WOMAN: Hi. I was hoping you could help me. I’ve never been to this walk-in clinic before. I moved here a few months ago, and I still don’t have a family doctor, but I really need to see one right away.

MAN: Sorry, but you’ll have to take a number and wait to be called. There are a couple people ahead of you. It shouldn’t be too long, though.

WOMAN: Oh, sorry! I didn’t realize I had to take a number. I assumed that since no one was at the counter when I came in, I could just walk up. Where are the number tickets?

MAN: Yeah, it happens all the time. The numbers are just to the left of the door, in the red dispenser. Like I said, it won’t be long. In the meantime, you can take a seat.

MAN: Number 47 please!

WOMAN: Hi, I’m back. I’d like to see a doctor, please. I’ve been having sharp pains in my stomach for over a week now.

MAN: Okay, I’ll just need to see your provincial health card please . . . And since we don’t have your information on file, I’m going to need you to fill out this patient information form.

WOMAN: Sure. Oh darn, I don’t have a pen. Do you have one I could borrow?

MAN: Yes, here you are. Please bring the form and pen back up when you’re done.

WOMAN: Thank you. Oh wow! There are certainly a lot of questions here!

MAN: You only need to fill it out for your first appointment and then we keep it on file. You can go and sit down and complete the form. It’ll only take a few minutes.

WOMAN: Will it ever!

WOMAN: Okay, I filled out all the information I could. I don’t really know my family’s history of illnesses, so I just left that section blank.

MAN: That’s all right. Oh, I see you missed this section on the back of the page—the one about your allergies and medications.

WOMAN: Oops, I didn’t realize it was two-sided. Here you go. Do you know how long the wait will be?

MAN: Well, it’s hard to say exactly. But at this point, it’s looking like at least one hour.

WOMAN: One hour! Seriously? This waiting room is practically empty!

MAN: Well, it is flu season. And sometimes people step out for a bit while they’re waiting. There are quite a few names ahead of yours, and only two doctors on duty.

WOMAN: Well, I guess I don’t really have a choice. Let’s hope some of the people who have stepped out just decided to leave.

You are about to hear a conversation between two people, a man and a woman, who are friends.

WOMAN: Hi Andy, how are you? I was wondering . . . do you have any plans for tomorrow?

MAN: Not in the morning, no. But in the afternoon, I was going to visit my grandmother at the nursing home. We spend some time together every Saturday.

WOMAN: Oh, I hope she’s not ill. You’re such a thoughtful grandson!

MAN: I suppose, but I don’t do it to be kind or anything. I genuinely enjoy spending time with her. She’s an amazing person.

WOMAN: Then I’d like to meet her some time! Well, since you don’t have plans for the morning, would you like to come with me to pick strawberries? There are two ‘pick your own’ farms nearby, but I go to the one on Carter Road because it has the best strawberries.

MAN: What, exactly, is a ‘pick your own’ farm?

WOMAN: It’s exactly what it says! You go to the farm and buy an empty basket, unless you have your own. Then they take you out into the field, show you which row is ready to be picked next, and you just make your way along the row, filling your basket. When you’ve got as much as you want, you go back, they weigh what you have, and you pay.

MAN: What an excellent idea! I imagine the fruit is cheaper when you pick your own?

WOMAN: Usually, but not always. The same goes for the health factor. I incorrectly assumed that none of the ‘pick your own’ farms used pesticides. Now I know, I only go to the farm on Carter Road

MAN: Ah. I’ll bet people who make their own strawberry jam get their strawberries at ‘pick your own’ farms, if only because they’d be fresh.

WOMAN: That’s certainly true! Often they take their kids and make a day of it. Some farms even have a play area for the kids

. MAN: Okay, let’s do it! We can take some fresh strawberries to my grandmother in the afternoon! I’ll introduce you!

You are about to hear a conversation between a man and a woman.

MAN: Welcome to the Renters’ Legal Clinic. What brings you here?

WOMAN: Well, when I signed the lease to rent my apartment, my landlord made me pay extra, and I want that money back.

MAN: What fees did the landlord charge you, apart from the first month’s rent?

WOMAN: Well, the rent is $1,000 a month. In addition to that, he collected an equal amount for a “damage deposit,” which he said he’d repay at the end of the lease if the apartment was left in good condition. But what if he finds some excuse not to pay it back?

MAN: Exactly. It’s illegal for landlords to collect damage deposits that are more than half a month’s rent in this province. The landlord should know that. It says so right in the lease agreement. Did you read that part of the contract before you signed it?

WOMAN: No! He rushed through and turned that page really fast, so I didn’t even see where it said that! But can I just not pay the rent for the final month of the lease? The rent is $1,000 a month, so not paying for the last month would be the same as him refunding my deposit, right?

MAN: Mmm, I wouldn’t recommend withholding rent money because then your landlord might come after you for nonpayment. What you should do is write a letter to your landlord requesting that half of the deposit be returned to you.

WOMAN: Ah, so it’s better to be on the offensive?

MAN: Right. I’ll dictate a letter for you to type and sign. The letter warns the landlord that the money was collected illegally and demands that if he doesn’t repay it to you in ten days, you’ll appeal to the Rental Board to recover the money. In that case, there’ll be a hearing in court, and the government will collect the money for you.

WOMAN: Do I have to pay a lawyer?

MAN: Not me—I volunteer my time. You pay the Rental Board. It costs $70 to file a claim—if that becomes necessary. But you’ll get that money back. The landlord will have to pay your deposit, plus the $70 and 6% interest. WOMAN: Sounds fair.

MAN: Just be sure you send the letter by Registered Mail. That way you can track the delivery online and know whether or not he actually received it.

WOMAN: Okay, let’s get started.

Seventeen year old Shauna Bergman made over $1000 this weekend because of her love of thrift store shopping. Bergman was browsing second hand jewelry at her local thrift store on Friday when she found five silver rings with what looked like different shapes of pretty glass set on the top. Shauna bought the set for ten dollars, thinking she’d give them as gifts. When she returned home, however, her mother suggested the stones might not actually be glass but amber. Amber is fossilized resin from trees that are millions of years old. Shauna did some research on how to recognize genuine amber from fake amber. If real amber is rubbed vigorously on fabric, it becomes electrostatically charged and will visibly attract dust particles. Shauna discovered she’d bought six real amber rings. Because the amber had been melted and pressed, it looked like man-made glass. However, a local jeweler confirmed her conclusion, appraised them to be amber and offered her a handsome price. Shauna decided to use the proceeds to finance a trip to Peru.

The humanities are a group of academic disciplines that focus on human culture, including subjects like literature, history, and philosophy. A recent Statistics Canada report indicates that 30% of university graduates with a humanities degree are overqualified for the jobs they hold. Many don’t even have jobs. Does this mean that students shouldn’t study the humanities—and universities shouldn’t bother offering humanities degrees?

If the purpose of universities is to provide career training, then at a glance the future looks grim for the humanities. After all, university is expensive. Many students—along with their tuition-fee-paying parents—expect to eventually receive a reasonable return on their investment. Such students should probably study accounting and engineering instead of literature and philosophy. But this raises the question, ’What is the purpose of university?’

Many would argue that universities exist in order to provide a broad education, not job training. That education, they’d argue, should include the humanities. Traditionally, the humanities help produce a citizenry that can distinguish between fact and propaganda, a citizenry not susceptible to the manipulative rhetoric of potential demagogues. However, not everyone considers this outcome desirable—because such a populace is cognitively well-equipped to question the distribution of power and hence potentially disrupt the status quo.

Even if it is the purpose of the university to make students job-ready, it appears that employers still want their workers to have good critical thinking skills. These skills are learned in the humanities. Most philosophy departments, for example, offer a course in critical thinking skills. They also teach ethics, a branch of philosophy that enables people to make reasoned decisions about right and wrong.

And yet, how often do we see an entry-level job ad mentioning a philosophy course as a requirement? Still, when surveyed, today’s employers say they want new hires to have critical thinking skills. However, entry-level workers say that their employers want them to think critically only about certain things. Critical thinking about cost-cutting? Probably. Critical thinking about policies and procedures? Probably not. And as for ethics—workers report that their employers want compliance with the company’s code of ethics

. Employers seem to want it both ways: workers who are job ready and who think critically, workers who think critically about some things but not all things. It seems employers want to have their cake and eat it, too—which is, to many critical thinkers, a logical impossibility. Perhaps in the end it is the employers who need the humanities courses.