ormer United States

President fohn F.

Kennedy once said: “A
child miseclucated is a child
lost.” Dr. John Walsh looks
at Canada today and sees a
generation miseducated, and
ne doesn’t want it to become
lost.

Walsh, an expert in employ-
ment trends and career training
seconded to B.C. tram the
University of Guelph, has found
a gaping discrepancy belween
the skills new graduates bring to
the work force and the kinds of
skills industry needs,

Walsh will speak about these
needs at Careers for the "90s on

66 Parents have no interest at all in
_ their children going to work. 33 |
— - Dr. Jobin Waish -&

Wednesday, March 2 from 7:30
to 9:30 p.m. at the Lucas Centre,
2132 Hamilton Ave. in North
Vancouver.

“Four out of five employers
tell you skilled trade shortages
are a key limit to growth,” he
said.

Our educational system “is
out of whack with reality,” and
needs to be reinvented.

For proof, Walsh pointed to
the paradox of well-paying
skilled trades jobs going begging
while unemployment exceeds
11% of the work force.

To redress this cliscrepancy, he
said we must re-engineer our
entire educational system.

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statistical survey of the attiludes
of parents, students and the busi-
ness community toward educa-
tien and occupations, Walsh
tound the source of Canada’s
cmployment paradox,

Out of 948 parents surveyed,
93% agreed with the statement
that 4 person need not have a
university education to lead a
successful fife. Furthermore, 96%
agreed that the skilled trades
atfered good opportunities for
young people,

Ot these same parents, Walsh
reported that 85% said their chil-
dren were going
to university oF
college, not into
apprenticeship
programs.

As for the
2,375 students
surveyed, 80%
had a highly posi-
tive attitude
towaid the skilled
trailes, yet the sane percentage
said they were headed for acade-
mia.

Signiticantly, he said, 75% of
the students reported “sitent pres-
sure” from their parents to attend
university or college.

“i's quite clear the parents
have no interest at afl in their
children going to work," he said.

Consequently, our education
system is geared toward channel-
ing students away from employ-
ment into higher education to
become managers, acministra-
tors, doctors and lawyers.

In the pre-microchip world of
the 1960s when these parents
acquired their education, training
and work experience, said

Walsh, such attiludes might have
been detensible, but as techno.
logical change continues to blur
the distinction beaveen skilled
and uoskiffed work, they are
inclevant,

Walsh argues that parents and
students must disabuse them-
selves of the myth that working
for a living is settling for less out
of fife.

In addition, vocational train-
ing must begin in the high
schouls instead of the institutes,
In Germany the average age of
an apprentice is 16.5, but in
Canada itis 27,

Walsh said itis a disservice to
a fot of people to force students
through an academic curriculum
when mast of the new jabs will
be in the service industries.

The fastest growing employ-
ment ficld in B.C., he said, is
health care — disciplines tike
physiotherapy, dental hygiene,
and occupational and speech
therapy.

The 1990s is “a crossroads
decade” very much like the
1940s and the 1960s, said
Walsh. Societal pressures in post-
war Canada led to a massive
expansion of post-war secondary
schaal education.

The 1960s produced polytech-
nic institutes and communily col-
leges with two-ycar diploma pro-
grams to respond to changes in
the work place.

Inthe 1990s, the driving force
tar change is technology. “We
met the challenge (before); we
must do it again,” he said,

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NEWS photo Brad Ledwidge

GUIDING STUDENTS towards the right kind of education, employ-
ment-trend expert Dr. John Walsh spoke to students in West
Vancouver this week. He will speak on Careers in fhe 90s on March 2
at the Lucas Centre.

At North Shore Continuing Education we
offer career training in the following areas:

Business and Computer Frograms

Accounting

Business Management

Business Office Skiils

Communication

Computerized Accounting
Computer training In major business software programs for
IBM compatibles

Introductory Macintosh

Business Math and Calculators
Business English ,

General, Legal or Medical Secretarial

Trades Programs

Autobody Collision Repair
Autobody Painting anc Refinishing
Hairdressing .
Interior Design and Decorating

Job Search and Career Exploration.

Programs

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