Sep 10
21
Not everyone needs a debt-financed university degree to be complete
National Post – September 14, 2010
Not everyone needs a debt-financed university degree to be complete
By Matt Gurney
Last week StatsCan put out a report saying that, even while the comparable rate across the industrialized world fell to 14%, the percentage of Canadian teenagers not attending school remains stuck at 20%. One in five Canadians between 15 and 19 is a pretty big number, but it varies widely by province and territory – in Yukon and Nunavat, it’s one-third of teenagers, in New Brunswick, only 14%. Alberta leads the provinces with 26%.
It didn’t take long before alarmed press coverage began popping up. Are we falling behind? Is Canada doomed to lose the competitive edge? Are our governments letting down the children? But let’s take a minute and ask ourselves if this is inherently a bad thing. Because the report makes another point – some of the provinces where the education rate lags lead the country in integrating youth into the workforce: “Some provinces appear to be more successful than others in meeting the challenge of integrating young people with relatively low educational attainment into the labour force. In the Western provinces, there is an association between the relatively high employment rates (around 70%) and relatively high proportions of young people aged 15 to 19 not in education. This association suggests that labour markets with shortages can draw and employ young people regardless of their educational attainment, especially during periods of strong economic growth.”
Wait . so you can be successful without doing a four year humanities degree?
Read the complete article here.