An education with nowhere to go

I am wasting my life. I found myself thinking that on another one of my long drives. The ones through a grey winter's countryside with nobody else on road. Working as a driver gives you time to think. The sad part of it all is I'm too smart for my job. I have double honours degrees in history and political science. I also have a college graduate diploma in journalism. Still I'm forced to work for low pay in a mind numbing job. There are no entry level positions in my field. I've come to realize that higher education doesn't open the doors it once did.

For years, the government has pushed university degrees as the be all and end all. The labour market increased demand for educated workers as well. Then the 2008 recession happened. While blue collar and minimum wage jobs bounced back, white collar ones didn't. Many university grads are waiting tables, or cleaning cars. Now that everyone has a university education, degrees don't carry the weight they used to.

Entry level professional jobs have given way to volunteering and internships. Those do not pay the bills, and do not generate tax revenue. Employers want experience. Typically this means a minimum of two years in the real world. Grads lack the experience needed to get good jobs, but there are few paths for getting that experience.

This is why I took exception to recent comments made by Michael Ignatiff. He's another stuffy academic that Liberals seem to love. Iggy wants to push education big time should he be elected PM. That's all well and good but it doesn't address the job problem. Pursuing knowledge is a wonderful thing, but it's useless if you can't practice it.

Not a single party at both the federal and provincial levels has addressed the job shortage for new grads. They need meaningful full time work in their own fields to succeed. Mark my words, ignoring this issue will lead to a brain drain. At best, we'll have an entire generation under-qualified for their age group and career level. We're wasting a colossal amount of fresh talent because there are no real world opportunities for beginners. All we've done is create the world's most educated Wal-Mart employees.