What to learn from mistakes in social studies books and other words of congratulations for graduates

Topics

• Income security
• Studies

Once again, it’s time to toast the school graduates. The hard work is rewarded with diplomas and the transition to the next step: summer jobs, a job, a new place to study, a holiday, the army or even a job search.

School teaches and prepares us for the world of work, among other things. It is desirable that everyone should become an employee or employer in society, creating jobs. Then the investment in education made with our tax money will be returned to society.

However, working life is no longer a straight line, but a winding dotted line, along which there can be great career opportunities, but also retraining, industrial and economic lay-offs, part-time work, entrepreneurship, job-seeking.

At the YTK, we recently asked whether this shift in the world of work is reflected in school curricula. Fortunately, many people are already introduced to the Enterprise Skills in primary school, where the basic principles of society are taught in a practical way. Even there, however, the experience of the twists and turns of working life seems to be lacking.

We also went through the social studies books for the ninth grade in all the publishing houses and found that there is not much attention paid to job search or unemployment. Sure, the labour market as a general phenomenon is presented, but the spectrum of working life remains very narrow.

We also managed to find an outright error: in some texts it was claimed that, in the event of unemployment, the daily allowance is paid by the trade union. This is certainly not the case: the daily allowance is always paid by the unemployment fund. In some unions, the unemployment fund fee is included in the union’s membership fee, so it is not so easy to see this distinction. We have contacted the publishers about the errors and believe that the new editions will contain more correct information.

So when you congratulate a young person, please also remind them that there will be all sorts of twists and turns in their future working life, and that’s okay. The important thing is to be positively prepared for anything.

Here’s my five-point preparation list for a young person:

• Make sure you have friends and loved ones.
• Make every effort to develop your faith in other people.
• Train your ability to accept change.
• Be appropriately critical and remember that it pays to gather information from a variety of sources.
• Get your unemployment fund membership in order as soon as you can.

Good luck! Life and work as part of it is a great journey, and you learn every day.

Ilona Kangas

Director of Employment Services

I help our members and employees to succeed at work in many different ways. I lead and develop the activities of YTK Worklife and am responsible for managing customer experience, marketing and communications in YTK Work life services and fund services.