Young Canadians are better educated than their parents were.
This really irks the heck out of me. Are we, the younger generation, better educated than our parents? Very likely, and I don't dispute the statistics they're using. What really bugs me about it is the blantant assumption that there's a great deal of choice involved with the decision.
Maybe I'm just a bitter Gen X-er who saw too much downsizing, who lived through the joblessness of the early nineties, who had to face any number of Baby Boomers clutching their power to their bosoms with such fervor that they refused to hire anyone in their kid's generation, because we clearly knew nothing.
Maybe I'm crusty because I went to university and got my arts degree (political science) knowing at the time of graduation that my diploma would've been worth more if it'd had coupons for fast food printed on the back. Maybe I'm unhappy because we were told, as a whole, that if we got an education, we'd get jobs. Maybe I'm unhappy because the student loan system (especially back then) set people up for draconian debt loads, which I'm still carrying to this day.
I didn't choose to go back and get a college education for my health. I chose to go back because I couldn't afford to live AND pay back my debts on the salary my university education was affording me. I didn't choose to delay buying a house, or investing in RRSPs or having a family because I was having some long-lasting childhood or pre-adulthood. I *had* to go back to school in order to find reasonable employment with a reasonable salary that could permit me to do the things I wanted to do.
I get very irritated when I hear these characterizations of our generation as somehow permanently set on Peter Pan mode. Are some of us in that state? Surely. Are we realizing that we want more out of life than a soul sucking job and a mortgage that cripples us? Without question. But don't assume that means we're in extended education for fun, or that we're avoiding the responsibilities that come along with the things we want. What we're striving for is balance. Not to the exclusion of these things mentioned, but as a part of it.
Am I just bitter? You tell me.
Maybe I'm just a bitter Gen X-er who saw too much downsizing, who lived through the joblessness of the early nineties, who had to face any number of Baby Boomers clutching their power to their bosoms with such fervor that they refused to hire anyone in their kid's generation, because we clearly knew nothing.
Maybe I'm crusty because I went to university and got my arts degree (political science) knowing at the time of graduation that my diploma would've been worth more if it'd had coupons for fast food printed on the back. Maybe I'm unhappy because we were told, as a whole, that if we got an education, we'd get jobs. Maybe I'm unhappy because the student loan system (especially back then) set people up for draconian debt loads, which I'm still carrying to this day.
I didn't choose to go back and get a college education for my health. I chose to go back because I couldn't afford to live AND pay back my debts on the salary my university education was affording me. I didn't choose to delay buying a house, or investing in RRSPs or having a family because I was having some long-lasting childhood or pre-adulthood. I *had* to go back to school in order to find reasonable employment with a reasonable salary that could permit me to do the things I wanted to do.
I get very irritated when I hear these characterizations of our generation as somehow permanently set on Peter Pan mode. Are some of us in that state? Surely. Are we realizing that we want more out of life than a soul sucking job and a mortgage that cripples us? Without question. But don't assume that means we're in extended education for fun, or that we're avoiding the responsibilities that come along with the things we want. What we're striving for is balance. Not to the exclusion of these things mentioned, but as a part of it.
Am I just bitter? You tell me.