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Well, it's just a dream for now. I've been thinking of selling my place here and moving to BC where I have a brother and niece and both are awesome folks - he still rides a Ducati racing bike daily on the street and he's about 68! He's had the same apartment for more than 25 years now. He doesn't take too kindly to the idea of my smoking dope, though, even though it's strictly for medical reasons.
University education is under attack by the cons. University was never intended to produce "jobs" but to produce community leaders. People who have the intellectual capacity to create.
But the Cons want us all to have trades so we can service the oil fields, and since a degree in English history doesn't serve that purpose, it's useless.
The Cons want us all to attend community trade colleges and get our welding certificates so we can work 24/7 in their oil patch.
With so many sucked into this idea it's difficult to say how university will fare. It also plays into the anti-science right wing asshat.
People have to go to university with a plan...you can't just expect it to set things up for you
So that's all you need, a plan. With conservative opposition to university education, all you need is a plan.
I went to undergrad full time for a year, then I moved in with my first sweetie and dropped to part time, and worked part- and full-time for the next 7 years, slowly completing my degree one to two courses at a time. I didn't get loans so wasn't in debt at the end, something I'm extremely grateful for.
Aside from having no idea what I wanted to study (until I found sociology) I also had no idea what I wanted to do for paid work as a career. I'm still working on that one, by the way.
I ended up in retail and then social services, both very interesting and satisfying jobs. I have no idea how my undergrad degree (in process at the time) in psychology and sociology helped me, other than engaging in middle class privilege and language, which both jobs required. Then I left my fairly well-paying job in social services (front line, unionized, with a pension) to go back to school. For grad school I went into debt, but it was just for two years. I knew what I wanted to study but had no idea what I wanted to do for work afterwards. A Master in Education, when I didn't want to teach in a classroom, was a bit of an oddity for me. (My family is full of teachers). But where I attended grad school was a kick-ass radical-ish grad school and it was there I met amazing people with both critical analysis skills combined with smarty-pants. The Master and PhD students took classes together and I can now say I know a number of rocking anti-colonial and anti-oppression professors who are out there influencing young minds as we speak. Ba ha ha.
I went into relatively small debt for grad school and, working a just-above-minimum-wage job at an independent bookstore, managed to pay off my debt in about 5 years.
University should be free. It's not a waste of time, but it's not for everyone. I could even say it wasn't for me, but it was presented to me as the only path after high school. Travelling, working for a year, etc, stuff that some of my friends did at the time, were simply not choices for me.
Research shows that students with a plan are more likely to succeed at university. Research also shows that on average a student changes their plan 4 to 5 times over their university career.
So. I'm average. This is new.
You and me both.
University is 100% worth it. It should be accessible to all who want to go...
Trades are important too...College degrees are also very valuable ...
Should also be accessible to all who want to go as well...
My plan, when I entered university at the age of 26, was to become a teacher. I did an English-Drama Specialist degree, and didn't change that from first year to fourth, but after teaching drama part time for the Toronto school board I realized teaching was not for me. I ended up with a decorative liberal arts education, memorized enough Chaucer and Shakespeare to impress snooty folks at dinner parties, but never, for a moment, did I regret the experience. My only regret is that I couldn't find the funding to attend grad school. I did a minor in political science and wanted to pursue it.
My plan was to become a celebrated theatrical performer and playwrite.
Then somebody talked me into doing a student film and I fell in love with the form. I finished the theatre degree, but spent an additional four years just taking whatever interested me. I wound up with nearly a whole degree in film, tons of English classes, psych classes, sociology, philosophy courses under my belt and a slew of directed studies in directing and screenwriting. So I started with a plan and then realized that I was mostly there to explore, and that the more I explored the more curious I got. And the more alive I felt.
I make documentaries, mostly, now. I've been an experimental filmmaker, actor, costume designer, set designer, a civil servant (yep, totally unrelated), a screenwriter, and a writer/producer. What I've discovered I'm best at is being both a writer and a creative producer. If I hadn't had the time or the opportunity to muck around as much as I did, I wouldn't have found that out.
Timebandit, I loved the drama program at UofT, but the most I learned from it was that I was a relatively average talent with no interest in dealing with actors. I loved theatre and I loved acting, and wasn't at all bad at it, but it wasn't and could never be a life for me.
I'm still pretty much broke, an artisan now as opposed to an artist, but I'm happy.
I've given up acting altogether now. I was good at it and I liked it - still miss it sometimes - but it was a perception thing. It's hard to be taken seriously in the roles of writer or producer or director if you act as well (unless you are a star). I've also discovered that I like to be in charge, so producing is much more where I like to be. I haven't worked since I had a small part on Corner Gas. Nice way to end it.
I can say for sure I'd be making better money if I'd stayed in my civil service job, but I wouldn't be nearly as happy as I am. Sometimes the choice is not about wealth but about overall satisfaction with life.
PS - I think artisans are every bit as important as artists - practical things made beautifully allow us to live more gracefully.
Richard Florida a U of T Business prof did a huge indepth study which concluded the "Creative Class" are of all things key economic drivers...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_class
IMO, because the circumstances have changed, like you say, most programs in university are not as directly employable as they used to be, so you have to have a plan to make money with a novel strategy, unless you want to sell out to some corporation
Closing for length.