Second Essay written by Kristina Mayrhofer

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Created on Thursday, 30 June 2016 14:45

Written by austria

20% of all grammar school students in Austria leave school between ninth and twelfth grade. That means that just 80% of all your class colleagues in ninth grade are graduating with you in twelfth grade.

The drop – out effect is going to be a huge problem, because, when so many teenagers refuse to get a high - education, our general standard of education will decrease enormously.

Another consequence of a high – drop out percentage is that occupational outlooks and opportunities in life get reduced. This leads to social distinction, a high unemployment rate and increasing health issues.

So dropping out of school not only gives the state a bad image, is also brings along real, serious issues.

As much as I know, almost every country is trying to minimize this drop – out effect. Each country has its own methods to minimize it. In Austria for example, the state implemented things like the “Zentralmatura”, which only means that every students in Austria has to take the same final exam to graduate.

One the one hand, a way of dealing with the drop – out effect is to give individual encouragement. On the other hand, a solution would be to promote student’s competences, which are needed for work- life. All in one, it is important to improve the quality of our school system.

An additional way of reducing the drop out effect is to coach teenagers and apprentices. And if Austria would take social work more seriously, the drop – out effect could also be reduced.

Minimizing the drop – out effect would also be good for our future job market. I don’t think that it is predictable how the job market looks like when I start to work. It is just a fact that is easier to get a profession with a good education. Without a high school diploma it is hard to get a job, in which you get enough salary to earn a living. 

It is not absolutely sure to get a good work when you graduate at university, but it is at least more likely. Not only being well – educated is a premise to get a good job, but also to already have work experience in that work area, in which you want to work.

Theoretical knowledge is good, but it is not enough to get a job. You need actual work experience in addition to the theoretical knowledge. And almost every employer expects from its employees to have work experience when they start to work at his/her company.

In my opinion, a gymnasium, in which I go, only gives you the theoretical part, which you need to work. It is your responsibility to make practical experience. In other schools, like schools for higher technical experience give you a better perspective, how working in this sector is like. They give you practical experience.

No matter what, you can’t be prepared well enough for work – life. It is always a huge conversion to change from going to school to work. Our schools can help us to be prepared better, but it is also our responsibility try to prepare ourselves to this change.

Future Work–Essay written by Hanna Stockner

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Created on Thursday, 30 June 2016 14:06

Written by austria

Teacher or mechanic? Doctor or Manager? At the age of 17 most students start thinking about their future jobs. Recent studies showed, that a lot of teenagers also have reasons to worry about them. Undeniably it is difficult too choose what to earn your money with for apparently a long period of your life. How can students be prepared for their future?

It might appear shocking, but in Austria we have an unemployment rate of 5.7%. That is about 400 000 people. 10.4% of all persons under the age of 25 are unemployed. There are several reasons for these sloping statistics. One of the most important factors for young people is the pay. Genuinely, rather than fear over unemployment, experts say the real concern for the future jobs market is the money. There are always going to be enough jobs, but not always enough money to pay a big number of employees. Therefore, it is expected to have a work experience of 10 years, the energy to work non-stop for 60 years and the previous education of 20 years to get paid enough. How should that be possible at the age of about 25? Also, the competition is fierce. Thanks to globalisation it is no longer necessary to employ a person that lives near the corresponding company. Solutions such as outsourcing and recruiting people of different countries are no longer a rarity.

On account of the arguments named above, the students need to be well prepared to have good chances at the future job market.

One way to prevent students from making a wrong decision or being completely unaware of what is about to come, would be to show them how numerous jobs really are on a daily basis. This can be done by inviting doctors, architects or other jobholders to the school. Students then get to ask their questions to the employees and consequently learn a lot about the different jobs. Another very interesting project I have come across while doing my research, was schools providing “taster days for jobs”. Students had the opportunity to try a huge variety of jobs while getting a realistic insight. This idea appears rather useful to me, a lot of pupils at my school would surely benefit from a similar project.

All in all, the future job market could be hard for students in the European Union, who do not have any kind of experience of work. Still, there are a lot of possibilities to prevent trouble by inventing new projects at our schools. Pupils need to get better prospects of their future jobs and learn how to act and work as an employee.

My intention of going to school by Lukas Strasser

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Created on Wednesday, 01 June 2016 18:19

Written by austria

 “Going to school is only a waste of time!” or “I want to earn my own money as soon as possible!” You can hear Statements like these very often in Austria and many statistics are proving it. Plenty of pupils at the age of 15 only want to make their own money; they do not realize that a higher level of education is very important nowadays. In most cases, they start to recognize their mistake when it´s too late, then they need to support their family and are dependent of their monthly salary. Then it is too late attending school.

However, why do some kids drop out of school so early? I think it is not only the fault of the children. It is very important that the parents teach their children how important education is. When the parents neglect that, how can teenagers get a good attitude towards learning? Furthermore, there are several reasons that can lead to a drop out effect. For instance, the circle of friends is very important. When all your friends are lazy and do not spend much time on school stuff you are also more entrapped disregarding school. Another significant reason is the money: How much do you earn as a student? Right, you earn nothing! When you want something, you need to ask your parents, grandparents or you wait until Christmas. A lot of teenagers are fed up of that, they want to get independent and earn their own money. In my opinion at school, you do earn something! You get education and the basics for a good job. Earning money can wait, because with a high level of education it is easier to get a good employment later.

Personally, I think that school and education are two of the most valuable things in the world and it is a privilege being allowed to go to school. According to third world countries people often do not have this privilege and what is the result? Poverty and wars. So all of us should use the possibility of getting educated, which is not self-evident.

My intention of going to school and how to minimize a "drop out effect " by Mayrhofer Kristina

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Created on Tuesday, 31 May 2016 15:09

Written by austria

Essay written by Mayrhofer Kristina

A higher percentage of young adults (31%) without a high school diploma live in poverty, compared to the 24% of young people who finished high school. This fact speaks volumes. It makes rather clear, why education is important for everyone, even for me, a 17 year old student from Austria.

My name is Kristina and I am in junior year, in a gymnasium in Upper – Austria, at the border to Germany. And education is really significant to me.

My intention of going to school is to gain my aims. I don’t want to be bound to someone else. Especially not to a man, who has a higher salary than I have. Even nowadays it is hard to be independent and to have a raised standard of living as a woman. But hard does not mean impossible, therefore achieving what I seek might need a lot of hard work.  The base of that, is a high education.

With a university degree, the salary you get, when you start to work, is much higher than the salary a person with a high school diploma gets. However, that is just one advantage of having a high education. So my intention of going to school is to be prosperous one day. Going to school and getting a high education helps me acquiring what I want. But not everyone has the same intention of going to school as I have.

A lot of Austrian students start with a gymnasium, HTL or HAK, but a high percentage of these students quit after one or two years. In my opinion, an underestimated main reason, why they quit, is the way lessons are arranged. It is very troublesome to stay interested, if a lesson is so boring that you have difficulties not to fall asleep.

Another reason is, for instance, the school atmosphere. Perhaps the drop out effect would decrease, if the community feeling were better. For example in Denmark, some schools throw a party each month to improve the community feeling of their students. I thing that encourages the feeling of belonging, so it would help some people to feel safer and more comfortable in their class or their school.

Another very simple way to minimize the drop out effect is to show the students what a high education is good for. Showing good examples and reasons, why it is worth learning and staying in school. For example, to show them the life of a person with a high education and a good job compared to one without all that.

To sum up, there are many teenagers with a commendable intention of going to school and who take school and education seriously. But not everyone is like that, so it is important to alter some things in our education system, so that perhaps they change their way of thinking about school.

We should do that, not only to improve our education system and change some mindsets about school, but also to minimize the drop out effect.