“Dear students, don’t be too choosy. Start working right away.”

“Don’t deprive us of our aspirations. We don’t want to imagine a dull life, one without passion.”

Minister Fornero was rejected without appeal by the students of the Rosetum Institute in Besozzo.

This morning, they were given the fourth “special” lecture by Prof. Fiorenzo Bettoni, a company manager, sociologist, and lecturer at the Bocconi University, in Milan, and at the Advanced School of Business Economics in Bellinzona, who had been invited to explain to them the workings of the economic and employment system.

As Dr. Bettoni explained, ”Obviously, we dealt with the Minister’s speech, because they had been struck by it. We talked about the repercussions of her words. Of course, I don’t agree at all with her advice to accept any job, in order to enter the world of work. But, I’m convinced that the Minister is right when she says that it’s much better to view the labour market from within than to analyse it from without. And I’d add that it’s also important not to let too much time pass from the end of your studies to your first job, because the longer it takes you to enter the world of work, the harder it will be to do so. And this advice also goes for those who lose their jobs.”

 

But this is a very difficult time, with few opportunities.

“We should think carefully, then. Not about the first job, but the first offer that falls within my expectations and my ambitions. Waiting for the right moment is harmful. It’s better to accept the situation as it is, to achieve your goals later on. We should also remember that it’s impossible to predict the paths our lives will eventually take; we can’t foresee how we develop professionally, where our choices take us. When I got my high school diploma, I was convinced I was the best IT technician alive. My company saw in me communication skills that I wasn’t aware of, and forced me to choose a different carrier path. I had to leave my home town and my family, but today, I’m glad I followed their suggestion.”

But, beyond the school and the family, there’s a tough and battle-hardened world. Are young Italians able to compete?
“Our young people aren’t mummy’s boys and girls, they aren’t unprepared. I think they’re just a bit misinformed. What I mean is that they learn through alternative channels. The Web, in particular, is the world in which they move and acquire knowledge. We seem to think that they don’t grasp the meaning of some information or some lessons, and this is why we see them as being limited and unprepared. But in fact, they are on a different wavelength. I realize that young people know a lot about the politics of Beppe Grillo, who gives information in an immediate and direct way. The task that we, parents and school, have is to help them to find the right way to learn and to grow up. We have to stop trying to be our children’s friends and go back to being their “coaches”. We need to compare ideas and discuss when making tomorrow’s choices, while keeping their aspirations on course.”

That’s easier said than done: the world is changing at the speed of light.
“Everything that happens today is certainly the consequence of what happened in the past, and needs to be looked at rapidly. Let me explain. When I bought my first computer, I needed a technician to install it and to mend it. Nowadays, technological development makes it possible to buy a PC that can be used immediately, that we throw away when it breaks. As a result, hundreds of computer technician jobs have disappeared. Technological progress, with the dematerialisation of work, has erased dozens of jobs that still haven’t been replaced. This is the real problem. But we can’t limit ourselves to analysing the present, because our young people will be able to reinterpret reality with the new tools, and build a different one, just as we did 20 or 30 years ago.”

We can say that, for these young people, the path is not easy.
“We can’t even stop them with today’s crisis. They have to take risks, to grasp any opportunities, in a responsible but fearless way. And we, as adults, parents and teachers, have the job of helping them to find the right path, by being available for them, and by listening to them.”