Jenna Wiebe (Blog 8)

Blog 8

            The first area of chapter 8 that caught my attention was the section on the cost of education.  I was surprised to see the wide range in post secondary tuition fees across the country.  For example:  “in the same year, tuition fees at Ontario universities were the highest at $6307, followed by fees in New Brunswick, which were just over $5500.  The lowest tuition fees in Canada were found in Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador, which had average fees of around $2500” (page 231).  Seeing the wide range of tuition costs makes me thankful for the more-so manageable costs here in Manitoba. 

In the textbook it was also mentioned that despite simply costing money, post secondary education is also a personal cost, where “in terms of personal costs, the pursuit of post-secondary education requires not only a tuition cost, but also the time devoted to studying, and potential forgone wages that could have been accrued had a person not been in education.  Individuals making the choice to pursue post-secondary education must weigh the potential opportunity cost against the perceived benefits of the educational credential” (page 232).  Personally, if I were not in university pursuing my degree in education, I do not feel that I would have found a job which would satisfy my “opportunity cost”.  Yes, going to university does cost me a lot of money.  However, I will eventually end up with a degree, which will allow me to pursue my dream job of educating children.  That in itself is worth the cost to me. 

Another point of interest I found within this chapter discussed the issue of job-education mismatch, which “refers to employment situations where the education and training of the employee do not match his or her qualifications” (page 242).  I know that when I graduate from the education program, I may end up in a teaching position that is not in the early years.  This would be an example of job-education mismatch, because I have focused my education in the early years stream.  Further to this idea of job-education mismatch, the textbook also stated that “researchers have looked at the issue of job-education mismatch in two ways.  One is by examining years of education needed for a job relative to years of education possessed by the employee, also known as vertical mismatch.  Another way is by looking at field of study and inappropriate matching that may occur at a horizontal level.  Horizontal mismatch refers to a situation in which an employee’s field of study and job do not match” (page 242).  I had never heard of these two different types of job-education mismatch before.  In a perfect world, when I graduate, there would be an early years teaching job available for me.  But who knows…it’s not a perfect world.  The only position available may be in middle years, for example.  Regardless, I think it is safe to say that I will be pleased to land almost any teaching position after graduation. 

Discussion Question:  What are your thoughts on tuition fees?  What would you change?  Why and how?