Assuming Brexit happens is anyone advising their children ....

[frozendaisy]

Hello all Newbie here, with things on my mind, so assuming that Brexit is going to happen one way or another, is anyone advising their children to study for subjects that will enable them to leave the UK once they become part of the workforce? That is what we are doing we are, light-heartedly at the moment, suggesting "Canada babies" just to sow the seed. (In case it is usual we have 10 & 8yr olds).

I think even as a non EU citizen it's not hugely more expensive to do a degree in Europe than it is to do one here. I think I'd encourage my DC's to look into doing a degree somewhere else in Europe just partly in order to broaden their horizons and partly because it may be easier for them to apply for residency if they want. At least the student debt would be worth it.

I thank our lucky stars that at least my DSs have dual citizenship with Oz.

I regret not 'Australianifying' them more when they were younger but at least they have that option.

Yes, keeping different options open is always a good idea. I have a proper nerdy DS and he would like to study programming, or engineering and they have top Canadian universities for that. Other DS is more into music and English but they both speak French and they have Canadian citizenship so I am slowly introducing them to options to study in Canada. If they decide to study here in the UK then fine, not a problem, but the option is there and they already know it (they are 12 and 13 years old).

Er, no.

is anyone advising their children to study for subjects that will enable them to leave the UK once they become part of the workforce?

I certainly am and the subjects I'm encouraging them to study are certainly not languages.

Before returning to the UK a few years ago I'd spent around half my adult life working overseas - outside of Europe - and the thing that made all that possible was having studied a STEM subject (I just barely scraped a CSE in French - I wasn't even good enough to do an O Level). Studying languages at school made no difference whatsoever and given that I worked in Russia and Japan, my solitary French CSE was of no help at all anyway.

So, I've worked in the US, Russia and Japan, my DH has worked in the US, Russia and the Middle East and neither of us were any good at languages at school and O Level French really wouldn't have helped at all anyway.

It's surprising how quickly you can pick up a working knowledge of a language when you are immersed in a country.

My DD is currently studying a STEM subject at university and that will enable her to take up work pretty much anywhere in the world.

I hope all these young people are vegetarians - Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Chile all approve the use of growth hormones in beef production - and 99% of chickens in New Zealand are chlorine-washed during processing - just like the US.

Unfortunately my DC isn't interested in STEM. But may be able to gain residency abroad if she goes to uni there and is qualified to do a shortage job.
But she will have to work while at uni, because no student loan

Hi @Clavinova . The youngsters can make their own choices. It's just that this Brexit nonsense will made it harder for them to access the big labour market 22 miles south east of us.
I lived and worked all over the world long before 1992. It's that bit harder if, unlike me, you don't have a family used to travelling and working abroad. None of my peers did it when I was a kid.
I thought we were all about increasing our kids' options, not decreasing them.

We will have chlorine washed chicken in the UK very soon now.

I really don't understand wanting to leave your own country, when it seems so many desperately want to come here

It's not impossible to get jobs abroad without being an eu citizen though, is it? It is much harder but if you're competitive in your chosen field and that field happens to be based abroad then you have the opportunity. It would be a good idea for teens to research the kind of industries/companies they would love to work for and gear their studies and language learning around that area and the geographical location of the hq of a lot of those countries. If you've got younger kids and are thinking 15-20 years ahead then it's Asia anyway they probably need to be looking at.

I think the rule is that employers have to give priority to EU job applicants

I would 100% be encouraging language learning though. Doesn't especially matter which language. Use duolingo type methods and pick something they have at least some chance of exposure to. Whether it's Japanese because they watch anime, French or Spanish because you holiday there, a family link with a language or a local conversation group or club, learning one language makes it much easier to pick up a second and language teaching is very badly prioritised in schools.

We have moved abroad so have cheated a bit in that sense as our kids are learning German from the environment and community around them, but it is possible if you live in the UK too.

No it's not impossible @BertieBotts . I am a living example of that. However, as it was back then before 1993, it is much harder when the rights aren't there.
My family has been travelling and working abroad since just after WWII. We are very very ordinary Northern English people from low income background. It's just been what we have done. We inspired each other. My classmates had no such inspiration and thought it a bit odd.
But surely it's all about making it easier for people and giving them more options rather than fewer.

It's surely all a question of relativity, sonly.

If you grew up with no education, in dire poverty, in a war zone with violence and famine stalking your refugee camp, I imagine western Europe would look pretty appealing.

If you'd grown up in western Europe, as part of the EU, with opportunity and guaranteed rights- but then recognised many of those rights were about to be swept away, that even the staunchest supporters of Brexit recognise will wreck your economy for a generation- well, you might then go seeking greener pastures, if you were capable of doing so, wouldn't you?

But then, you were being deliberately disingenuous, weren't you?

Told the other day that monolingualism will be considered to be the new version of illiteracy

Yes they do. But other continents don't have the same stipulation, plus you can still get into the EU by being headhunted etc. You do need to have better skills. And I'm not saying this is fair or equal for everyone to be able to attain but if you are in a position to encourage/enable DC, you definitely should.

Of course it's not impossible, @BertieBotts - I also worked in Europe; but if any new rules get passed stating that you can only fill a £30k and upwards job, like we're suggesting to the rest of the world, that'd be a good slab of MNetters excluded!

One good reason for leaving is that the NHS will be wrecked (already way behind some other countries' health services). And salaries and job opportunities will decrease. And employment rights, human rights, welfare protection, etc will suffer. And social divisions will increase.

I imagine our young people will copy what young Australians do once we have left the EU - and take up working holiday visas in Europe;

"A working holiday visa is a great way to travel long term.It allows you to live in another country for 12-24 months and permits you to take up employment while you are there."

global-goose.com/working-holiday-visas-for-australians/

The point is, the UK is becoming a hostile environment. We are advising our children to leave permanently.

Mine are vegetarian as it happens and I'm glad, partly because of the risk of low grade meat coming here when we have to beg for trade deals with the US and Australia. Its more difficult to deal with the potential lack of job opportunities, educational prospects and decades more of people banging on about the EU causing all our problems even after we've left than it is to decide not to eat meat! I thought the Brexiteers would be glad to see the back of the remoaners. Then they can live in splendid isolation to their hearts content!

People often move because they like the culture and opportunities offered in other countries, or have a specific university place, or a specific job that they want to go for. I am from Canada, I came to the UK 20+ years ago not because of war, or famine, or discrimination. I just wanted to satisfy my sense of adventure, and I had a bloody good job to come to in London.

I suspect that will move again, and I hope that my children don't feel that they have to live in this country especially with the NHS being on its knees. But let's see what happens after the Brexit deadline whoshes past and watch the country being taken over by unicorns and the land of opportunities at the end of the rainbow...

Whether brexit happens or not, I'm planning on advising them to study what they enjoy studying and what is related to or will lead to a career they are interested in.

Assuming brexit happens, we will live in our current country (EU27) untill the youngest is 18 to give them the option of becoming permanent residents of an EU country and all the protections and freedoms that will benefit them. I am determined not to deliberately remove rights, freedoms and protection they were born with.

Interestingly, I worked in West Germany in 1979, as a teenager, as a chambermaid.

Even though I am from a MC family from the south, I was shocked at how much higher the German standard of living was to ours!