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Do you think the skills you learn in school will help you get the job you want?

Maria Cristina Gallegos's picture

Youthink! asked people on Facebook and Twitter to weigh in on how schools prepare students for the jobs they seek. Take a look at what is happening around skills and innovation in Thailand. 

The majority of people who responded agreed with  Ayange Iorbee  from Nigeria, who said: “No, because employers are not even looking so much at what you learnt from school. They tend to look for something unique in a person. … The job you want could also depend on quite a number of factors.”

The same goes for Cà Phê Sáng  from Vietnam, who  posted: “Not really, in my country, it seems that lessons attach special important to theory rather than practice so most of companies re-train their staff after the recruitment, and there's a large number of people who do the unrelated-major job.

Mark Bwire  from Uganda added “Partly. The education system in my country, is very theoretical in nature, it lacks a practical aspect which makes it had for a graduate to get a job. Besides this, it seems as though the courses taught, very many lack the linkage between the current skills needed in the job market and what is actually taught in school. There is need for this linkage so that, the job market informs the development of education curriculum so that we study what is required not what we qualify to study. This would help also inform the career guidance departments in schools and go a long way in solving youth employment obviously with other complementing factors.

On the other hand Elin Schiffer from Sweden said: “Of course! From what i have learned in school I now know that I want to work on an international level…” As well as Sabrina Rivas (in Spanish) from Dominican Republic “…I have to admit that thanks to the education I received in school and my character, I’ve made the most out of my university education, which have helped me get the job I want.” And Mohammad Raouf from Saudi Arabia believes that education helps at first, but then there is a need to combine that knowledge with experience.  

What do you think?  Join the conversation on Facebook.

Comments

Submitted by Aka Yao Okou Jaures on
In my Country Cote d'Ivoire, the education curriculum at the public University seems to be inadequate to the new job market. They give more importance to theory rather than practice. To me, the government have to reform the education system so that the student can think of setting up their own business after school.

Submitted by YONIS on
As the population is going on increasing and for todays needs the school educations are not that much.School primary education is must but now a days many issues are their that should be tought in school. Some issues are: 1. Internet 2. Disaster management issues 3. Aids,cancer etc knowledge 4. Enviornmental issues 5. Reneval sources energy like solar energy, wing energy etc If this issues are their is schools, childrens will become dynamic according to todays world.

Submitted by Sanchit Jain on
Imminent reforms are required in the education system of a few developing economies, such as India, the vast majority of the education institutes of whose, focus on rote learning & pay little or no attention to developing & honing logical, analytical & reasoning abilities. Most tests are memory-intensive. So school toppers are not necessarily intelligent. Education systems must reward intelligent & innovative kids, not just the diligent ones. The growth of a knowledge intensive economy is contingent upon its education system. India's feckless policymakers have grown complacent of a burgeoning economy & don't try to make the education system better. They fail to see that the outsourcing of IT jobs in India is primarily due to cost-benefits. The fact that some institutes, like Indian Institutes of Technology, are world class is in turn because rote-learning can't get you a seat there(although if you want to thrive with good grades after getting there, you need to mug up). Teachers in the developing world are not well-paid. Salaries of teachers should be hiked & they must be hired on the basis of their accomplishments, not cronyism or nepotism.

Submitted by Victor JP on

More than the developed countries, developing countries like India must focus on introducing courses in school that could help students to face the world more confidently & start their own venture at adverse times.parents should also be forthcoming in sending their children to vocational/diploma courses as it not only involves practical methods to teach, it can greatly help for their future. Since i write about careers in public banks, i interact with young indian graduates regularly.At the time of recession, when Indian IT companies were aggressively laying off their employees, fresh grads out of college started to apply for jobs in govt owned companies & banks.The saddest thing was even those with MBA degree applied for cashier job(clerk).When i asked them of the reason of settling for such a low paying job, they answered it was safe.They did not have any other skills apart from their studies. It is necessary to complete formal education but studying at the cost of sacrificing your passion or interest is not going to do any good for a person`s career in the long run.I would like to see the mindset of students & their parents to change first.

Submitted by Ruphine Omollo on
In my country,Kenya,the job market is theoretical.It pays more attention to Papers and cerificates rather than talent and capabilities.This is quite inconveniencing,since the job market is for practice and competence..not theory and knowledge in potential form.

Submitted by E.S. Jagadeeshwar on
To lead peaceful life every citizen should have guaranteed monthly income without any discrimination. 20% people are controlling 80% citizens wealth. Modern Financial Management systems are revolving around "Wealth Maximization" but in case of Bharat, as per the Vedic Texts .. maximization of peace within and peaceful life. Every seeker has to earn to what extent he and his/her family is needed but should not think to amass lakhs of crores. Crony capitalism should be avoided. The present position of Legal Profession in India is ... in the words of Prof. N.R. Madhav Menon ... Being a private monopoly, the profession is organized like a pyramid in which the top 20 percent command 80 percent of paying work, the middle 30 percent managing to survive by catering to the needs of the middle class and government litigation, while the bottom 50 percent barely survive with legal aid cases and cases managed through undesirable and exploitative methods. Given the poor quality of legal education in the majority of the so called law colleges (over a thousand of them working in small towns and panchayats without infrastructure and competent faculty,) what happened with uncontrollable expansion was the overcrowding of ill-equipped lawyers in the bottom 50 percent of the profession fighting for the piece of the cake. In the process, being too numerous, the middle and the bottom segments got elected to professional bodies which controlled the management of the entire profession. The so called leaders of the profession who have abundant work, unlimited money, respect and influence did not bother to look into what was happening to the profession and allowed it to go its way --- of inefficiency, strikes, boycotts and public ridicule. This is the tragedy of the Indian Bar today which had otherwise a noble tradition of being in the forefront of the freedom struggle and maintaining the rule of law and civil liberties even in difficult times.... So, in Bharat the Legal Profession at the Subordinate Court level or Dist. level has to be transformed completely. Advocate Fee Rules should be in accordance with modern times, inflation and cost of living, Advocates should have proper social and economic security, every Advocate should get guaranteed monthly income. Precisely say .. Majority of the Advocates deprive of their "right to live with human dignity" (means under Art. 21 of Constitution of India and Art. 25 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights.) 21st Century Legal Education should give guarantee for guaranteed monthly income to all Advocate but should not be limited to mere top 20$ Advocates. We need more and more reforms in Legal Education and Legal Profession.

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