With four fancy pieces of paper from three universities and one from a college, I consider myself educated. It is with dismay that I find obtaining employment difficult, both for myself and for many around me. It is not that we are lazy, oh no. We are at risk of sacrificing a generation of workers, in what I see as a structural change in long-term employment. We must critically look at the implications of high unemployment amongst young people. Whether there should be changes, or not, I cannot say, But to do nothing is unacceptable.
We need to go back to what we see as our ideal society. How about starting with the idea that citizens can get good jobs that pay well. If a generation or two gets squished by the older ones, you should expect to see some resentment. As these older generations get increasingly frail, one should not expect generosity from the generation you just squished.
Of all countries, China knows this well. Social instability is a potent mix that can down a government, and they know this.
If Canada cannot employ its university graduates there should be a reduction of government funding for universities that will translate into fewer students. You see, with Canadian taxpayers funding 70% of a university student’s cost of education, if these students cannot find employment and pay back Canadian society as a whole, why fund their education? Current funding results in far too many marginal student in universities, resulting in a marked drop in student quality. This, as many a university teacher has told me, is a rampant problem.
Higher education should not be the fallback plan for those who cannot find work. Indeed with high tuition costs and the burden of student debt, coupled with the bleak lack of employment for university graduates, going back to school is the complete opposite to a proper solution. Higher education cannot solve the problem of graduate unemployment but can make the problem far worse. It is also a waste of taxpayer’s money to subsidize these students through their education, only to throw them into unemployment. Frankly, it is pointless.
Do not blame university graduates for their lack of employment. Without opportunity there is less chance of success. Is it their fault that no one will hire them? How about solving the problem of university unemployment by providing solutions to generating more jobs? And transferring jobs out of Canada, such as what RBC is doing, is un-Canadian and immoral. Create jobs in Canada and Canada will grow. Export good jobs from Canada and Canada will die. If and when young people believe there are better opportunities abroad, young graduates will go and possibly not return.
This is not the Canada I signed up for and believe in.
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I find your blog quite interesting, sorry for seemingly spamming.
It’s true, university is often seen as “the place” for your kids to go to get educated and get a good job. Very wrong.
Also seen as a place to ‘find yourself and what you want to do’. Often very wrong too (though the finding yourself part is quite true, being subjected to a variety of experiences). How many students switch out, take multiple degrees, etc. and don’t even end up working in their field, if they find work at all?
I do find there is a bias towards relating being educated to making money and contributing to society.
Going to the trades or even ‘college’ (as many do not regard this as academic but hands-on) has just as much merit. There is not enough emphasis on this in Canada. There is nothing ‘lowly’ for being the one who makes the tools, from the guy who designs the tools. In fact trades people probably get paid a lot more than their engineer counterparts in this day and age. Of course, there is this mentality that if you make money doing something ‘uneducated’ then you are just doing it for money and it is not fulfilling and not a career to be proud of. This is so wrong! But this is how many families think and force their kids (and from societal pressure) to go into university. Both people are skilled in their own way and are needed. You are right, the way they promote academia is A TOTAL CASH GRAB.
The only things I really learned from University are critical thinking, logic, problem solving, and engineering fundamentals (all the advanced stuff just gets lost) which can be applied to all areas…of course university isn’t the only place to learn these skills.