Learning and Earning
It’s the day after May 1, and I am checking the new internet place in Naujan, my hometown.
I missed yesterday’s mass actions, but not really. Everytime one of these political ”liturgical” dates come up, it’s dificult to choose among the competing events, much less attend all of them. Last year this was easier resolved since ELF had a group of Danish exchange students from the LO Vinterskole, and the resource person who addressed them was Rene Magtubo from the Partido ng Manggagawa; they decided to accept his invitation to join the rally at Plaza Miranda. Two of the Danish students who were active members of the Danish labor party even spoke at the rally, to the delight of their fellow participants. Not long afterwards, one of them, Thor, unfortunately met an untimely death while vacationing in Greece.
I travelled to Naujan to be with my mother and sister, but took along a book I had meant to read since I picked it up at a bookstore in Kuala Lumpur. On the Supercat boat trip, I started reading the 2008 edition of Richard Bolles’ What Color is Your Parachute? The blurb on the cover claims that it has sold over 9,000,000 copies, but I think that counts all the editions; the book is revised yearly. It is considered the best-selling practical manual for job-hunters and career changers.
According to the author, the latest edition and the two preceding ones include major changes because his thinking has also undergone major changes, presumably reflecting the changes in the world of work and careers. Thay are of course most applicable to the USA and developed countries of the North/West, but there are useful lessons even for those of us who live and work in the South.
When I first read this book, probably more than a decade ago, I found his ideas very useful, not only because they are research-based, but because they reflect his values as an ordained Episcopal minister for over 50 years.
I remember one of his ideas, that that the ideal job or career we should aspire for, and most probably will stick to, is that which meets two needs - applying and developing our skills and potentials, and at the same time contributing significantly to the well being of others.
He gave two examples of a too one-sided job/career - a top salesperson of a deodorant, and a dedicated staff of a leper colony. The first, he says, develops the skills and potentials that make for a successful salesperson, but deodorants may not be the priority needs of people. This reminded me of Steven Job’s pitch when he recruited the Pepsi executive to Apple - “You can go on selling sugared water, or you can make a difference.” On the other hand, the staff at a leper colony may be doing something meaningful, but they may suffer burn out and need a career change. It’s another question of course if the person sees it as a special calling or commitment.
With so many new college graduates looking for work very year, on top of the unemployed and underemployed, I wondered if I can cull ideas from Richard Bolles’ book that they will find useful. My first thought was that they would be happy to get any job that come their way. Perhaps the ideas in the book will appeal more to those who have lost their jobs, want to change jobs, or even change careers.
During my watch as TESDA director-general, I took part in planning and assessment conferences of the DOLE, Department of Labor and Employment. That was when I realized that the term “employed” officially covers more than one category. We usually understand employed as earning a salary or wages. But as far as I recall, wage and salaried workers and employees constitute only one half, 50% of all those considered employed.
Who are the other 50% employed? The second category is “own-account: or self-employed, which ranges from the small farmer owner-cultivator to the taipans like Henry Sy. They make up 35% of the employed. The remaining 15% have a somewhat quaint label - “unpaid household labor.”
The precise percentages may have changed slightly (I had not time to check the latest figures), but I have been told that this “trinitarian” categorization remains basically the same in official government documents.
Whenever the government agencies some together to discuss employment and unemployment, one of the standard culprits they cite is the “mismatch” between labor demand and supply. Consequently, they look to reform the education system, both to provide better foundational knowledge, skills and attitudes, and also to be more “demand-sensitive” by responding to market signals.
While these ideas are well taken, they may be reinforcing a presumption about the relation of education and employment that should be tempered by other factors. After all, it is investments that create the job opportunities, and the decisions on investment are not made only on the basis of the available supply and quality of workers and supervisors, employees and managers.
Still, conventional thinking correlates education with employment, or at least employability. A recent example of this was the premise of the “due diligence” results presented at the Veritas College of irosin - how many graduates found jobs in the field they studied. During my talk, I reminded them that “lifelong learning” has three purposes and perspectives - the liberal and humanist idea of developing a person’s potential, the idea of developing informed and active citizens, and the idea of having sustainable livelihoods.
Educators and social activists like myself tend to emphasize the first two perspectives, and worry that the new enthusiasm of dominant institutions for “lifelong learning” is driven mainly by the need for labor flexibility and competitiveness. But we need to incorporate into our thinking the legitimate and often more immediate concern of our learners for earning.
In the run up to CONFINTEA 6, the May 2009 international conference on adult learning that will be hosted by Brazil, I welcome the proposal of Heribert Hinzen of DVV, the German adult education association. He says that one of the focus themes we should explore is the link between the adult education tradition (associated with conscientization and empowerment) and technical-vocational education and training or TVET. I would add also the perspective of self-employment and entrepreneurship, and incorporate the social phenomenon of global migration.
In 2006, I was invited to a conference in Adelaide which had an evocative theme much along these lines - AVESS, Adult and Vocational Education for Social Sustainability. I told the convenor, who is also a former priest, that I found the theme stimulating, though from a diferent starting point. The conference organizers addressed mainly TVET and challenged it to incorporate the ideas and methods of adult community education. But I said that I come from the adult and popular education movement, and interpreted AVESS as a challenge to address the issue of skills and earnings.
Ove Korsgaard of the Association for World Education, in his external evaluation of ELF, also posed this issue. Perhaps, he wrote, the mission of ELF which is “education for life” should be expanded to “education for life and livelihood” since we work mainly with poorer grassroots communities.
That reminded me of the remark of a farmer-leader to activists: “Kayo namang mga aktibista, ang itinataas ninyo ay ang aming kamulatan, pero hindi ang aming kita!”
In response, I would cite the UNDP distinction between “income poverty” and “capability poverty.” It is fair to say that the more direct effect of education and learning is on capability poverty. But it is also fair for the learners to ask for lessons on how to use their improved capabilities to improve their incomes.
Interestingly, Richard Bolles claims that the most successful strategy for job-hunting and career-changing starts with assessing our capabilities ( including goals and preferences ) rather than the usual advice to start with assessing the market. That comes next, as the necessary second step.
