THE BEE AND THE FLY – AN ORIENTATION MODERN TALE

However, I will temporarily borrow this theory since it serves my argument.

THE (NEW) TALE

So, we have a bee, a fly, and a pipe. Now, let’s add a glass cap at the end of the pipe, and imagine it represents our current education / employment situation.

Most of us start as bees, gently guided through the common education system: kindergarten, middle school, and high school. There, according to your grades, you’re encouraged to start “specialising” in a sector or the other. Even if at this moment different paths present themselves, the final choice is not really yours to make. Then, If everything goes according to plan, you become an average C+ student, graduate, and continue on the education rails pursuing a college degree – following your previously chosen specialisation’s path. 

For older generations, the pipe didn’t end here. Bees could fly on forever, guided by the pipe’s side-edges. Graduation came with a job, and usually, you carry on in that firm for the rest of your life. For instance, last May, during Adecco’s CEO for One Month Bootcamp, I discovered that many employees jokingly referred to themselves as: “bébés Adecco” (Adecco Babies). This appellation designated people who started their work path at Adecco and never left. 

With our current economic situation and constant evolution, it feels almost impossible for us to pursue a lifetime career in a firm. Comparatively, as our paths change, so does our insects’ trajectory. Today, college would becomes the metaphorical end of the pipe. Graduating is either like finally being able to fly in the open or (more likely) like hitting the glass.

METAMORPHOSIS

The bee becomes a fly, continuously hitting the edges, wondering where to go. We’re repeatedly told about how “65% of tomorrow’s jobs don’t exist today“. In reality, the world is shifting so fast we have no clue of what’s coming – let alone how to brace ourselves for the future. So, the fly keeps on bumping everywhere, lost.