The Power of Choice

Back to School – But Wait! You Can’t Go

Summer has officially ended, the leaves are beginning to change colours as the seasons shifts to autumn and university is about to start. However, students all over Canada are facing the decision of whether or not to go back – students who are relatively good students. One must question why this is the case, well it’s simple really: the government isn’t allowing us the opportunity to further our education.

My audience will have to excuse me as I make this a somewhat personal account of what appears to be a recent trend. I come from a single parent household where my mother has always been both parents, literally. I can’t honestly remember a time when she wasn’t working two full-time jobs, that’s more than seventy hours a week. I am the youngest of four children and also the last one in university. As my siblings have completed their post-secondary studies with the assistance of financial aid, the government is asking me to contribute more than what is possible to my education. The reason why is relatively simple, they expect my mother to kill herself working two full-time jobs to put me through university. Of course I work, but I live away from home which makes university a bit more expensive than your average student’s.

I have recently met another student in my exact situation; her mother has made herself ill by working long, hard hours to put her through school because the government refuses to fulfill her financial needs. Now, I’m not saying that it is the government’s obligation to provide financial assistance, but what would like to point out is that if Canada expects its citizens to stay within the country and contribute to the wellbeing of the Canadian economy it must help put its “children” through university. Rather than aid the people presently in the country, people who call themselves Canadian and feel some emotional attachment to this country, the government chooses to bring individuals from overseas. Why are we adding to a population that there is essentially no space for?

As the government’s unwillingness to aid many individuals’ university education persists, we, newly graduated and those presently in a post-secondary institution, are forced to look for opportunities outside of Canada to pay for loans we did not receive from the government, but rather high interest loans from various financial institutions. All through secondary school I remember hearing news broadcasters, newspapers, as well as educated individuals, complain about newly educated members of Canadian society leaving for the United States: nurses, doctors, lawyers, etc. I am now in a position where I am able to completely understand their decision to leave Canada. My mother is in no position to fully aid my pursuit of a post-secondary education, nor is the mother of the girl I met at the post-office whilst waiting in line to cash the mere $343 I was given by the provincial government. I understand the situation well enough to realise that I will not remain in Canada and most probably leave to work in the United States as I am being put in a position where I must at least consider that option.

All I ever wanted to do was help people – help Canadian youth realise their true potential in low income areas as gang related violence and racial violence increases in certain areas. However, it looks like I’ll be taking my dreams and my goals of helping to a different country. When I graduate from McGill University in Montreal, CA I will graduate with a Bachelor of Arts, with a major of Canadian Studies and a double minor in Public Opinion/Law and Ethnic Relations. I will continue to pursue my graduate studies in Canada; however, with my debt load from financial institutions which did aid me, I will leave. If the government isn’t willing to help educate me, a functional member of society who wants to give back to the wellbeing of a nation, I must find the means to do so.

Our government, both federal and provincial, boasts about the aid it provides to university students in need, yet we see nothing but cut-backs in the realm of loans and bursaries. The governments require young educated individuals to help contribute to the security of Canada and its future, but it refuses to aid its citizens.

This is not me giving up, and this is not the girl I met at the post office giving up, but it is both of us losing faith in our federal and provincial institutions. University, it would seem, is only a manageable debt (if one can call it a debt) to those who are wealthy. Out of this situation I have made a new friend and I have learnt a very important lesson: I shall not give up; rather I will use this as motivation to work harder and succeed. Canada will not hold me down. Young individuals in similar situations will find ways to pay for tuition, books, and afford the cost of living without the aid of the government because they are clearly unwilling to provide it.

Also read...

• 100 Days of Vision…Day 12
• 100 Days of Wisdom…Day 96
• 100 Days of Wisdom…Day 18
• …Confused as ever…By Epicurean
• Meeting Deepak Chopra