Young people are told they live in a learning society and a "knowledge-based economy" and that they need to commit themselves to lifelong learning. The statistical evidence is quite clear: the more formal educational qualifications held by young people, the better their prospects for employment and earning. That is, however, at the aggregate level. At the individual level, there is an increasing number of stories of young people who have found their destinations do not match their educational achievement.
In the UK, the first generation of students to have paid top-up fees have just graduated to face the challenge of a contracting labour market. Commentators have said that "sensible" graduates will lower their expectations in order to strengthen their chances of getting a job. So much for the energy spent in challenging low aspirations. Many, of course, will do so, for exactly those pragmatic reasons, but that will not stop them feeling they have been short-changed and let down.
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