A response to a column on The Timeslive by Jonathan Jansen titled Dear Jobless Graduate.
Congratulations on your column. It was inexplicably crowd-pleasing (to say the least), but when stripped of its racial under-tones and satire, seemed to do nothing more than expose the Napoleonic complex you may suffer from.
As the Chairperson of the School Evaluation and Teacher Appraisal system, you are disturbingly disconnected from youth issues. What your views (in an innate and rather overt manner) suggest is that 'mostly' black people shouldn't bother studying towards any career path because even with that tertiary qualification, black graduates struggle to compile something as basic as a curriculum vitae.
Well, you seem to have completely negated the fact that unemployment is not merely a racial or 'black' crisis, its a problem that is affecting many.
As a professor who has taught at predominately 'white' institutions (as per registered student race factors) such as the University of Free State and the University of Pretoria, do you bear ill towards your black graduates, who as you say, 'wasted' their time throughout University since they will never find employment because chances are they already have a criminal record?
Have you regressed to such infantile reasoning that your extension of the badly written essays/CV's that you have received or come across becomes a deciding factor for black graduate prospects?
Please don't get me started on your political agenda concealed as a genuine suggestion. It is highly offensive that joining 'progressive, political organisations that changes the lives of the poor' is beneficial to graduates, when the work that you do seeks to destroy the youth's perception of education and aspirations.
Question is, what are you (accompanied by all your influence, skill and experience) doing to assist these graduates?
You seem like a man with scintilla of knowledge, perhaps you should not have spent an evening finding fault in black graduates or graduates in general, but being part of a dialogue that will allow for youth economic emancipation.
In a time where youth issues have finally been given a platform, the only danger lies with intellectuals and teachers such as yourself, who have very little faith in graduates to compensate for their youth inadequacies
Thabo Seroke
Thabo_SerokeY
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