(This incredible cartoon is courtesy of the fantastic Marc Junker. It ran as the editorial cartoon in the Feb. 12 edition of the Martlet.)A few weeks ago, I had an exhibitor at UVic's career fair tell me that I would not be able to find a job with a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in political science and a minor in journalism. She said that I would have to go to grad school. The exhibitor was working for a certain provincial public service agency, and I had asked her if there were any summer jobs in communications or policy analysis. Apparently there aren't. Nor are there permanent full-time jobs. Not for me at least.
I was surprised, to say the least. I'd think that four years of political science and three years working at a student paper would at least put me in contention for a summer job with the provincial government. I thought I was doing pretty well in life. I'd picked a path and started the trek down it. I'd chosen a degree that I thought was useful, timeless, with a good chance of getting a decent job (even if it wasn't in journalism) upon graduation. Wrong.
But what astounds me even more is the fact that I'm not the only one. All three of my roommates are planning on doing another degree/certificate/diploma when they finish their degree. Most of my friends who are graduating this spring are applying to grad schools or technical institutes for the fall. Or they're taking a year off to work so they can afford to go to grad schools or technical institutes.
On the other hand, most of my friends back in Edmonton either opted out of the post-secondary path or didn't finish high school in the first place. In my group of friends, I'm unique in my decision to pursue post-secondary. But all my friends have great jobs! My best friend works in a fabrication shop doing books, payroll, reception, etc.; she makes good money, has great benefits and makes her own hours. Granted it's not a job I'd be likely to fall in love with, but she has. To top it off, her boyfriend is an elevator mechanic who just got a raise to $45/hour. $45/hour! And he hasn't even done the schooling to get his ticket yet!
Growing up, I was told I had to get good grades and participate in lots of extra circular activities so I could get into a good university so I could get a good job where I'd make good money. When I got to university, I was told I'd need a really dynamic portfolio if I wanted to work in journalism. So I started volunteering, and then working at the Martlet. Then these higher powers added internship to the list of things I'd need to achieve, but these are so scarce and competitive that if that's a job requirement, we're all in trouble.
"Why don't you go do a masters degree?" people (family) have begun to ask me. Uhm, I'm just finishing 16-straight years of school. I'm already in debt. If I have to write another essay on democratic peace theory, I'm likely to vomit all over it. And you said I'd get a good job with THIS degree!
Since when is university nothing more than a stepping stone to more school? How do I find a way past the fact that an MA is the new BA and anything less just won't do? If this continues, we'll be walking around with mountains of debt, unpublished dissertations and useless PhDs? What happens then? Do we make a new, higher degree?
And how is it that a quarter of the people working in newsrooms right now don't have BAs? They're good writers, great writers even. And once upon a time, what mattered was being good at your job, not what letters followed your name.
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