Archive for the ‘Education Debates’ Category

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Rethinking education: What the pandemic teaches us about the role of schools

Friday, July 30th, 2021

The incredible unfairness is that some families can provide all the things – camps, drama club, Saturday mornings at the museum – that help develop the skills and competencies that make you thrive in the world. And more and more we’re realizing, they’re it, those skills and competencies. If you don’t have those, it will be very difficult to thrive in the knowledge economy or in our modern world.

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The politics of math curriculum

Thursday, July 22nd, 2021

While mathematical theory is objective, teaching mathematics in our educational system and how it is experienced is complicated by layers of identity. This is true for mathematics, science, history, and all other curricular subjects.  Math has also been used to normalize racism and white supremacy, which undergird systemic inequities, including biased algorithms and the disproportionate educational streaming of Black and Indigenous students.

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Those who care about math education for all should focus on results, not rhetoric about colonialism

Tuesday, July 20th, 2021

To the government’s credit, it took a big step in that direction vowing to end streaming in Grade 9 — making young teenagers choose between “academic” and “applied” tracks in high school. There are stacks of evidence that this has had a disproportionate impact on Black, Indigenous and poor students, limiting their opportunities for the future… The real test will be if the government follows through and makes sure the intent in that paragraph is translated into action and results.

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Why Canada’s COVID recovery needs to include international students

Thursday, July 8th, 2021

While these temporary, one-time initiatives certainly provide interim relief for international students… we need to consider more sustainable measures… Our governments should also provide additional funding to colleges and universities to make it easier for international students to access better institutional support. Decades of government cuts to post-secondary funding has arguably made these institutions far too reliant on international tuition fees.

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Evidence suggests there was no benefit to Ontario closing its schools

Wednesday, July 7th, 2021

By comparing the experience of Ontario with that of other provinces it is now clear that provinces that kept schools open longer had outcomes that were no worse and, in many cases, better… To this end, the government must solicit advice from a deeper bench of experts, from economics and other social science backgrounds, who can provide a more nuanced approach to the costs and benefits of keeping schools open.

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Subjects of the New Corporate University: The Sabotage of Laurentian University

Thursday, May 6th, 2021

Fully half of the university’s programs, developed over 61 years, were eliminated… Laurentian University’s administration won an insolvency court’s permission to restructure the university in order to close less “popular” programs, in the name of achieving financial solvency… three of Canada’s ‘Big Six’ banks – RBC, TD-Canada Trust, and Bank of Montreal – have a vote on a restructured university plan, but faculty (no mention of the phrase ‘collegial governance’ has been hinted at) and students have no voice, no vote, and won’t be consulted in any genuine way.

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A University in Tatters

Thursday, April 29th, 2021

InsideHigherEd.com – news April 29, 2021.   By Colleen Flaherty Laurentian University’s financial insolvency leads to 110 faculty layoffs and grave questions about the future of the institution and its three federated universities — including one of Canada’s oldest Indigenous studies programs. ONTARIO CONFEDERATION OF UNIVERSITY FACULTY ASSOCIATIONS Department by department, 100 faculty members at Laurentian […]

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Universities are dying while businesses are being bailed out by government

Tuesday, April 27th, 2021

We need to demand decent levels of government funding for all Ontario universities, especially underfunded Northern Ontario universities, which collectively receive only 4.2 per cent of all Ontario university students. Even a one-percent boost, encouraged by subsidized residences and meal plans would have meant a guaranteed future for Laurentian, and would have avoided this current crisis.

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Supporters fight to keep midwifery program in northern Ontario

Monday, April 26th, 2021

… approximately 27 per cent of families who choose midwifery care are unable to access it — and far more so in the north… in northern Ontario, some 60 per cent of midwives are Laurentian graduates, and more than 90 per cent of Francophone midwives practising in places such as Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Hearst and Attawapiskat First Nation… the program was in the black this year and that a petition to keep it going has more than 20,000 signatures.

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Laurentian University crisis a story of political interference and defunding of education

Friday, April 23rd, 2021

After Romano’s hatchet job, what’s left standing is a business plan barely disguised as an educational mandate…. The grim reality is that Laurentian isn’t an isolated case. When you squeeze public funding from universities, administrators turn to revenue sources that are unstable, and threaten equitable access, academic freedom and quality. Increasingly, universities have had to rely on tuition, the labour of underpaid contract instructors, international students and private donors to replace government funding.

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