Bill Morrison - What To Consider if Youre Considering University — Taking Action

This book emerged out of the interest and controversy that surrounded the release of our last book, Campus Confidential , a work that explored the Canadian university system from the inside. As we discussed universities with Canadians, we were asked repeatedly, What should we advise our kids to do? or, from younger people, What should I do with my life?, and specifically, Should I go to university? This book is our answer to the hundreds of such questions.

This book reflects the endless support and patience of our wives. We are blessed with nine children (Bill has four, Ken has five) and thirteen grandchildren (Bill seven and Ken six). We have written this book with the futures of our children and grandchildren very much in mind.

Our work has benefited from endless conversations with faculty members, students, administrators, parents, and employers. We apologize to them for our obsession with the subject. We also wish to thank Kaiti Hannah, Lorien Hughes, and Amanda Sampson, who read a draft of the book and offered valuable comments. What you see here, however, is the result of thousands of conversations, seemingly endless reading, and a great deal of discussion between the two of us.

Dundurn Press has been a joy to work with. Diane Young saw the potential in an established idea and helped us reshape it. Margaret Bryant, Director of Sales and Marketing, has shown us the importance of understanding our audiences. Ginny Freeman Macowan and Bob Chodos, our editors, have done wonders with our prose. We really appreciate Dundurns faith in us.

It was thirty years ago, in the fall of 1983, that we first met at Brandon University and started to write together. Although we also write books on our own, and have other collaborations, this book is the twelfth we have written or edited together. We hope that this book, like the others, will find its audience, and we earnestly wish that young Canadians will find in it much good advice that will help them navigate what looks to be, for people starting out in life, an increasingly difficult future.

Ken S. Coates, B.A., M.A., Ph.D., Johnson-Shoyama School of Public Policy, University of Saskatchewan

Bill Morrison, B.A., M.A., Ph.D., D.Lit., (Hon.), Professor Emeritus of History, University of Northern British Columbia