Alex Kvaskov (News Editor) and Kanchi Uttamchandani (Assistant News Editor)
Featured illustration: Millennials have to work harder than before to distinguish themselves in the job market. | Christopher Lai
The weather remains sunny, although autumn’s crisp bite is a painful reminder to York students that fall convocation is coming. Up next, the pains and pleasures of the job search. Many are anxious if their shiny new degrees are worth the paper they’re printed on.
Some of that anxiety has to do with the increasing ubiquity of university degrees, as graduates see more and more of their peers and competitors with a degree. The 2011 National Household Survey showed that educational attainment among Canadians continues to increase, with 64 per cent of adults between the ages of 25 and 64 holding post-secondary qualifications. This is up from 49 per cent in 2008. Degrees are even more prevalent among younger generations, with 56 per cent of 25- to 34-year-olds holding degrees in 2008.
Critics argue this proliferation of degrees lowers the value of a university education. It’s possible to have too much of a good thing, they say, as the laws of supply and demand impose lower prices in response to a growing supply.
“I do believe that there is a sense of dilution when it comes to the amount of undergraduate degrees being spewed out in society with this ineffective education system. This leads to people pursuing higher levels of education like grad school and PhDs, causing further debt to arise,” says third-year criminology and political science student Sajeth Paskaran.
But Council of Ontario Universities, or COU, President David Lindsay says demand for degrees has grown as well.
“The number and percentage of university graduates may be going up, but demand for university graduates and sophisticated employees is also going up. As the workplace gets more complex, we will need more highly skilled and highly educated workers,” he says.
According to COU’s research, unemployment among all university graduates is 4.2 per cent, which is lower than the overall national and provincial rates. This suggests graduates are actually better off than the general population, though it says nothing about the quality and suitability of their employment.
A liberal arts education, in particular, is stereotypically associated with poor employment prospects. Not all agree; Paskaran believes there is still value and utility to a liberal arts degree.
“The connections, networks and valuable experiences, whether they are volunteering, extracurricular within the school or community engagement, are very important in order to be a well-rounded individual,” he says.
York philosophy graduate Razia Rahim concurs, saying that although credentials impact potential employment opportunities, one’s experiences and skill set are more important when it comes to job applications.
“I think one’s degree is a buffer, just like one’s experiences. Value in the job force is dependent on the individual and what they bring to the table,” she says.
Banin Abdul Khaliq, York psychology graduate, believes that a university degree gives one an advantage over those without degrees, as the latter group are likely to be screened out from entry-level jobs.
“Owning a degree is still more valuable than simply not going to university in most cases, as it is often a requirement for most jobs and a prerequisite for continuing education,” she says.
Moreover, students increasingly see university as the holy grail to securing employment by acquiring job skills, not realizing that the rapid pace of society and technology makes such skills obsolete.
“The job market is extremely advanced [such] that the education system just does not compare nor prepare us for the future effectively,” says Paskaran.
“Having a degree that’s very specific to a job in such a rapidly changing society may not be the best way to think about it,” adds Lindsay.
Rahim believes that while a post-secondary education is not the route to riches, it is definitely worthwhile as one of many steps in an individual’s growth process.
“When a student starts university, they’re only 18 years of age. At that age, most of us have romanticized views of the world, and I think university helps with putting the real world into perspective,” she adds.
In response, universities are offering more practical education by combining broad liberal arts instruction with specialized courses students can quickly complete to acquire the latest technical skill. For its part, York is trying to improve the employability of liberal arts grads through “hardening” traditional humanities programs by connecting them with Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, or STEM, fields in so-called bridge programs.
Rahim argues York should institute more experiential education in the form of mandatory business credits for liberal arts students.
“In fact, I think this may be more useful than the current general education credits York has in place. This will ensure that liberal arts majors are equipped with the technical financial knowledge that may be required of them in an interview or in the workplace,” she argues.
In this vein, policymakers may want to consider certain changes to the public school system. Paskaran thinks students should voice their concerns to university administration and government.
“The institution should implement progressive changes such as more co-op opportunities, field work, paid internships, as well as making education more attainable while maintaining its value through more challenging and rewarding education,” adds Paskaran.
Other ideas include personalizing higher education as much as possible by making classes smaller and de-emphasizing grades as “currency.” Writing department chair Ron Sheese believes the current state of education is very individualized, saying education is perceived as a personal benefit as opposed to a societal benefit.
“This leads individual students to also think in economic terms, rather than in terms of personal development, expanding one’s horizons and fulfilling one’s potential. People start assessing quality of education against economic markers rather than in terms of challenge and growth,” he adds.
In its 2015 University Works Report, the COU notes that university graduates earn $1.5 million more than high school graduates over a 40-year period. Taking the long view like this may go some way toward reassuring recent graduates that their prospects are reasonably bright. While they are understandably concerned with their immediate fortunes, students’ anxiety is elevated at least in part due to an intense focus on the present moment.
It’s difficult to predict whether degrees will go extinct, but millennials still face considerable uncertainty and risk. In this environment, perhaps the most any of us can do is adapt, for it’s not the strongest or fastest creature that survives, but the one that is most adaptable to change.
You don’t need to be the best to survive. You just need to be good enough. Maybe anxious and insecure students can find some solace in that.
With files from Victoria Goldberg
