Feature
By Ma. Jesusa F. Constantino
‘Catch-as-catch-can’ living
Truly, most of the high school graduates prefer white collar jobs or prestigious college degrees. They have a natural dislike for courses like poultry, fishery, agronomy or vocational courses. And yet, there is demand for such training or specialization. People, always cast a social stigma on such 'low class courses.'
In fact, my mother once told me, that she encountered this situation among her student at the Quezon National High School. She said that the parents of that student own a hectare of land planted with crop. Indeed, they are one of the rice producers in the city. Now, this student took up nursing course. Sincerely, if I were her, I will take up the course Agriculture. In this agricultural country like ours, a talented agriculturist is in demand, plus the fact, that I own a hectare of land which will be further developed if I will be better educated in agriculture.
The other aspect to be blamed for this 'catch-as-catch-can' type of living is the political leaders. Here in our City, this is prevalent. It is not what you know, it's 'who you know.' With this idea, I must be scared already, since the year after this, I will be graduating from college. But I should fear not, as long as I am armed with talent, courage and faith, I shall succeed. For me, that's the recipe for success.
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| Cartoon from www.cartoonstock.com |
Regardless of what you believe, or of whose fault this is, the fact is there are still millions of unemployed, in spite of the news on TV I saw last February 4 that there are currently more than 100,000 job vacancies according to Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz. Just to struggle for existence, many of them take any odd jobs. In the Philippines, it is no surprise to see many individuals sell all sorts of goods in the streets and in the buses. These are symptoms of unemployment problems.
In my economics class, most of the economists say that development begins with machines or goods, but it should not be. It must start with people - their attitudes, values and institutions. Some few former poor countries became rich and developed because of the positive quality of their peoples.
Mohandas Gandhi, great man of India, said that the poor of the world cannot be helped by mass production but by production of the masses. Development begins with people.
Note: The author is hopeful she will not be in the same lot as all the others.
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