Life.Opportunities
.... which opportunities?
Life.Opportunities
If anyone wanted to undergo apprenticeship training in the interwar period, the respective master needed to be paid for it, which is something we can hardly imagine nowadays. Usually, therefore, it was only the boys who were allowed to learn a trade, since girls, as conventional wisdom held it, would get married anyway. Even for girls of higher social strata, gaining access to higher education remained a near impossibility for a long time. It was only in 1896 that gifted young women were allowed to graduate from grammar school. From 1897 on, they were allowed to enroll in the universities' philosophical faculties as regular students. In 1900, the Medical Faculty opened its gates to them; in 1919 the Juridical Faculty and, as late as 1945, the Catholic-Theological Faculty, followed.
In the 1970s, the Kreisky administration aimed to guarantee fair access to education for everyone with a grand reform of education. A fine web of secondary schools was soon to span the country and admission exams were abolished. Free schoolbooks and free public transportations for school students were introduced to enable every gifted child to get higher education. Access to universities, too, was made easier, tuition fees were abolished and a dense web of supportive measures was created. The envisaged – and partially achieved – social mobility, however, has since taken a backseat. Access to education is regulated by admission exams, pressure to perform, deductibles and fees. These days, having graduated from grammar school or university guarantees neither a job nor social advancement.
That being said, our life opportunities are also shaped by the location we live in. Are there any opportinities for work or advancement nearby? Very often, the environment one is habituated to must be left behind in order to find work. The necessary mobility cannot always be reconciled with family responsibilities.
Chime in! – Share your desires and expectations of the future on #grenzenlos2020 and #carinthija2020. What do you expect, what does Carinthia need? – take part in the survey of the University of Klagenfurt.
