When am I ?

 I seem to be struggling with staying aware of things recently such as what the date is or even what day of the week it is. I was bitterly disappointed yesterday afternoon to discover that it was still only Monday. I had been convinced since lunchtime that it must be mid-week. I had that whole “I really need a weekend” feeling only 24 hours after the weekend! My tolerance for work is decreasing rapidly. I imagine that soon I shall start packing up to go home for the weekend about 10 minutes into my first Monday morning class.

My sixth formers had a Careers seminar yesterday. It was a presentation by StudyLink explaining who was eligible for Student Allowances and how long Student Loans take to repay at the minimum rate. Many of them were horrified by the cost of tertiary education and were rethinking their plans to go to University. They also complained bitterly about patronising cartoon they had to watch. I may be, relatively speaking, an old fogey but even I thought it was pretty lame. It had cartoon characters with spiky hair randomly saying “wassup” and “dude” in a vain attempt to appeal to hip teen youths. Needless to say it failed. Although the ‘hot’ girl (who was disturbingly voluptuous for a cartoon about Student Allowances) randomly got “the munchies” after explaining Student Loans but a dog appeared from nowhere and ate her sandwich. The students inferred that obviously the loan had been spent on drugs of some description.

I felt a bit sorry for the students after talking to them about careers. Most of them were really stressing about Student Loans and how hard it might be to get a job with a decent salary. Some of them were really pessimistic about the work force in general.

It’s sad that they feel like that when they are only 16-17. When I was that age I thought working would be fantastic. I wanted to go to university and get a job and earn money. I thought it would be fun. I had enthusiasm for the whole process of growing up.

Now that I am working, paying bills and getting up in the mornings keep be a real drudge but it is not that bad.

It is sad that teenagers today think that their futures are depressing. I think that you have to be naïvely unaware of the possible disappointments of adult life so that you can enjoy your teenage years. Being a university student was a fantastic experience but some students are considering not going to university because of their fear of debt and possible failure.

I think there is so much doom-and-gloom out there that as a society we are creating a youth culture of pessimism and hopelessness. I think parents, teachers and the media overemphasise the seriousness and negative consequences of things a little too much and we have made some students too cautious to take risks.

They are so aware of divorce and nasty relationship break-ups that they don’t want to be in long-term committed relationships. They have heard so much about Student debt that they are scared of tertiary education. They think most jobs are unsatisfactory and have no security, so they are too afraid to have ambitions.

I tried to be the fairy of perkiness yesterday. “University is great, you can repay student loans quickly by going to countries with high-paying jobs and ridiculously low income tax, you will all be fine and do well in your chosen careers.”