Re: What we need more of is ambition (Letters, Oct. 26)
Last time I checked, we did not live in an objectivist society.
Is Atlas Shrugged required reading for your students, Mr. Banov?
I have limited words to express myself with, so I will do my best to wade through all of the Ayn Rand nonsense.
Just because a teenager wishes to work for an employer does not mean they lack ambition.
Assuming this generation is unskilled and they have no ambition is not only disrespectful, but a sign that you are grasping at straws to rationalize why educated people are having a hard time finding jobs that pay them a livable wage.
Blaming this generation when society currently has no place for them is unacceptable.
People with valuable skills are living in poverty, with and without jobs. There will always be students who fall behind or lack motivation, but they do not deserve to live in poverty, either.
I think you may be confusing the words “ambition” and “aspiration.” You cannot put the cart before the horse. Someone must aspire to become something before they can muster the ambition to pursue it.
It’s not surprising that high school students seem apathetic. Respectable jobs that they once dreamed of obtaining have lost their viability due to the plague of profit margin.
Jobs meant to introduce youth into the work force are being gathered up by the middle aged, just so they can make ends meet.
Youth go to school hoping their degree will help them from falling into that abyss, only to end up there anyway due to the rising cost of education, as post-secondary institutions decided they needed to make a large yearly profit.
How can a high school student aspire to be a nurse when they find out their pay is being cut and their hours are being extended on a regular basis?
Why would they want to be a teacher when schools are closing and their wages are being slashed?
All because the government wants to run the country like a business venture. To make a profit, of course.
People are repeatedly hired at ‘starting wages’ so that businesses can have a working staff for next to nothing, with no chance for advancement or promotion. They are usually fired right before their introductory period ends. Those workers hardly see a fraction of the profit they create for their company.
Many businesses want to hire those with years of experience at menial wages, or do not want to pay what the skills of their staff are worth.
Did you know the wage for most pilots employed by large airlines is under $25,000 a year? Albeit, how much profit they create is much more important than knowing how to fly a plane, right?
My brother is a talented computer programmer. He cannot find work because no one wants to pay him over $10 an hour. According to you, he has no ambition.
My fiance’s mother, who worked for an accounting firm for more than 25 years, was recently laid off so the company could churn a larger profit in another country. According to you, she’s worth less than minimum wage.
Both my brother and fiance have been marching for and supporting this sociopolitical movement.
The idea that you’ve seen numerous skilled job seekers who are worth less than what they know is completely subjective and irrational. Who are you to say that one person is less skilled than another because they allegedly “cannot be used to generate profit”?
For shame.
You dehumanize and degrade in the hopes of reasoning why these people have bleak futures and ignore what’s actually going on behind the curtain. Companies have become so obsessed with profit that they’ve become cheap and soulless. In this economy, we need more Warren Buffets. Not more Rob Waltons.
Even though you probably live comfortably and may have had opportunities in the past that are not available today, you can’t go on thinking that the general populace is the problem and this corporate agenda can’t touch you.
I’m sorry if your ego can’t handle this, but unless you’re making billions of dollars a year, you’re part of the 99 per cent.
Just like the rest of us.
Taunia Sabanski
Maple Ridge