In a system like that, you would have fewer doctors yes, but the ones you have would be the ones who actually want to BE doctors. In the US you have a huge group who couldn't afford med school but really want to save lives as a doctor. Under that system, they could do it. I'd be entirely ok if everyone in the medical profession was there out of passion instead of for the money.
The jobs you'll have trouble filling are the ones that are shitty but get paid big bucks in the US, like oil field workers. Those guys are there entirely for the nice paycheck.
> In a system like that, you would have fewer doctors yes, but the ones you have would be the ones who actually want to BE doctors. In the US you have a huge group who couldn't afford med school but really want to save lives as a doctor. Under that system, they could do it.
That's not entirely true. The United States military is one example of an organization that will pay for your medical school in exchange for some of your time. My wife is a physical therapist in the Army and this is how it worked for her. The Army paid for her school and she earned a 1.5x service obligation for the time she spent in school. It was a three-year school so once she finished, she owed 4.5 years of Active Duty service. On top of the school cost itself, they paid her as an active duty officer while she was in school, plus they paid for our housing and subsistence allowance for our family. All in all, she made about $75-80K a year to get her degree, then $100K+ once she was done with the school. It's not some front lines combat thing, either. She works in a normal clinic like most PTs, treating Soldiers and civilian family members and retirees. She's in it for a career so she will receive a retirement pension after 20 years (how many civilian docs in the US get that?), plus lifetime healthcare for her and me and our children until they turn 18.
It's truly an incredible deal for us, and it's available to anyone with the grades to get into medical/dental/PT/OT/etc. school and who can pass a physical and fitness test.
Hey, while working in mining as a labourer or other hands-on-tools job may be physically taxing and miserable in some sense (hence the large paycheque), it's enjoyable in its own right. My father works as a civil engineer out in mining towns here in Australia, both for the money and because he loves his job as much as I do mine. It's not all ruthless money-grabbing :)
Of course, but most people out there got into it because of the money or because there's nothing else for them. It's not a job where a new entrant to the workforce will think "yeah I think I'll do that for a living". Same with waste management jobs, etc. More standard vocational jobs like electricians would be separate, as its more 'desirable' and 'cool' from a young age, at least among some.
I'd also argue that a civil engineer is an entirely different beast from the actual laborers, who I was referring to. My understanding of a CE in that scenario is more of a planning and overseeing role (correct me if I'm wrong about that).
> I'd also argue that a civil engineer is an entirely different beast from the actual laborers, who I was referring to. My understanding of a CE in that scenario is more of a planning and overseeing role (correct me if I'm wrong about that).
You'd ordinarily be right, but as an interesting quirk of how things are run out where my Father is he's down in the trenches with the rest of them :)
The jobs you'll have trouble filling are the ones that are shitty but get paid big bucks in the US, like oil field workers. Those guys are there entirely for the nice paycheck.