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Samantha Borgford of Uxbridge, Ont., graduated from teachers college in June. She spent the summer cleaning pools. Next week she won’t be entering a classroom to teach. She’ll still be cleaning pools.

Ms. Borgford, 24, says she can’t complain about being unable to find a teaching job yet because she knows many other people around her age who can’t find work in their fields.

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“One of the girls I work with at the pool place is a paramedic,” she says. “She’s 26 and she’s in the exact same position as me. There are very few [opportunities] for her.”

We’re letting a bunch of 17- and 18-year-olds dictate our labour market composition

This week, thousands of young Canadians will start or continue in specialized higher education programs at colleges, universities and professional schools in fields where thousands of graduates are already finding it next to impossible to find work. Many have arguably been victims of poor advice, encouraged by their parents and high school teachers to follow their whims and passions instead of making realistic career plans for a difficult job market.