1. This year, 45,800 Catalan students have taken the selectivity exams. Approximately 96% of these students have passed the exam to access university. Congratulations. Then, newspapers dedicate pages and more pages to publish the cut-off grade of each career, of each faculty. The result is that 6 out of 10 young people in the country have secured a place in their first university option in the July assignment. Or, in other words, there is a 40% of students who will not be able to pursue exactly the career they wanted. In one place or another, all these thousands of enthusiastic young people are starting a four-year journey, at least, that will take them to who knows where. How many walls are full of diplomas of careers with which you will never earn a living?
2. On the other hand, I looked at my phone's contacts to see which plumber I thought would be willing to do some repairs at home during the month of July. I have a few good ones who have always fixed everything, with the efficiency corresponding to an invoice that, even if you found it expensive, you ended up paying happily because they did a fine job and solved what was worrying you. To contact the plumbers, I know what to expect from each one on my list. Some want a voice note, others prefer a whatsapp and, in the case of those with a company, there is even an administrative assistant who answers the phone diligently. As kind as I can be, I write a letter to the Three Kings. I ask them to come and install a ceiling fan for me, I explain that we have a dripping toilet and that there are some lights, on top of a piece of furniture, that only turn on when they feel like it. She tells me she'll make a note of it and will call me to see when they can come. The next day she asks me if mid-October works for me. “Excuse me? I'm not having hip replacement surgery. It's just a ceiling fan and a dripping toilet. For the lights, we'll wait until autumn.” She, without losing her composure, asks me if she should book me a day and time for October. “No, thank you. I'll manage on my own.” And here the problem begins.
3. All the plumbers on my list are so good and in such demand that they can never come from one week to the next. Not even one month to the next. Then, you look for ads on the internet or in the local press and end up calling someone who tells you yes, that right away, they'll put up the fan and fix it all. When they arrive (we won't bother counting that we were expecting them at eight and they arrive at ten sharp) they tell you that they can be a plumber, a painter, or a bricklayer... And with this calling card, you think "yikes". I don't dare ask them what their exact profession is. Nor does their experience convince me, nor do I have the guts to question anything about a man who is well-intentioned. That he asks me for a ladder I can understand. That he asks me if I have specific tools, that's harder to swallow. “Don’t you bring the tools?”. Yes, but... He always lacks the part he doesn't have and has to go get at the hardware store in the middle of nowhere. Patience, then. When he manages to get the fan to stay on the ceiling, no one can make it spin. The propeller doesn't move even with great effort. Me, perched on the ladder, I try to blow to see if the blades move. Nothing to be done. I don't even let him go near the toilet anymore and goodbye.
4. Trades are being lost while impostors who dare to try to do anything to make a living are growing. I see plumbers desperate because they can't find assistants up to the task. Cabinetmakers tell me they have a hell of a time hiring carpenters who know what they're doing. Gardeners struggle to find someone who knows how much water each plant needs. Vocational Training is the great neglected area of our educational system. With a good trade, you'll have a job, a future, and perhaps more stability than a graduate from who-knows-what faculty at who-knows-where.
