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However one of the concerns about this grant was that it was money given to young people who have not earned it, they were getting this money just for turning up for 6th form or college; this was not a good enough incentive and did not teach them anything about the value of money. If we look back 30-40 years ago this support did not exist and students in those days had to go and find a part time job, I was one of those students. It was easier then there were good part time jobs available. We have to realise that we are living in different times now. Recession, job cuts and losses of certain industries we once took for granted, ensures that young people growing up in these days will no longer have a choice of picking and choosing the jobs they would like to go into, not even a part time job.
What is the moral to this story? I believe it is this: what we did yesterday does not apply to the new situations that our young people are facing today. Times are harder now. It is like the old saying that says you cannot put “new wine into old wine skins, if you do, you will destroy the old wineskin and the new wine will spill out.” What I am saying is that if we try to apply old methods of dealing with and tackling some of these issues, we will end up with a mess.