Tuesday, February 02, 2010

Should we adopt an education credits system?

Youth unemployment is a huge issue here, so I'm not really opposed to the state offering training for young people. The fact that the state is looking for "private organisations" to do the training and "reskilling" is a plus as far as I'm concerned. Again, FÁS should be closed down.

I'm just wondering, however, if the fact that so many under 35s need "reskilling" is not an indictment of the way we organize our education? I mean if a person's education is dated before he's 35 how does it make sense that each individual and we as as a nation invest so much in university courses?

I'm more thinking out loud than definitely in favor of massive change, but maybe it would be better if there were some way that people could use education credits at any time in their lives to "reskill" rather than the current system, which assumes you really need nothing more once you're 21.