It appears this column has a fan in George Street, Brisbane. Getting feedback, positive or negative, is good. Hearing stories of school students gaining work experience from attending Communication to Careers (C2C) or applying what they gained from it to assist in getting part-time employment is even better. We can debate the differences between ‘no measurable value’ and ‘it would need to demonstrate measurable and improved outcomes’ or respond to the question I got from Thursdays rebuttal story, “why do you only do C2C with the private schools”? My response was, we don’t but in the past 18 months only 1 state high school took up the opportunity sending 15 students. And no we don’t charge the schools, private or public to be involved. I apologise for going on about C2C, but the media doesn’t appear interested in continually bringing attention to the high youth unemployment rate, possibly because we the public are bored hearing about it, preferring instead stories of bored teenagers. Youth unemployment is a difficult issue but it can’t be ignored. As I’ve said C2C is not the solution, I believe it is part of the solution though. Quotes from the State Treasurer’s media release last week indicate he believes that also (under a different label). So why not say, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help’. Yes a statement jokingly identified as one of the 3 great lies, but with government help we can start measuring the outcomes students obtain from C2C and ways of improving them. Presently C2C is organised by just 2 of us, purely voluntarily. We feel uncomfortable charging schools, as suggested by the Director General of Education, for the time spent organising them, and as volunteers we couldn’t anyway. The time involved is primarily getting business people to attend, that’s the measurable we focus on at this stage, believing the closer a 1 to 1 ratio with the students the more beneficial for them. We can live in the solution, stand in the way or just ignore it. Where are you on the issue that is youth unemployment? If you live in the solution please register to attend our next C2C’s on July 20 and 21. There are about 160 good reasons. Visit www.ring.org.au/c2c for details.