by Ranjini (Rini) Ghosh
May 11, 2004
an open letter to Mr. Jayant Bhandari.
First off I am not an immigrant. I am actually a Canadian Citizen, who chose to come here because of her birth-right to do so. Once I finished my high school education in India, I decided that it was time to return to the country that I had left when I was 6.
I do not romanticise about my life in India, I understand that every country has its ups and its downs. I found it very offensive that the writer of the editorial, "Come to Canada and Complain", Mr. Jayant Bhandari jumped to conclusions about my nature. Not only did he dare to create categories of immigrants, he also decided to put me in one. Let me do the same then, if I romanticise about my life in India, then Mr. Bhandari obviously does the same with his new life in Canada and overlooks all the problems that are being carried forward from one government to the next.
I did not say that education in India is flawless. I understand that public universities in India are not the best forerunners in education. But, High School education is high up there. On the other hand post secondary education in the West does not seem to be valued at a desired level. While my friends from Calcutta went to top class universities like IIT and the Engineering colleges in Bangalore and West Bengal, I came to the University of Toronto with the same high marks. On one hand, my friends paid a nominal amount, while on the other hand I put myself into a $30,000 debt to just graduate with a Bachelors Degree. Yes, it was my choice to go into University and take a loan. But, really what I was supposed to do, not get an education for the fear of being indebted? Is this really a choice? I will admit that many people do take that route, but I was one who would not let the fear of indebtedness rule over my want for an education.
I did however, have a choice: should I have gone into a degree that would find me a job right after a graduate? I was a Life Sciences student, who was being forced by the average South asian community to believe that her aspirations were to become a doctor. I realised in my 4th year that not only were those aspirations forced but they were also shared by many. I then switched into a specialist program that was more to my liking and attuned to my interests: a South asian Studies Specialist with a concentration in politics and history. I am not in a post graduation program yet. But I would certainly like to be. If everyone decided to go for money making jobs like Medicine, Law or Dentistry, Mr. Bhandari there would be no teachers, no professors, and no social workers.
The reasons why I chose not to go to law school are totally based on my decision to not put myself further into debt. The average debt of a student graduating from Medical School or Law School is about a $100,000 or even more. Students in Law School at the U of T complained before the last round of tuition increases that their career choices are affected because of such sky rocketing debt. Students who go into Law School say that if they want to go into public law they change their minds halfway through the program because of the amount of personal debt. This is the same reason why I chose not to go to Law School. If I do study law and am forced to go into working for a huge corporation, I will consider my education to be socially valueless and lacking. Why should my ultimate career choice be dependent on how much debt I have?
allegations that I use my position to fulfill personal interests are baseless. I have gotten involved with the University of Toronto to act as a conduit between students and administration. The student movement that I have been involved with has been successful because of the hard work that all of my fellow student leaders across the country have put in. Most student leaders do not get to reap the benefits of their campaigns because by the time changes are made, they have probably graduated from university.
The Liberal Government, ever since Paul Martin has been Finance Minister has cut huge amounts from Post Secondary education. 9 years ago Paul Martin as Finance Minister lumped together the Federal funding for Medicare, Welfare and Post Secondary education into one lump sum amount. Because of Roy Romanow’s efforts, on the 1st of april, 2004 the Health Care Transfer was separated. But, Welfare and Post Secondary Education Funding are still lumped together as the Canada Social Transfer. Being from Vancouver you surely must see poor students from the city who dig deeper and deeper into their pockets just to be able to attend a post-secondary institution. Did you know that Gordon Campbell and the Liberal Government in BC have just announced the cancellation of all grants? a silver lining: this year we the students have been able to make the Ontario government under Premier Dalton Mcguinty understand that Post Secondary Education is important in far too many ways. It is better to invest in the Education of those who will be running the country tomorrow than giving severe tax breaks to big businesses. The students have won a tuition freeze and the Liberal Government has also made a commitment to Fund the Freeze for the 1st two years
One other thing, Mr. Bhandari, just because some people have dreams when they get to a new country don’t make those dreams, "lofty". I refuse to change my dreams because of circumstance, just because you claim that you did.
Ranjini (Rini) Ghosh is a citizen of Canada, currently the President of the Students’ administrative Council at the University of Toronto. She represents over 40,000 full-time undergraduate students at the U of T.
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