The Challenge for the New Graduates

CEBU, Philippines — These past days, young people in graduation robe have been quite a common site. Outside of the graduation venue, they are mostly seen at restaurants celebrating with their families. Many of these young graduates jubilantly wave their diplomas in their hands. 

But what’s next for the new graduates? Mere possession of a college diploma is by no means a guarantee of how any one of them will actually fare in life. The hallowed piece of paper is simply a document attesting that its holder has had completed years of academic training and is now deemed officially qualified to make a significant contribution to society.

Whether what has been learned in school will effectively match up with the challenges the graduate will face in the real world is a completely different matter.

After a few weeks of rest the new graduate would be out looking for a job. He or she has to. Even in the most nurturing home there seems to be an unspoken rule: A family member who has earned a college degree is supposed to be ready enough to start providing for him- or herself. And, he or she is expected to start chipping in for the family expenses.

The matter can be quite overwhelming for one who has all his life been looked after and shielded. But no one can forever take shelter under Mama and Papa’s protective wings. Those wings will one day wear out and become too weak to sustain the whole family’s flight of life.

At some point, the young will have to start fending for himself. The school system is supposed to help prepare him for this. It takes ten years of general schooling and another four or five years of specialized studies. Then the young person crosses the threshold towards independence.

Through a few years in college, one is presumed to have acquired quite a substantial knowledge not only of a particular trade or vocation but also of himself. He now, at least, has an idea of his personal capacity and what he wants to become in life. He shall have gained some belief in himself.

Majority of a person’s failures and successes in life are nothing more or less than products of the way he sees himself. It is almost impossible for a person to achieve something that he doesn’t believe he can achieve. The way always seems to open up for the person of determination, the person of faith and courage.

At school, students are trained to acquire a sense of inner confidence and self-mastery to face up to the world. Yet it is not only the educational system that should place the winner’s traits in students. The students themselves have so much to do with how much value they get from their schooling.

And there is also quite a gap between academic knowledge and practical wisdom. The most brilliant intellectuals of the world are concentrated in schools and universities, earning meagre incomes as compared to what their average former students are getting in real-world jobs outside. This is not to look down on the nobility of the teaching or the academic profession. In fact, many college professors refuse better paying jobs in the corporate world out of their commitment to moulding the future generations.

But the new graduates shall see to it that the learning they got in college is not left in the campus after graduation. They have to get it out and translate it into practical application. In our constantly changing world, with increasingly complex challenges to face, people tend to believe that they’re being driven purely by the force of circumstance. And yet the truth is that they only do those things that they choose to do.

Most of the time people tend to follow that path that is easier to go, even though they know it will probably bring stagnation and eventual failure. There are really no victims of circumstance. Those so-called victims create the very circumstances that victimize them.

The new graduate will now have to start putting his academic learning into action, to help him in his life choices and decisions. He has to learn to stop looking to other people or to outside circumstances to blame for his own misfortunes. He will gain more by owning up his mistakes, by learning the lesson and doing better next time.

There may not always be right answers to all questions. The new professional will make mistakes, big and small, in one area of life or the other. But, for sure, he will make far fewer errors if he allows himself to be consistently taught by actual real-life experience.