THE EDITOR, Sir:
LIFE AFTER high school for some people is a drag, for others it is the end of the world. Others just can't wait to work and explore the new dimension and the other possibility that life awaits them.
What would life be like, leaving high school with the right qualification that you have attained and not being able to get a job? How disastrous that would be. Whose fault it is? The Government, or is it that you are just darn lazy to go out and find yourself a job? That is the question I pose.
The blame falls on both sides: the Government and that of the individual. It is the Government's responsibility to provide suitable jobs for people. Now it is the Government's fault that it doesn't provide these jobs, and minimise the country's increasing brain-drain and social problems, which are depleting the country's human resources.
Leaving high school with no qualification is different from leaving high school with qualification and can't get a job. The Government is to be blamed for not making more jobs readily available for persons with adequate qualification.
EXPERIENCE
Another factor that seems to amuse me is, how can a student just leaving school, even with the right qualifications, have experience at the same time? In all the advertisements in the papers for job offerings, you must have the subjects required and at least two years' experience. How can this be possible, just leaving high school and having experience and the competence in the field that one so desires? I wonder.
In the non-traditional high schools, great emphasis on the subject area and further development in sports are assets that help to build the school. At the non-traditional high school there is a work experience programme put in place to help students to secure a job later. This is put in place so that when they leave school they do not only leave with the qualification required for the job, but also the experience to gain the job.
ROLE TO PLAY
Even though the Government has a role, some students are lackadaisical when it comes to finding a job. They expect that the job must come to them on a platter. It doesn't work like that. That's what the problem is today with some of us young people; we are crying down the place saying we can't get any job, and the Government is not providing jobs for them. You will have to search and find the job that you want. Jobs are out there, but it is up to you to just get up and find them.
However, I recommend that work experience be implemented in all high schools across Jamaica if it is not in place, because, trust me, you are missing out. Going out on work experience can be life-changing. You will get a first-hand knowledge of what the working world is all about.
So, what's life after high school? Life after high school depends on you and what you did in school. You can't expect to plant peas and reap corn. Whatever you put in, that's what you'll get out.
Don't waste time in school, your future is in your hands.
I am etc.,
CERONE WHITE
