Guest commentary by Ralf-Wolfgang Lothert, Member of the Executive Board and Director Corporate Affairs & Communication at JTI Austria.
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“In many media, the commitment to a velvety-soft facilitation pedagogy has prevailed,” commented the Austrian philosopher Liessmann a few days ago on the discussion about the reintroduction of the oral Matura. A high school student from Graz countered immediately and asked for it, not constantly over but finally once With to speak to young people – after all, it is their future that everything revolves around. The fractures that the pandemic has caused in the education sector are frightening and will continue to have an impact for many years to come – and this affects society as a whole.
Too little demanding and doesn’t offer young people enough
My view of the education system has not only been critical since the beginning of the pandemic. From my point of view, it is not demanding enough, has little quality and on the other hand does not offer young people enough. In addition, the Abitur or the Matura in Austria is only worth half if the actual grades have no effect. In addition, the Matura is overvalued and the apprenticeship undervalued today. Some things are out of whack and most people don’t realize that education is a responsibility of young people and a responsibility of society. All of this got worse during the pandemic period: Until about two years ago, we didn’t really know much about the terms homeschooling or distance learning. But it quickly became apparent how catastrophic the state of the digital equipment and the associated skills of our so-called digital natives is. First of all, many students had to go out with a large pile of copied documents, only then were laptop procurement campaigns organized so that everyone had at least the same chances of taking part in the lessons at all. Did that work? I’m afraid not. And even if complete school closures are not the dominant topic at the moment, we are still miles away from normal operation. That’s why I don’t see the time as yet to say: “Now that’s enough with kid gloves” and to accuse young people of “allegedly was hit hard by the pandemic,” I think is cynical. At most, this leads to a further division in society, namely the youth from the adults, who feel abandoned have no understanding for people who refuse to vaccinate – because they want normality again, comprehensively, from school to parties.
Many no longer know why they should learn
In every group of people there are ambitious and those who don’t give up five, in between there is a large number that we call average. Detached from the basic quality of the education system, it is catastrophic when the basic perspective is missing, and it is painfully so at the moment, because then this distribution unfortunately shifts to the lower end. “Many no longer know why they should learn when they have the feeling that they have no future,” said the high school graduate in a nutshell. Blame is not solely on the boys. Lessons from afar, in shifts in a half-occupied class, with a mask, or which models have been tried out in the past two years, can cannot achieve the same quality as “normal” lessons. Because the “disadvantaged” always have to be given special consideration again, to the even greater chagrin of the industrious and inquisitive, whereas those who have always been slackers are given a series of new excuses.
new normal
There will probably not be a return to normality or what we used to understand by it. But what there will be, I am convinced, is a new normality, a life in which Corona is a sideshow and not the main topic. It is important to pass on this belief and this confidence to the younger generation, to give them perspectives and to show that education in general and sound training in particular is the key – whether in the sense of an academic career or a teaching profession. Every company thrives on the diversity and skills of its employees – and the desire to achieve this and get involved as a valued individual, we have to awaken that in young people instead of pitying them. It is not our job as politicians, business people, educators and parents to remove the hurdles, but to draw a positive picture of the future. This is the working principle of the self-fulfilling prophecy, which we should strive for for the good of society as a whole. If we take this into account and manage to balance the debt of bringing and receiving education, then hopefully we will all benefit from it.
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