HEARTBEAT:The deluge is going to be universal and we'll be lucky to stay afloat
THIS TIME of year sees the annual migration of students from second to third level education or, alternately, their entry into the world of work.
Right now the world of work for school leavers hardly exists. There are no jobs. Consequently, many will try to ride out the storms of recession in the limbo of higher education, thereby becoming better qualified to face the world. It is a bitter consequence of the mismanagement of our country, that when, after all their work and study and dedication, they emerge, qualified to contribute to their country, that there may be few opportunities waiting for them.
True they will not be the “hewers of wood and drawers of water” forced into emigration in former years; they will carry their education and qualifications with them to benefit countries other than their own.
We will of course be told by our well-paid spin doctors that this is only a temporary situation and that things will get better. We’ve had enough empty predictions whether in time, five, 10, even 20 years, or in distance, recovery is just around the next corner or greener pastures are over the next hill.
It behoves us to believe nothing from these people and to take each miserable hard step, one at a time, while supporting one another. It is the sorry here and now we have to deal with, far from the delusions that brought us here. Joe Hill, American labour leader who attempted to point out to people the futility of trying to feed off visions, wrote;
You will eat, bye and bye
In that glorious land
in the sky
Work and pray, live on hay
You’ll get pie in the sky
when you die.
Many seeking the havens of higher education and awaiting calmer waters will have found that the entrance requirements for many of the courses they hoped to study will have risen. This is paradoxically true given the fact that graduates of such courses are right now facing redundancy and unemployment.
Teaching is an obvious example, as is the law. There has been an increased demand for places on nursing courses and the points have risen accordingly. Graduates in nursing face a very uncertain future especially if they seek employment at home. Many nurses recently qualified cannot obtain employment; many are being made redundant or can obtain only temporary jobs.
Nurses retiring or on maternity leave are not being replaced and, consequently, wards are closed and clinics and services diminished. Many of our hospitals are staffed by nurses from overseas. Think about that aspirant nurses, as you embark on your chosen career.
One more consideration for our future professionals now entering the world of higher education is that you or your parents are likely to have to pay for the privilege. This will hardly be in the form of fees up front as it was in my time. It may well be the Australian system where you pay after graduation or in the early stages of your professional lives. There, as in America, opportunities exist for part-time working as students defray the expenses of college. Such employment is almost non-existent here.
I wonder also if banks would be likely to fund college courses for students who upon graduation face dismal employment prospects at home. The students asked all members of Dáil Éireann as to where they stood on this issue. There was a mixture of responses as one might expect. The Labour party and Sinn Féin were opposed to fees, as were most of the Greens. By and large, many in Fine Gael favoured fees after graduation.
Some brave souls mostly in Fianna Fáil favoured fees straight out. Some TDs refused to state their positions. Some wisely said they awaited the Ministers’ proposals. A large number stuck their heads in the sand and did not reply.
I found this exercise very interesting and not because of the varied responses of the politicians. I found it interesting in the mindset of those who asked the question, ie the student bodies.
They must have known that every TD irrespective of party would much prefer that access to higher education would remain free. So would I, but, and this is a very big but, the country is now broke and everybody suffers; that includes the students.
The response to the McCarthy report – the student response is but one – says a lot about how we as a people have grasped the seriousness of our position. The general feeling is that while we all purport to accept that the rain must fall, we would rather it fell upon somebody else. This isn’t going to happen. The deluge is going to be universal and we’ll be lucky to stay afloat.
The French philosopher Diderot said “le public ne sait pas toujours desirer le vrai”.
That’s us. We only want the bit that suits our own circumstances.
Maurice Neligan is a cardiac surgeon