You might think of upper education as a place where people go in order to spend money for nothing. There is a lot of intellectual backlash in Canada these days, as people think post secondary institutions tend to train people who end up using what they think they have learned to start groups like democracy now or PETA without any real life applications that benefit society as a whole. However, a look at the major universities and colleges in Ontario will show just how wrong it is for people to think this way.
We will start out with the basic assumption about upper education, that it is the ticket to a life of better pay cheques. For the most part, this is true. There are a dozen different places in Ontario where a person can train to be a doctor or a lawyer, two of the most lucrative professions one can pursue through post secondary education. These two careers also take a substantial amount of time and money to get started; for people to have them listed on their resumes in Ottawa they will have completed eight and seven years respectively, with two degrees each.
Slightly less specialized than these professions are the public sector jobs which Canadians are very familiar with. These include professionals such as teachers and nurses, integral to the operation of many of the institutions which we hold to be of highest value. You will find as you look at the different places of learning in Ontario that many more of them offer degrees in nursing and teaching than in medicine and law. The reason is simple; these programs are less expensive to run and turn out more graduates as well. They'll still be able to afford a Toronto taxi service when they are done, and the degrees take four and five years each.
On the next run are the community colleges, which typically offer two year diplomas. This type of school is the one in which a person offering counsel on anger management in Hamilton will probably have gone to. It is amazing how much respect these simple programs can confer on a person in this day and age, considering how little they actually find out!
And then of course there are the trades and technical colleges which can be found all over the province. These are the schools which give apprentices the nuts and bolts they need in order to become fully licensed carpenters, electricians, plumbers, and other skilled trades persons. Usually the education is listed as four years, but three of those four are usually paid and in the field.
Finally, keep in mind that a defensive driving course in Toronto and other small programs in Ontario cities are often operated through local colleges and universities.
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