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I think the problem is this mentality of "I have to go to some sort of post-secondary program". Obviously the top students will have an easier time finding a job, but I think the majority of the people with employment problems were faced with a choice of going to university and study something like Basket weaving or going to college. I'm going to make a bold statement and say that the people who do go to university to study Basket weaving are generally people who are somewhat insecure that they have this fear of going to college and having a societal "label", or they're completely lost and become monkey see monkey do (everyone else is going to uni, I guess I will), or they're genuinely interested in what they study (I'm going to say the majority these people will be employed).
Going to college here doesn't really solve your problems either. Just because you study business at Cap, it doesn't mean you can become an investment banker. I'm not saying you won't be able to find a job, but you're going to be competing with the grads coming out of Sauder, Beedie, and all the other institutions. Furthermore, this is exceptionally worse here because of a saturated job market and post secondary institutions expanding their programs for the sole purpose of profit.
I do feel that the education system here is part of the problem and it's only going to get worse. School's do a very lacklustre job of preparing you for anything, if any of you guys are in highschool you've probably done or are doing planning 10, which is a mandatory course thats supposed to prepare you. I was fortunate enough to have a badass teacher who went out of his way to help everyone out, but the majority of my friends had teachers that didn't give a shit and just stuck to the useless curriculum they were provided with. Being a senior in an extremely academically inclined school (biggest AP program in Canada), I see tons of people with high grades that skip out on grad events and socializing because all they've done in school for the past 5 years is learn how to get a high mark on a test. Yes, some of those people are going to Harvard, MIT, Princeton and ivy league schools, but what about those with that personality that aren't quantatively gifted? Those people are extremely awkward and can't even look you in the eye, much less pass a job interview.
This is somewhat off-topic but I want to touch on grade inflation. School has gotten progressively easier throughout the years and after the removal of provincial exams, this can cause problems. I have friends that are getting extremely high grades because of easy teachers. A lot of these people are applying to programs such as sciences, engineering, etc. What's going to happen? they'll most likely get in, but, I know of atleast a couple that won't be able to handle the difficulty and weren't assessed to a proper level to meet the requirements to STAY in the program.
In my opinion, I also think society plays a huge role in this problem. There's so much competition and pressure marketed these days on kids to get into university and find a job that all they focus on is getting good marks and forgo a lot of the activities that build up attributes people actually desire, such as fun, confidence, and the ability to step outside of your comfort zone.
This got a little longer then I intended but it's Sunday and I'm bored, consider this as a point of view from a current high school senior.
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