Sitting in a small café at my local garden centre, my sisters and I began a heated debate about The Education Secretary and her intransigent view on studies. This made me think, am I holding myself back? Because I certainly do not do science based subjects. Geography, History, English languages, Art and other arts and humanities subjects have just as many opportunities if you are determined. In a twisted way maybe Nicky Morgan is admiring how hard it is to get into the industry and how hard we work, although I doubt it.
Eliminate the gender pay gap
From an article in the Independent, Nicky Morgan says “All these engineers can’t be men. If we want to make the most of half of our workforce, if we want to eliminate the gender pay gap and we want that same half of the workforce to succeed in jobs that boost our economy, we must make sure that teenage girls don’t feel, and are certainly not told, that certain subjects are the preserve of men.” I agree with this although degrading the arts subjects is not the way to achieve gender pay equality.
My peers say how they have more work load in science based subjects as the information their subject includes needs to be drilled into their head, which is fair. Apart from that my friends do not see a difference in opportunity or ability. However I do know of some people who have the opinion that they are better than others, but I imagine it is just their personality.
Youths are struggling to decide what to do with their lives and telling them that in this economy maths and science is the way to go is wrong. Money should not be a young child’s main worry, the use of what skills they have and their general happiness in what they are doing is important. Emphasising that they have the choice to aspire to be anything is a suitable way to encourage everyone to get a job, whether it pays well or not is not the worst problem we face, all jobs are significant. To ignore gender conventions and biased views provides a more creative and content society. Being influenced by Nicky Morgan and her opinions could prompt people to go into a profession they will neither enjoy nor prosper in.
Persistence
Although I do not have the power Nicky Morgan has, I am certainly interested in education as I am in the centre of it. Be smart in what you decide and be persistent, is the advice I have always been provided with. One problem I see in plain sight is that people do not think they have options, if you have a complete 360 degree turn in life and want to do something else, you can. One thing I can only strongly put across is your life is not fixed to one thing, we need diversity otherwise we could face a society confined to narrow-minded people. Encourage both the Arts and the Sciences because they are both equally as needed and competitive, there is no economically smart way to do things, just persist in your chosen field. (In a few years, if this opinion does not work for me, I will let everyone know).
Found on The Stage News, she also described maths as “the subject that employers value most” and claimed that pupils who study maths to A-Level will earn 10% more over their lifetime. I can’t imagine maths is the subject all employers want as long as you do GCSE or have plentiful experience maths is not the entity crucial to human life, I see this statement as being slightly untrue.
Taken from The Independent, Ms Blower added: “Politicians would do well to stop making such sweeping statements… Sciences, maths and engineering are of course useful subjects, but so are the arts.” This quote being a good summary of my thoughts and opinions
