Opinion : Do exams lead to prosperity or a life on the dole?

Over the past few weeks the youngsters of the town have been receiving their exam results.

Whether they be A-Level results or GCSE’s, a pass or fail makes all the difference between carrying on in academic education or signing on at the dole office.

Of course those who have passed their exams will continue in the education system and possibly end up with a Degree and huge debts as a result while those who have failed their exams now face the prospect of finding a job.

This year the marking of the GCSE’s has changed with numbers being assigned rather then grades. You would have thought that a grade 1 was the highest but under the new marking system its the lowest possible, now a grade 9 is best and roughly equivalent to an ‘A*’. What a stupid grading system.

Of course having good qualifications in physics, chemistry, foreign languages is largely irrelevant in the real world. Knowing how to stop a leaky tap, decorate a living room or mend a car when the engine wont start is more important. I fear the whole schooling system is educating in the wrong subjects for modern life.

Recently my good self was speaking to someone whose child has received their exam results. Unfortunately the exam result were not as good as expected and now the youngster has to find a job.

However finding a job is harder done than said. Lust look through the job adverts and you will rarely see any employers looking for people with A-Levels or GCSE’s.

What employers want is experience. Qualifications come second over knowing actually what to do. It’s a chicken and egg scenario, without a job you can’t get the experience and without the experience you can’t get a job.

No doubt the employers of Wycombe will soon be inundated with speculative job application letters from those who failed their exams and need to get money or face a life living in Castlefield funded by the dole office.

My friend was in a quandary as how to proceed. Should their child try for a job or try to get an apprenticeship and work for poor levels of pay?

With houses in Wycombe costing around the £300,000 mark money is vital to progress in life. In my opinion it’s better to get a job as soon as possible and get real work experience rather that wasting valuable time on an apprenticeship or gaining qualifications that employers don’t really want anyway.

Once thing is for sure, any youngster who carries on in education is unlikely to end up owning a large house and driving a Bentley because the huge financial outlay and debts they accrue will be an albatross around their neck later in life.

What do you think?

My blogs are published every Tuesday and Friday evening around 8.00pm here on the WycombeToday.com website.

You can also follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ivor.wycombe or on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Ivor_Wycombe.