To think some career paths shouldn't be open to school leavers

[ChuffinAda]

Or 21 year old graduates.

I'm thinking careers such as the emergency services, social work, teaching etc where you need good people skills and life experience as well as qualifications

Aibu?

Yabu and ageist.

Different people have different skills. Some have experienced more 'life' by the time their 16 than others will have by the time their 47.

When I did my BEd (started at a month past my eighteenth birthday) there were a real mix of school leavers and mature students on the course. How old you were had no bearing on how well you managed on teaching practice - in fact I still have memories of one awful mature student who was convinced she knew better than anyone (lecturers included) because she was a MOTHER.

She failed her first teaching practice, passed her second and scraped through her final lot. I on the other hand (21 by now) was offered supply work in the July immediately after I qualified in the school where I'd done my final practice. She was still convinced that she was right and everyone else was wrong though - "I can't believe they would employ someone with so little life experience!" (We were in the same school for our final practice, the other girl there failed).

There seems to be an intensive project in society to extend childhood until 28 or so. You can see this in America most acutely, if you have American friends or colleagues. None of my US friends consider a 16 year old to be competent to do anything, and they all went into a flap last year when one of our aquaintances NT daughters 'went missing', aged 20. When I say went missing, she went on holiday to a festival without asking her mom, though she emailed her to let her know. I was bewildered. Our Estonian colleague kept checking she was getting the language right. The Americans were posting notices on social media!

YABU. Some people are emotionally mature and with good people skills at 21. Others aren't at 40.

And you can't have good people skills at those times? I went straight into a customer facing job after school & was often complimented on my people skills!

No idea of what op means by life experience but personally I use it to mean enough life experience to know many roads lead to Rome, when to know you're out of your depth, and experience in how to apply theoretical knowledge practically. Which isn't age dependent.

YABU

The best nurse Ive ever had was 23. She was flipping wonderful, and got a promotion when I was there. I could absolutely see why she got it.

I do boggle slightly at some of the 17yos who claim to have wanted to study midwifery ever since their cat had kittens. But the decision to take them on to courses has to be done on a case by case basis - not a blanket ban.

For some things, you do need some life experience.

I'm sure there are wonderful young nurses. But is anyone here seriously arguing that they'd be happy to pay money to be treated by a 21-year-old psychotherapist?

Well for a start teaching wouldn't be. They need adegree ( min of 3 years. )then a pgce post grad degree. Then an nqt year before becoming a teacher. And usually before you are accepted into a pgce. You would have had to have worked as a ta for a time. So 21 would be unfeasible

I'd love to know what "life experience" actually means. It's wishy washy and not at all quantifiable. I haven't seen a single job advert (and sadly, I've seen many recently) that states you need life experience. A qualification? Yes. Knowledge of the law and polices? Yes. Experience in the sector? Yes. Experience in life? Nope.

I'm here, I'm reading the thread
By life experience I mean having the wherewithal to deal with any given situation.

I've asked this question because my 19 year old brother has just applied to become a policeman and I really cannot envisage someone his age breaking up a domestic or dealing with a car accident or coping with a riot or a suicidal person about to jump from a building. He, and many of his friends, aren't mature enough in life experience to deal with it. It's about how they speak to people and the cocky arrogance of youth.

Agree also with posters about Mps and psychotherapists. Or any role that requires tact and diplomacy really. They're not skills I necessarily associate with youth.

"the wherewithal to deal with any given situation."

I agree with this but being 30/40/50 years old does not automatically mean this. I've met many young people with plenty of 'life experience'.

Nowt more arrogant that older people assuming they know more because they've been alive longer. (I'm not young by the way, so no axe to grind.)

I disagree, most of the young people I work with are brilliant.

YABU

DS2(18) is going to uni in September to train to be a nurse. He's going to be a brilliant nurse, he's empathetic, caring, compassionate. His communication skills and maturity are way beyond his years. He'll be a much better nurse than my mother would ever have been regardless of her age. There's much, much more to it than that.

I got my first 'proper' job working as a HCA in A+E aged 19. A big job for a young girl! I loved every minute and thrived.

Chuffin - it's also difficult to envisage people you have grown up with doing "serious" jobs . I struggled to get my heads round the first of my peers to become a Doctor, for example. My dh has a PhD and is an academic - people who know him socially / meet him through his hobby can't quite get their heads around it when they find out, as he doesn't fit their 'image' of what an academic is like.

At 18, some people have a lot of life experience for all sorts of reasons. Others don't at 30, or 35, or 40 or whatever age you feel would be more appropriate. You can't group just by age. Same with confidence.
Equally, I'd like to hope that those starting out in responsible roles aren't actually left to make too many crucial decisions themselves until they pick up experience. PEople have training, shadowing, mentors, supervisions, managers, procedures, rules, etc they are guided by. Not many people are just left to 'get on with it' in responsible roles.

Hormonal - It is not just empathy. It is actually understanding how it feels to feel helpless, and really ill.

I think you need to meet more young people - I work with people who where parents at 15 or supporting themselves from 16 or caring for a sick parent and siblings for years before leaving school

plus - you know - people get trained before being allowed to do those jobs!

Some things can't be taught though. They do just come from experience.

larant he has more understanding of that than most people. He has spent a lot of his life in and out of hospital as he is a severe asthmatic. His brother has been seriously ill, with doctors not knowing what was wrong with him for years, and has spent more time in hospital and doctors surgeries than most people.

Not only that, he has seen me become more and more disabled. He has had to help me with personal care, he's been there when I have had to spend 6 months in bed,he's held my hand when I've cried in pain. He's looked after me following major surgeries and visited me in hospitals.

He has experience in spades.

Sothe government is making it impossible for under 25s to have any financial help for housing, higher education and food and you'd like to prevent them getting a decent job too?

Um.

Nope. Makes no sense.

No not getting a decent job. Just accepting for some jobs that experience matters.

Incredibly ageist. "life experience" on paper does not necessarily translate to wit in the workplace