still have to support them financially, but unemployed adult children who’d previously flown the nest can significantly make things awkward!
Formal education can be a rewarding time for young people, and is the only route for many of our professions. But schools and parents ought to know that in some areas, there are other, sometimes better alternatives. In the world of Information Technology, employers are crying out for professionally qualified IT professionals. Those who’ve been to University often end up having to bolster their IT training skills to be ready for work and fare in the job market against Microsoft, CompTIA or Cisco professionals. The sad fact is they might have qualified two to three years earlier and not had a really large debt had they gone straight to a commercial interactive computer training provider. Possibly the beer in the college bar isn’t quite so cheap after all – certainly the bank of mum and dad would be a lot less used up, and there’d likely be more space on the sofa!.
(C) Scott Edwards - www.learninglolly.com. Scott Edwards has been involved in the IT and Training Industry for 30 years.
More Resources for Computer Training