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HOLLAND
COLLEGE • January 14, 2003
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INSIDE |
EDITORIAL
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Go to university if you want to live By Sean Kelly The push to pursue post-secondary education in a university is not so much a push as it is advice, and it’s good advice. Some feel that universities are innately evil and disorganized machines which prey on the wallets and life savings of young people and their families. A university education is expensive, but the experience and knowledge taken from attending university is more than education. It is the transition from youth to adulthood, and it provides an initiative for self-guidance and discovery. University is a place for young minds to test their mettle. Personalities can be tried on at university without fear of persecution or social exclusion. People are free to think and discuss matters they believe are important and for many, university is where fundamental questions of self-nature and destiny may be contemplated without distraction. The gangly teenager in a smelly, third-floor dormitory room with no path to follow other than 30 mixed courses toward a bacherlor’s degree will emerge after four years with a solid footing, diploma and a fundamental understanding of where he or she is in the cosmos. Whether or not the job market jumps for it is not in question at all, for nothing ever guarantees employment these days. But ultimately, someone with a university education will not be left behind. Of the five resumés his employer will receive, if the graduate’s is the only with skills and trades he will get the job. Education cannot impede employment, so dissidents of this argument: please keep your steady jobs at Wal-Mart. And like it or not, the age of getting a high-paying job by simply having a knack for something is over. There are a few dinosaurs remaining - businessmen who became successful through common sense and capital idealism, newspaper editors who only had to mail away for driver’s licences. Tomorrow’s empires will not be carved from blood sweat and pain. They will be carefully measured and compared on the basis of skill, experience and qualification. And no matter what anyone says, it is impossible be overqualified. People of this belief are also scared of their own shadows. No one should dimiss trades. They are an integral part of society, and it is imperative there are enough plumbers or carpenters at any given time to go around. But are there enough doctors to go around? The reason why a high school guidance counsellor is so excited to discuss with students the prospect of a university education is partly because he’s wearing a big fat ring proudly stating St. FX university, Class of ‘64. It’s partly because he’s happy with his job and he realizes he couldn’t have got to where he was without a university education. It’s mostly because he knows that without a university education, some people will not be able to realize their full potential because soon the job market will demand it. A university education should be on everyone’s top 50 list of things to do before death, and it should be placed in the top 10. |
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