God help us if Quebec becomes a country.  The country wouldn't last 10 years with that kind of corrupted politicians at the helm.

Hence the reason for my correction because I didn't want it to seem I was making a political statement.

let's not get carried away here... we should never excuse government's bad doings because some other places spend more money than we do. Even if they subsidize the tuition fees doesn't mean it's ok. I think America would gain way more by allowing it's population to get higher education more easily. I don't live in the USA but the last thing we want is only rich people getting educated and to me this is really bad. Just because some pay 20000$ per semester doesn't mean that it's ok and fuck those who are not born on fortunate families.

What happens now is that our government wants to put those who want higher education in the debt. Having your population full of debt is not healthy at all. Either you go in debt or you just don't study at universities, there's the catch. If people here can't go to universities then we'll accept the money from people that are not from the country because their tuition fees are way higher than ours. What happens after that is that those people just leave then we're losing mind forces.

Getting higer education shouldn't be a privilege who only rich people have access to or sacrificing half your life to payback your tuition. I know a lot of you would like to have our education fees but just because we pay less doesn't mean we have more money.

If the rioters spent as much time working towards paying for their education as protesting the tuition increases they would have paid for the tuition increase several times over by now ...

They do that for the future generations.  Some of them are ready to sacrifice their semester.

Have any of the student leaders considered going into politics (seeking elected office to make change from the "inside")?

Also, are any of the problems -- political or financal -- caused or exaserbated by the fact that there are many different ideas on the relationship Quebec should have with Canada?

Mike from Morgantown

Despite my pursuit of a liberal arts (International Relations) degree in college and the accompanying troubles with job-hunting, I must say that a well-rounded liberal education still has value even if the job market has not adjusted to match that value. I would put that blame on employers as a whole which seem to have very finicky needs and demands and do not acknowledge the realities of the labor supply

Like one job i was looking at that wanted Mandarin fluency for a glorified secretary job, in an industry with nothing directly to do with China.

I don't know.  I'd actually bet they probably got that secretary who speaks mandarin.

Something like 40% of college graduates don't get a job in their field, and 53% are undermployed or unemployed.

One of the things about your statement that worries me is that it does not recognize the current reality.

I must say that a well-rounded liberal education still has value even if the job market has not adjusted to match that value

The job market has adjusted to the value of a liberal degree.  It finds little or no value in the degree because the skill sets that useually accompany people with those type od degrees are not the skill sets that the companies need.  There are some jobs that can use those skill sets, but because it is currently an employers market, companies can ask for skill sets above and beyond those because the unemployed is currently so plentiful.  Companies can be more choosey now.

I would put that blame on employers as a whole which seem to have very finicky needs and demands and do not acknowledge the realities of the labor supply

Putting the blame on the employers is stupid.  They are not the ones who forced you to take a liberal degree.  That is a choice you make and you have to except the responsibilities for those choices.  As I said before, they can be finicky with their needs because of the labor supply, and they will always try to hire the best skill sets for their company.  That is how they increase production and maximize profit.  It is not a companies fault that they won't hire you for an IT position because you only have a BA in World History.  Just as it is not a companies fault that they won't hire someone for a highly technical job if they never finished high school.  The skills and knowledge of the employee need to match or exceed the needs of the job.  Especially in this job enviornment.

This is just a reality of the way the job market works.

For someone who has tuition fees of $0 that does sound a bit expensive.