Dr. Bernardo M. Villegas CHANGING WORLD (Part 3) The immediate problem in the midst of the pandemic is short-term survival.  In the next two to three years, jobs will continue to be scarce, especially in the travel and tourism industry; the luxury goods sector; restaurants and malls, and others that require close physical contact with other persons.  It is important that the graduates of 2020 are able to adapt to the changed circumstances.  In the same way that their former professors are now learning to teach online and to deliver most of their lectures through the Internet, the college graduates of 2020 must be ready to change their mindsets and attitudes to adapt to the new normal.  Dr. Padojinog pulls no punches:  “To be honest, we are not even sure if some of the professional skills and knowledge you have earned will remain significant in the new normal.  You and I are witnesses to the limits  of temporal man before a virus 0.12 micron in diameter.  Many seasoned executives with their professional experiences and degrees stand helpless as they witness before their eyes the fruits of several years of hard work collapse or  driven to the brink of collapse  in just a few months.” Let me pose an extreme form of adapting to the economic environment that we will be facing in the coming years.  One does not have to be a prophet to forecast that the Build, Build, Build program started by President Durtete is not a passing fad but will have to be sustained during at least the next two administrations, meaning at least the next 12 years.  Philippine infrastructure is so inadequate compared with our “tiger” neighbors like Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia, and now even Vietnam.  We have to continue investing significantly more of both public and private resources in endowing the Philippines with the infrastructure worthy of a upper-middle-income status to which we are transitioning  in the next five years or so. It is ironical, however, that despite the abundance of young people in our country, there is an acute shortage of construction workers like carpenters, plumbers, electricians, mechanics, brick layers, and others who are essential to the Build, Build, Build program.  You know quite well part of the answer to this anomalous situation.  There have been too many of you who have chosen the wrong post-secondary programs.  You and your parents have been too enamoured with a college diploma that may not qualify you for a really meaningful job.  You and your parents have been too focused on a college degree, even if there continues to be a mismatch between what an agro-industrial economy like ours needs in terms or skills and what our educational system is producing. What I will be proposing could come as nonsense to some of you.  If after searching during a reasonable amount of time for a job that fits whatever you studied in college, you still find yourselves unemployed, it may be time for you reflect on what Dr. Padojinog said in his speech to the UA&P graduates:  “We are not even sure if some of the professional skills and knowledge you have earned will remain signifiant in the new normal.”  You may have to consider acquiring skills that will be in great demand in the new normal.  You cannot go wrong in the construction industry.  I am not suggesting, however, that you will again think of a college program like civil engineering.  Change your mindset and be convinced that to be an expert plumber  in a truly industrializing economy is as dignified as and can be more lucrative than to be a mediocre accountant or  lawyer.   I suggest that you get rid of your feudalistic bias against blue-collar work and consider an occupation that involves  the use of manual skills (of course now aided  by all sorts of sophisticated tools and digital devices).  Think of taking courses in such world-class technical schools as Dualtech Centre (Admissions Director’s email is rodolfo.staanaiii@dualtech.org.ph) in Canlubang, Laguna, or Centre for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE) in Cebu. If even only 10 percent of the 800,000 graduating college students in 2020 will consider this admittedly revolutionary thought, we would be able to address in a significant way the acute shortage of construction and other industrial workers equipped with electro-mechanical skills.  The good news is that there are banks (like the Land Bank of the Philippines) and leading  private financial institutions that have launched very initiative programs for educational loans to students wishing to enrol in tertiary institutions.  There is no question that investing in acquiring technical skills in the new normal is very bankable. Probably a less revolutionary but equally challenging proposition is for some of the college graduates of 2020 who have difficulties in  seeking employment to consider joining the increasing number of knowledge workers trying their luck in high-value farming.  The pandemic has opened the eyes of many of our leaders about the crucial importance of food security, especially as regards the food items that tend to enjoy rapid increases in demand in a country that is becoming an upper-middle-income economy.  I am referring to  fresh vegetables and fruits that increasingly take the place of rice, corn, and other carbohydrates in the menu of the middle-class households.  For this reason, growing vegetables and fruits within urban areas (even in vertical green houses) is becoming a profitable operation, of course with the appropriate technology. I suggest that some of our recent college graduates should join the ranks of urban farmers growing such products as honeydew melon,  papaya, lettuce, cabbage, egg plants, tomatoes,  and other fresh fruits and vegetables in small plots that are still abundant in areas surrounding urban centers such as Metro Manila and Metro Cebu.  I suggest that interested parties google two of the leading seed technology enterprises – i.e. Harbest and East West Seeds – to seek advice on how to go about setting up urban gardening projects. There is a very big demand from supermarkets and grocery stores for fresh vegetables and fruits.  Only urbanites with some amount of capital can go into this type of high-value gardening because it will require a minimum of investments in equipment and inputs.  The small farmers,who have no access to risk capital,  can be hired as workers in these urban gardens. Dr. Padojinog stresses precisely the importance of a mindset  that will be ready to make even the most dramatic shifts in occupation and lifestyle.  As he ended his address to  the UA&P graduates of 2020:  “..This is where your UA&P education becomes relevant.  We cannot control the many events in our lives, but we can control from the inside how we should read and respond to these events.  This is not just a matter of aptitude but of  attitude.  It is now more of mindsets rather than skillsets.  The pandemic has shown us that value is not found in having but in being, not just in living but in finding meaning.” Echoing the words of Mayor Sotto about collaborating with others to work for the common good, Dr. Padojinog ended his speech with lines that can be addressed to all 2020 college graduates all over the country: “Your education has given you the necessary disposition to collaborate with others, to be flexible and adaptable to disruptions, and yet remain steadfast on the unchanging principles of faith, charity and justice…In short, we taught you how to learn rather than what to learn….Strive to serve, contribute to human progress, and uplift the professional, moral, spiritual and cultural circumstances in which you find yourselves.” And may I add:  You are graduating in very unique circumstances.  May you make unique contributions to the Philippines that will surely survive this temporary blip called the pandemic.  You are part of the lasting trends, the rock foundation of Philippine society. For comments, my email address is [email protected]