Andy Burnham is desperate for Gen Z to like him – here’s why I don’t

Please, prime minister… for the love of God, stop taking the wonder out of kids' lives.

At 14, my friends and I still believe, deep down, that we could be pop stars or top models. But his announcement this week that practical skills will be brought back to schools is great for pupils who thrive in non-academic subjects is another hammer blow for those of us who love the arts.

One of my friends is an incredible artist – she’s ridiculously talented, and studying at the BRIT School. But why bother? The small cafes near me put up AI posters that all look the same, but don’t cost anything to make. Nobody can really afford coffee anymore, so cafes can't afford graphic designers.

Another friend loves music. Her dad and brother are in bands, and she just knows that's what she's here for. But the music industry is changing at breakneck speed. Labels don't have objective power over consumers anymore. Viral songs don't even correlate to streams. Massive artists like Post Malone and Zayn have cancelled shows due to low ticket sales.

I want to be a writer, so I try to block all of that out. I'm not ready to give up my dreams, and Andy Burnham needs to understand that I’m not alone in this.

Our new PM, with his air of a bumbling, kindly dad, is seen as a half-formed rebel. He is a beacon of hope, a man of the people (and every other cliche that undermines my literary goals).

I don't want our educational system to stay the same, and I don't know anyone who does. A major overhaul is well overdue. Maybe, instead of thrusting a hard hat in everyone's direction, give university graduates a better job market instead?

As a girl, I dreamed of riding unicorns, being a fairy, and writing lots of books. I did not dream that, at 14, I would be flung into a painful conundrum. Burnham is essentially suggesting that we have a choice between getting a pointless degree, becoming a tradesperson, or sitting and prompting AI. I agree that tradespeople deserve more respect – but give people who want to keep their graduation caps a better time of it, too.

I do not in any way, shape, or form look down on tradespeople. In fact, I look up to them – like Serge, our window cleaner, on his very long ladder. But the arts are what I love. I could quite happily leave school and just write all day, but Andy Burnham isn't prepared to make the UK a culture capital. He wants a stake in the tech wars.

The Liberal Democrats’ education spokesperson Munira Wilson said it best: "We must not allow these changes to predetermine children's futures at just 14, baking in disadvantage." I really, truly don't want me or anyone my age to give up on doing what they love.

My friends are already scared of the world becoming a dystopian AI-unemployment-wildfire nightmare. We're not ready to let go of the perhaps-expired meritocratic ethos. Reading articles about people with degrees from good universities ending up stacking shelves or living with their parents is a shock. That's not how I thought it worked. That's not how it worked for my parents, or in the movies.

Under a recent BBC article about the youth unemployment crisis, the top comment, apparently from a small business owner, said: "We get CVs dropped in every week from graduates with irrelevant degrees who can't get jobs. Learning a trade should be something to aspire to." Reading that, I wanted to throw my toys out of the pram.

When what you've tied your identity to has little to no value, you as a person feel like you have little to no value, too. My writing is my thing. I was called the human thesaurus at age nine, writing poems in a notebook at 10, and I’ve written a diary since I learned to write. I probably used a pen to teethe on.

I’ve been feeling as though I'm banging my head against a brick wall. I don't want to be stacking shelves or making coffees for much longer than the classic Saturday job. But now, my perspective on this is changing.

I have clean water, food, and a bed – all for certain. I would be fine to live with my parents forever as long as I got to do what I love. (Don’t ask my parents what they think about this.) Didn't Van Gogh only sell one painting during his lifetime? Edgar Allan Poe today would probably have had a man cave in his parents' house while he wrote gothic fan fiction on AO3.

Life really is about your passions and what each person enjoys. I have to hope Burnham understands that enough so that, when my time comes, I can still pursue my dreams for real. It’s what makes society and our world.