A Great Job for my Kids?

What are the chances? One anxiety that haunts me and many parents is the lack of on the job training opportunities for our children – the dark image of a lost generation of young people still haunts me.

The litmus test for a “great economy” is how well students make the school-to-work transition.  Even if schools, technical institutes, colleges and universities attempt to fulfill their mandates – as many do – there is clear evidence that our students venturing out into the world of work, are not very well prepared for the real world. How else can we rationalize the fifty four campuses between all of our school boards & colleges that focus on adult upgrading & retraining where more than 60 percent of the students are twenty years of age and under.

Somehow, we imply that education and training programs produce capable workers but that is not necessarily always the case.  This creates a field-of-dreams trap, and we seem to be falling into it.  We now have more semi-skilled young people with somewhat low levels of soft skills than our local economy is capable of absorbing.

Decisive action is needed to increase the quantity and quality of work experience opportunities available to the young. It’s a Passport to prosperity! As a start, we need to get more of us focused on what it means to create job experience opportunities for students and real job opportunities for graduates.  The crucial priority is to set targets for entry-level positions. Chit chat does not cut it. It is time for each of us to do our part.

Employers, labour leaders, educators and parents in our community, supported by all levels of government and educational institutions, could pledge to increase job experience opportunities by a rate by 10 percent over a 24-month period.  That is the beginning of a Passport to Prosperity! In our five counties this translates into 500 more new experience opportunities and jobs for young people.

It’s time we cast aside the myths that young people are work shy or lack the right attitudes. If we all do our part as parents, labour leaders, educators and business leaders, the rest will take care of itself. That would be a Passport to Prosperity indeed for our economy.

Are you doing your part? Well, I think we all have a certain amount of responsibility when it comes to making sure that the next generations are well prepared. So let’s get on with changes where and doing our part in whatever context we happen to be able to influence in one way or another.

Make a difference. Call a school and offer to take a Coop student, speak to a class, take a student to work, find out what you can do to help your own child. If you are a labour leader, negotiate school to work transition options in your next collective agreement. If you are a radio station or newspaper, take in one more student to experience your business. If you are a teacher, place one more student in a school to work transition opportunity. Just one more. Please? After all, they do deserve a Passport to Prosperity!

Make a promise to yourself now to get involved this summer or coming September and make a difference in the life of one child. After all, they are our kids!

For more information, please contact the EOTB's Executive Director, Denis Thibault: 613.932.0210 or denist@eotb-cfeo.on.ca