With respect tot he thread that began "education to what degree?",
consider the following:
1. Canadian higher ed suffered severe government cuts in the 1990s,
which were compensated for by partial deregulation of fees and
increasing ties to private industry.
2. At the same time, the view is promulgated that you have to have a
degree to get a decent job. This is not true, but never mind; it
suited the goals of university administrations.
3. In part because of this and partly due to demographics, there has
been an explosion in the number of students attending higher ed
institutions in Canada.
4. However, many of these students are working substantially outside
of school to meet the increasing costs of higher education.
5. As a result, I believe the amount of time they devote to
coursework may have fallen, yet they expect more out of the degree
because of the money investment that is needed.
6. Ergo, grades fall, especially for those who work 20 hours a week or
more outside of school (personal observation), and yet expectations
remain inflated because the degree is expected to guarantee a job,
which let me tell you is not a done deal for many disciplines.
Finally, does anyone out there have an intuition that we are getting
less able to attract the best students into ecology and
environmentally based courses of studies?
A good proportion of the students in my institution believe that they
are going to medical school. We also have towns and small cities who
will sponsor your Medical School education if you sign a contract to
work in that community as a family Doctor for a period of time. I
don't know about the states, but it is pretty difficult for any
environmental career to compete with a community that is offering
$100,000 guaranteed to newly graduated doctors.
All the Best,
Andy Park (University of Winnipeg).
