politics for the 99%

Published on AlJazeera, by Molly McCluskey, Oct 11, 2014:

Country’s youth apprenticeship programme is credited with one of the lowest unemployment rates in Europe. While nearly half of young people in some European countries cannot find work, a unique training programme in Switzerland has ensured jobs for nearly all who want one. More than 24 million people in the European Union are unemployed, and nearly 5.2 million of them are aged between 15-24 … //

… Eliminating the ‘knowledge gap’:

From information technology to cabinetry to laboratory technicians, Swiss students have the option to participate in early career training and apprenticeships in 230 different occupations. Nearly two-thirds of Swiss high school graduates participate in the Career and Technical Education (CTE) programme, which combines classroom training with practical work experience over a four-year apprenticeship programme.

Eighty-thousand people have participated in the programme.

Erich Kofler, the apprenticeships coordinator for the Basel-based pharmaceutical company Novartis, told Al Jazeera the programme helps ensure Swiss industries don’t face a worker shortage in the future. “Because of the CTE, we know we won’t have a knowledge gap,” Kofler said in an interview with Al Jazeera. “We can offer apprenticeships in precisely the areas we need, which change from year to year.” Novartis is working with 100 apprentices in 2014, and has had 300 to date.

Mandatory schooling ends in Switzerland at the ninth grade, when students are about 15-16 years old. In the seventh grade, teachers encourage students to investigate various apprenticeship options to discover what interests them, and then participate in a “test” apprenticeship lasting about three weeks.

Trying to find my niche: … //

… Importing the Swiss model: … //

… (full text).

Related Links:

• Youth unemployment rate: % of youth labour force (15-24), published on oecd-ilibrary.org, July 16, 2013: less than 10% only for Austria, Germany, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland;
• Exporting the Swiss apprenticeship model, on SwissInfo.ch, August 23, 2012;
• Facing the Challenge of Youth Unemployment, on Fribourg University/Sociology;
• Enhancing Youth Employment. Kosovo, on Helvetas;
• Switzerland and Canada: Youth Mobility Program, on EDA;
• Skills.oecd: Switzerland;
• Help Young People Excel Ltd;
• Young People Training.org.uk;
• What are they doing right? 3 cases, on Lifellong Learning in Europe LLinE, by Lorenz Lassnigg, Kerstin Schmitz, Rudolf Strahm, Issue 1/2013:  long article …;
  (my personal comment as a Swiss – one aspect is neclected in all these fine explanations: what we learned in school, what I received from my father – each Swiss is free, IS BORN WITH A PROUD IDENTITY, born to be self-maid-men and -women, having their gun at home, voting the final legislation, proud of our work and achievements. The collective political identity maintains our descendendance of peasants surviving by hard work as free men in their valley, with only god above them and no aristos behind … free of slavery … at least we believe it, so the myth still works.
  We believe that we are the ones who make it, what’s often true. Finally, we do not identify with aristos, their lifes and behaviors … and such a myth you cannot export to countries were an elite is obsessed to show their everyday mighty spledid existence. Their people can no more feel any proudness. Look, I believe that governments creating a really highly sophisticated level of apprenticeship make it better if they accept their people as first level actors … only then they are really interested that you learn someting – Heidi);

Other Links:

EU risks €40bn hemorrhage from Russia sanctions in 2014 – Foreign Minister, on Russia Today RT, Oct 14, 2014: The death of the Ultimate Warrior was just the latest grim reminder that professional wrestlers continue to drop dead from something other than old age at an alarming rate;

Iraqi city falls to ISIL as army withdraws, on AlJazeera, Oct 14, 2014: Heet, in Anbar province, changes hands after government forces abandon last base in city in order to defend an airbase;

Kailash Satyarthi: the tireless, unlikely and accessible Nobel peace prize winner, on The Guardian, by Ben Doherty, Oct 13, 2014: Despite saving almost 80,000 children from child labour, and now adding the world’s most famous award to his name, Kailash Satyarthi has always restlessly sought to do more;

The Last Days of Kobani: a Decisive Battle in the Fight against Islamic State, on Spiegel Online International, by , Oct 13, 2014 (Photo Gallery): Turkey stands by doing nothing while US bombs have been unable to slow down Islamic State fighters: The battle for Kobani has revealed the West’s helplessness in the face of radical jihad. Worries of a massacre are growing …;

THE SLUM, on AlJazeera’s pecial page; The UN predicts that by 2050, one in three people will live in a slum. But what determines where you live and how does your environment shape your health, hopes and prospects? (actually internal links for 4 of 6 videos published on AlJazeera);
(Autumn 2014): Find local broadcast times for Al Jazeera’s series about Tondo, a settlement in Manila;

Ultimate Warrior: One-Third Of WrestleMania VI Competitors Now Dead, on Yahoo sports, by The Post Game Staff, April 9, 2014; http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/list/201404/ultimate-warrior-dead-wrestlers-wrestlemania-vi-andre-savage-rude-hennig?utm_source=Taboola&utm_medium=rt-rtcom&utm_term=thelistinternational&utm_campaign=TheListInternational

Malala Yousafzai: Our books and our pens are the most powerful weapons, on The Guardian, by Malala Yousafzai, July 12, 2013: Malala delivered this address on education to the United Nations Youth Assembly on ‘Malala Day’, her 16th birthday;  (see The Guardian’s special page for Malala Yousafzai).