Dear Editor,

There has been far too much ado about obtaining a university degree, the image being that a better job will follow.

Rubbish. There are all kinds of these poor souls who have wasted two or more years obtaining a BA and are now flipping hamburgers or making custom coffees.

As well, legions are working for the minimum wage, which is nowhere near enough to buy groceries and afford housing. Can’t be done.

A BA is not really worth the paper it is written on, so it was two years wasting time which could and should have been better used than this fun-and-games nonsense – expensive fun and games, at that. The cost is obscenely expensive, when one considers how useless it will be.

And will it create a feeling of betrayal for these young folks? It could hardly be otherwise. However, it is a pity that they didn’t investigate before they embarked upon their costly waste of time.

People with skills to be good carpenters, bricklayers, and plumbers are seldom out of work for long. Pity so many people are so dazzled by “getting a degree” and thinking they were on the road to a wonderful job with good pay.

Apprenticeship programs pretty much guarantee good wages, and nowhere as costly to obtain as a BA.

Canada’s productivity is seriously lagging because too many employers cannot find good trades people.

People cannot go on to trade school without a general education, such as graduating from Grade 12.

In the interests of ‘saving’ money, quite a few apprenticeship programs were cancelled. That is so deplorably stupid.

This same mindless nonsense also applies to the closing of medical schools. It means we have to import doctors from offshore because we are not creating enough doctors to replace those who want to retire.

One hears of student loans exceeding $50,000. No wonder many will not even try to become doctors. The workload is appallingly heavy, as well as prohibitively expensive.

It can be no surprise that there is a doctor shortage now, engineered by our government “to save money.” How clever is that?

Part of the fallout is that many people cannot find a family doctor.

Part of the answer has resulted in a large number of walk-in clinics opening, but I am sure many people would prefer to have their own family doctor.

Robert W. Stirling, Maple Ridge