Luke Kirkness: Life isn't sunshine and rainbows so let's stop making it out to be that way

The sooner people realise life isn't easy, the better. Photo / NZME

OPINION
Life isn't all sunshine and rainbows and the faster people figure that out in life, the better.

It's what a number of students across the Bay of Plenty appear to have realised this year.

In Tauranga, between five and 10 Otūmoetai College students found jobs after the August lockdown to financially support their families.

At Tauranga Boys' College, some senior students who had gained their NCEA qualification early moved into employment due to job availability. And why not? Once you've got your ticket, why would you wait around for the rest of the year to play out?

In Rotorua, about 15 John Paul College students found jobs and did not return to school after the lockdown. They had apparently taken up jobs and apprenticeships in carpentry, as mechanics and electricians.

Not every one of these students will have struggled with the same problems, nor would they all have left to help their families through tough times. However, they've taken a step towards the rest of their lives that will, for the majority, be spent working.

School can give students a false sense of security about the world. While you might be able to have another attempt at a maths test, at your job you might get only one shot at an interview or at a project. If you're always late to work, you might get sacked, but if you're always late to school, you might get a slap on the wrist or at best, ordered to complete detention.

Some proactive students take employment after school where they learn valuable skills about the "real world" while also being paid to do so. I would think they learn better values about life here than in the classroom.

People are at school for about 13 years of their life and for a lot of that time, especially in their later school years, they are forced to learn things they might never use again. After the final bell rings, it's off to work or tertiary education - before the pandemic, some lucky people even got away on an overseas experience.

But it's once you're on the payroll where the real tests begin and where lessons are learnt.

Last week, a Tauranga grocer made headlines around the world when a list of employee rules surfaced after a disgruntled dad shared some online.

Examples of the advice given on the list include:

• Life is not fair. Get used to it.

• If you think your teacher is tough, wait 'til you get a boss.

• Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping. They called it opportunity.

• Your school may have done away with winners and losers. Life hasn't.

There were many negative comments about the set of rules, but the majority appeared to be in favour.

To those upset about the rules, maybe it's worth looking at the issue from the viewpoint that the employer was doing his utmost to help people on their journey through life?

These are lessons children need to learn and more of them need to hear this type of thing and to be fair, some adults need to face reality this way too.

Life isn't easy and the earlier people learn that, the better placed they are to cope when the rubber hits the road.