Future: Mega-reflexion

Yesterday night, my INTD497: Research Seminar on International Development class on Governing Globalization had a "job seminar". Many issues came up to which I would've liked to add my two-cents, but the seminar lasted 4 hours, so I abstained.

Most people, International Development Students (IDS) honours (with a few political science, economics and environment majors/minors) were interested to study law, work for the UN, do some form of mediation, travel, be a journalist. Everyone brought up which organizations they would like to work for, but no one had entrepreneurship ideas. The goal pursued by many was to bring some form of change. The big majority had no precise idea of what they wanted to do after graduating, though a lot had already applied to unpaid internships and graduate school.

Some brought with them bad experiences of internships within an organization. My feeling was that those had never worked before inside any institution, and were idealizing their workplace. Coming from interdisciplinary study, they were interested by everything and felt like they needed to narrow down their options.

I was surprised to see how many were applying for unpaid international Arts Internship, which requires a global point average (GPA) of 3.0/4.0 and to have either accumulated enough money to pay for your experience, to have your parents support you or to get a grant (by filling more applications).

I felt more mature than most students, with my money constraints (an unpaid internship is out of question), my medium CGPA (can't get internships easily), my five years of work experience (two of them in environment field), my volunteering background (in both the Green Party and as a student senator), my local goals (I want to stay in Montreal), my five-year life plan (next year: get elected to SSMU or get an internship as a scientific reporter, then find a job in an environmental enterprise, work for three years in my field, then get a master from either UQAM in environmental education or Sherbrooke in environment).

There are several crises they are facing or could face soon:

• one must eventually become in peace with the way things are, if not the will to improve things for the best prevents satisfaction;
• organizations are big conservative monsters that strive to stay anchored to the moment of their foundation as a way to self-perpetuate;
• the post-modern multi/inter-disciplinary way in which we are taught clashes with the actual division of labour in our society and the knowledge classification inherited from the Lumières period.

Unless I'm mistaken, Senator Borkotoky is working on making sure students think early enough about their future during the course of their studies. On my side, I would strongly recommend to the aspirant journalists to start blogging , and I got a hint of a possible job doing environmental restoration after conflicts (there are no such positions within the Canadian Forces, at least there were none two years ago).