It’s a S.T.E.M. World, Baby
A recent article, sponsored by none other than the Royal Bank of Canada, had a list of the top ten ‘most valuable’ university degrees ranked, as is the wont of a bank I suppose, by how much you could make upon graduation. Happiness, fulfilment, joy, the breadth and length of knowledge, all be damned, just show me the money!
Of the ten, five were in engineering, two in accounting and finance, and one in business (the others were geosciences, and mathematics, the only remotely philosophical science amongst them). So, if I may simplify, the way to make money is to build and maintain machines, or help hide the money of rich people so they can hoard all the more. Then, as said graduate makes his own whackload of money doing this, he can give it all back to the Royal Bank, to bury himself in a usurious mortgage for an over-priced house in the suburbs. Hmm.
Speaking of money, I don’t think you could pay me enough of it to do any one of those jobs (well, maybe geosciences or math), although that may be just me. But this does pertain to my recent musings, indeed my entire life, on the nature of education, what it means and how one should pursue this most noble of endeavours. I would hope that, in the midst of learning how to fix and program computers, or move money around, such a student also learns a few things that broaden the mind, elevate his thoughts, contribute to society, how to engage in sparkling and deep conversation, to raise children well, offering him the intellectual and spiritual foundation to live as a full and complete human being, immersed in the greatest that has been thought and written.
But I have little hope. I don’t think there is much room for elective courses in the jam-packed laser-focus of an engineering degree. We are sadly producing a whole generation of near-automatons, educated to vote Liberal, immersed in all the supposed ‘values’ that ‘Canadians hold dear’, who build robots which will soon inundate the labour force, leaving the idle unemployed to their ever-better computers on which to whittle away their hours playing ever-more-real first-person video games, watching ever-less-real films, made by ever-more-stultified-and-brainless production studios. We are so far down the rabbit hole of Plato’s allegorical cave that I don’t know if we know the way out anymore. The philosophers who can help us are few and far between, and getting more rare.
So, back to ‘valuable’ degrees: The real question is, what is it that one values? And how do we learn what we should value? Where should our treasure be, for where that is, there is your heart also? For where your heart is, that, dear student, is where you are.
Carney’s Amoral Majority
After five defections – euphemistically described as ‘crossing the floor’ – and three by-elections, Mark Carney and his Liberals how have their coveted majority. One wonders what bowls of pottage were offered in back-room deals. In the archaic monarchical system that is the Dominion of Canada, this majority allows the newly-minted Prime Minister to rule[…]Continue reading→
Saint Kateri , Canada’s Protectress
This was the title given to Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, by Pope Benedict XVI, when he canonized her on October 28th, 2012, along with six others, in Saint Peter’ Square (she had been beatified by Pope John Paul II back in 1980). With Saint Joseph as our protector, along with the Canadian martyrs, we seem to[…]Continue reading→
A Closed, Unsustainable, Descending Loop
As a follow-up to my thoughts on Payette’s payout, here be a stark image of where are here in Canada. As the graph shows in, well, graphic terms, since 2025, the public sector has contributed to 95.5% of economic growth. The private sector – which funds the public sector, or is supposed to – has[…]Continue reading→
A Tale of Two Benedicts
A grace-filled Holy Week to all our readers! As we await and prepare for the Resurrection about to dawn upon us, we might keep in mind two Benedicts: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, requiescat in pace, elected on this day in 2005; and today’s commemoration of the mystic pilgrim, Benedict Joseph Labre, who died on this[…]Continue reading→
My Name is Bernadette
April 16th is a propitious day, for besides the anniversary of Father de Valk’s death, who founded Catholic Insight in its print form decades ago, and the commemoration of the ‘two Benedicts’, mentioned in accompanying posts, today we also recall Saint Bernadette Soubirous, the young visionary to whom the Virgin Mary appeared numerous times at[…]Continue reading→
Presidential Pardon of Weronika Krawczyk
As a good news, follow-up to our story from Poland, of the persecution of Weronika Krawczyk for her pro-life views, we heard that she has been granted a presidential pardon. One might still wonder why one needs a presidential pardon for simply holding the long-held belief that the child within the womb is a child,[…]Continue reading→
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam and Suffering Joyfully
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam (1380 – 1433) was one of the countless and glorious ‘victim souls’ in the history of the Church, those whose lives are filled with suffering, often of an unimaginable intensity, but who suffer joyfully. She was a fifteen-year old Dutch girl, out skating one day, when she fell and broke one[…]Continue reading→
The Glorious Martyrdoms of Martin and Maximus
As we enter into Eastertide, we recall on this 13th of April Pope Saint Martin I (+655), one of the noblest, if most tragic, of the successors of Saint Peter. Born in Umbria, Italy, he was of noble lineage, with great intelligence combined with charity and love of the poor and the Church. While still[…]Continue reading→
Pope Leo and a Rosary for Peace
Pope Leo XIV has asked Catholics across the world to join him in a Rosary for peace today, at 18:00 Rome time (6 pm), which would be noon from where I write (EST). If you are able, whether at that time or another, and in whatever way you pray, to join in intercession with the[…]Continue reading→
Payette’s Payout
I was glancing through some headlines, and noticed a mention of Julie Payette – engineer and astronaut and sometime the Queen’s representative in Canada – which brought back vague memories. She was appointed Governor-General by Justin Trudeau in 2017. Ms. Payette resigned in 2021, amidst claims that she created a ‘toxic work environment’, with allegations[…]Continue reading→