So the provincial elections in my province are taking place in a few weeks. This means that for the past few months there had been a lot of canvasing. Now one of the reasons I picked my building is because it's very quiet and secure. However, canvasing means that there are politicians roaming the building BANGING on the doors. Every door has a little knocker that doesn't make that much noise, but makes enough that the tenant can hear the knock. But these people don't use those, they just bang their fists very hard against the door. It upsets Felix. I mean the guy is banging on the door at the other end of the hall and I can hear it, and my cat is freaking out. So for I have encountered 2 out of three party candidates for my region. Oddly enough the person I am planning to vote for has not tried breaking down my door, which makes me want to support them more.
Now of the two candidates I saw, one was a little bland and dismissive. He asked me my opinions on what could be done to improve the city, instead of the province. While I have opinions on the provincial level, things on the municipal level don't reall concern me one way or the other. (Just to reiterate these are provincial and not municipal candidates, so his focus on the city was weird to me.) The other candidate was much friendlier and talked about a variety of issues with me. He seemed to have a lot of good policies, but then we hit upon education and jobs and things got a little...interesting.
HIM: So are you currently in university or are you working?
ME: Actually I'm in the middle of my degree, I'm just taking some time off so I can raise some money for tuition. I don't currently qualify for a student loan.
HIM: What are you planning to do for a degree?
ME: I'm studying English, with the hopes of getting my Bachelor's of Education and teaching Elementary School. Though I will probably move out of province, since there aren't many openings for teachers in this province right now.
HIM: Yeah that's a problem right now. Plus, also English is a hard subject to get a teaching degree with. (True) I myself used to be a teacher, I taught French. You really need to be doing French or Sciences or Math to get a teaching job. (Actually since elementary schools aren't specialized like secondary school, this is not a huge obstacle for elementary school teachers. I have checked with a few sources on that. Correct me if this isn't correct for Canada.) But I gave that up to study, business. I ran a business for years before starting in politics. I did {I honestly forgot what kind of business he said he ran.}
ME Oh yeah?
HIM Honestly, I don't think that students should even be allowed to go into Education. There are no jobs in the field, so studying education should be banned. There are too many certified teachers with no jobs. It's just wrong to allow people to do this.
ME: I see. (Internally: What?!)
He goes on for a while longer about how people shouldn't be allowed to study education, and then about some plans he had for the province. By that point he had lost my attention, I was just trying to puzzle over what he had said. I mean, not only was he saying that the education field should not be available, but he said this to a someone who is planning to pursue education as a career. I mean if there was a Nursing Boom would he be going around to nursing students saying that people shouldn't be allowed to study nursing? Oh we have too many Welders, better shut down those departments at the community college.
Finally he ends it by giving me his twitter, if I have further question, and asking if he can count on my vote. I murmured something about needing to check out the other candidates, but in my head I was just screaming no. I mean, he just told me my future career path should be made inaccessible, then expects me to trust the running of this region of my province to him for the next few years. It was a one-on-one conversation, you think he would have been able to play to his audience a little better.
Now of the two candidates I saw, one was a little bland and dismissive. He asked me my opinions on what could be done to improve the city, instead of the province. While I have opinions on the provincial level, things on the municipal level don't reall concern me one way or the other. (Just to reiterate these are provincial and not municipal candidates, so his focus on the city was weird to me.) The other candidate was much friendlier and talked about a variety of issues with me. He seemed to have a lot of good policies, but then we hit upon education and jobs and things got a little...interesting.
HIM: So are you currently in university or are you working?
ME: Actually I'm in the middle of my degree, I'm just taking some time off so I can raise some money for tuition. I don't currently qualify for a student loan.
HIM: What are you planning to do for a degree?
ME: I'm studying English, with the hopes of getting my Bachelor's of Education and teaching Elementary School. Though I will probably move out of province, since there aren't many openings for teachers in this province right now.
HIM: Yeah that's a problem right now. Plus, also English is a hard subject to get a teaching degree with. (True) I myself used to be a teacher, I taught French. You really need to be doing French or Sciences or Math to get a teaching job. (Actually since elementary schools aren't specialized like secondary school, this is not a huge obstacle for elementary school teachers. I have checked with a few sources on that. Correct me if this isn't correct for Canada.) But I gave that up to study, business. I ran a business for years before starting in politics. I did {I honestly forgot what kind of business he said he ran.}
ME Oh yeah?
HIM Honestly, I don't think that students should even be allowed to go into Education. There are no jobs in the field, so studying education should be banned. There are too many certified teachers with no jobs. It's just wrong to allow people to do this.
ME: I see. (Internally: What?!)
He goes on for a while longer about how people shouldn't be allowed to study education, and then about some plans he had for the province. By that point he had lost my attention, I was just trying to puzzle over what he had said. I mean, not only was he saying that the education field should not be available, but he said this to a someone who is planning to pursue education as a career. I mean if there was a Nursing Boom would he be going around to nursing students saying that people shouldn't be allowed to study nursing? Oh we have too many Welders, better shut down those departments at the community college.
Finally he ends it by giving me his twitter, if I have further question, and asking if he can count on my vote. I murmured something about needing to check out the other candidates, but in my head I was just screaming no. I mean, he just told me my future career path should be made inaccessible, then expects me to trust the running of this region of my province to him for the next few years. It was a one-on-one conversation, you think he would have been able to play to his audience a little better.
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