“Guys getting 110 at the age of 28 is not worth a fig. Better to take 97 at 21” this is the message that the Minister of Labor Luciano Poletti wanted to leave – yesterday in Verona – to high school students. On the other hand, the message that Chancellor Angela Merkel regularly leaves to German students when – and it does not happen infrequently – goes to visit schools in Germany is of a completely different kind: "dear students, aim for excellence in your studies ”.
One wonders what explains the difference between a message that suggests settling for "mediocrity" - to be achieved "quickly" though -, and another that aims for "full marks". Maybe it's not just that Minister Poletti simply graduated high school while Chancellor Merkel graduated with honors and then went on to obtain a doctorate in quantum physics. Behind these statements, there are probably two slightly different visions of society, of the development model of the economy and, in particular, of the educational system which are diametrically opposed. But, above all, of profoundly different realities of the working world.
The statistics published these days by the OECD (Education at a Glance 2015) show that Italy is the country where graduates are least likely to find a job (only behind us is Greece). Only 62 percent of graduates in 2014 found a job, compared with the OECD average of 83 percent. But that's not all. The other fact that should make us reflect is that Italy, together with the Czech Republic, is the only country among the developed ones that "boasts" an employment rate of graduates in the 25-34 age group lower than that of high school graduates of the same age group (respectively 62 and 63 per cent against the OECD average of 82 and 75 per cent).
Among the reasons that can explain these trends there could be the "time" factor. Indeed, Minister Poletti is not wrong when he claims that "the sooner you enter the job market the better". What escapes, however, is how one can think that the solution to reduce the unemployment rate of graduates in Italy is to advise them to graduate with mediocre grades.
To enter the labor market "earlier" it would be enough to introduce a series of changes already present in the vast majority of European countries. Firstly, by reducing the years of the high school cycle to four. Italy is one of the few remaining countries in Europe to have its students graduate at the age of nineteen. Secondly, by facilitating (both from a regulatory and financial point of view) access to professional internships during the summer holidays, as happens abroad where one already starts from the age of fifteen. These are work experiences which, albeit brief, can prove to be precious in guiding the choice of university path, thus avoiding taking the wrong path which involves wasting time. Thirdly, by strengthening school-work alternation, in order to facilitate entry into the world of work and limit the number of those who enroll in university without any real motivation but only because they cannot find a job. From this point of view, the government has made progress, but the one hundred million allocated for now are far from the two billion that are spent annually on the dual system by the German government.
In addition to the time factor, another reason that explains the low employment rate of Italian graduates is the poor quality of university teaching. The results of various tests on the ability of graduate adults to solve a problem or synthesize information place Italy, together with Spain and Ireland, at the bottom of the ranking of OECD countries. Given these conditions, getting mediocre grades - just to do it quickly -, as the Minister suggests, would not help to find a job. Indeed, it would risk reducing even more the possibilities of a young graduate.
Perhaps Minister Poletti shouldn't draw too many general conclusions from his personal experience, which represents more of a "lucky case" than a "model" to suggest to millions of young people looking for work.
