Humility and Perspective Would be a Good Thing

It wasn’t too long ago where people from all over the world were congregating in endless lines outside of Ellis Island in hopes of achieving the American Dream - willing to give up their culturally rich surnames, such as Smithblovcheskyowski, to a more generic “American” name like Smith. 

This eagerness to scratch and claw into the United States has since made a 180 degree turn around. 

According to THIS ARTICLE, “In late 2010, Dr. Grady Snyder saw the writing on the wall. He was burned out, his revenue was shrinking and it was getting too expensive to run his rural practice”…so what did he do? He moved to Australia and took up rural medicine there. 

For those of you too lazy to read the article he essentially gave up on American health care. I know this because he said, "I gave up on health care in America." Doctors are fleeing the United States because it’s becoming more difficult to both make a solid living, and keep up with the regulations made by our Dear Leaders...Oh, wait, sorry we’re not in North Korea…I meant Congress. The young adults who pursue their education in medicine, more often than not, accrue a large amount of student loan debt. Which brings me to another point…

Students are becoming more conscientious in deciding which educational institution to attend based off of how much their parents can afford to take out for their second home mortgage to financially support their pride and joy as they embark into young adulthood between weekend binge drinking and pulling all nighters to cram as much 411 as they can. When faced with the decision of going to University of Chicago for $45,945 a year versus a similar counterpart like McGill University for $14,561 a year it seems like a no brainer. The only difference is McGill is slightly more north from the Mason-Dixon Line...and by slightly I mean approximately 800 miles more north nestled in an angelic city known as “Montreal”. We have a lot to learn from our Maple Leaf neighbors. 

According to THIS ARTICLE, “Six percent of McGill’s student body is American, and the ranks are growing. The number of U.S. students at Canadian colleges rose 50 percent in a decade, and now about 10,000 Americans attend Canadian colleges, according to the Institute for College Access & Success.” Regardless of what our Capitol Hill friends might want us to think, it’s useless to pass the buck of high tuition costs from one political party to the other (because let’s face it...this is only a two party system these days). In the last decade a president representing BOTH major American political parties has been in office...and yet here we are…watching helplessly as the tuition costs have doubled, and sometimes tripled since the Millennials entered elementary school. Considering almost 10% of college graduates default on their student loans within the first two years of graduation there’s a bigger problem to address out there. And it isn’t every situation where the non-child bearing baby boomer can say “Oh they just want to play World of Warcraft in their undies whilst eating bonbons and cheesy poofs as their helicopter mother does their laundry.”

The United States, the land of opportunity and prosperity, is finding itself in quite the predicament these days. Doctors, teachers, students, and other members of society who make up the essential fabric of the developed world are looking abroad for cheaper alternatives. 

Upon completing a teaching certificate program, I was enthusiastic to begin my career instilling vast amounts of knowledge into the minds of my pupils. I was quick to discover that due to budget cuts, many districts were not interested in hiring, but rather skimming back. In order to gain teaching experience, I hopped on a plane and traveled half way across the world to China. It was a wonderful experience, but another example of someone in search of employment having to seek it in a far off land.

 

 ^ Having a bit of humility and perspective would be a good thing^