Quote:
Originally Posted by CliffFletcher
In the UK, you're barely even really considered middle-class if you're an engineer, because of the association with dirtying your hands with machinery. Certainly not in the same social class as a barrister or banker.
The move to making everything a 4-year university degree isn't just a legacy of the past - it's still ongoing. Was there any need for Mount Royal College to scrap it's practical 2-year diploma programs and become a university? It's more prestigious for administration and professors. But now students have to spend double the time and money to get a degree. And as someone who has hired people with the both the 2-year diplomas and the 4-year degrees that replaced them, the graduates are no better qualified for the job. In some cases they're worse, because they have a more general education.
As an alumni, every time MRU comes calling for a contribution I tell them the same thing: You've doubled the cost of my kids' education (assuming they go there). I would have happily made a donation if you were still a college. But not now.
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I think it's interesting how different countries hold different opinions of different professions.
One example: my wife is an Irish-Canadian dual citizen. The form for her passport had a list of acceptable witnesses. Lawyer, doctor, etc were on there. Engineer wasn't, but bank manager was.
I'm an engineer by profession so I'm not unbiased here, but I would say here an engineer earns more money and has greater social status than a bank manager.
For my own kids, I would encourage them to pick a career with some decision making involved. Anything where you're just following an exact set of instructions (which includes some blue collar and white collar jobs) is going to be boring, and is more likely to get replaced by technology.