Archive for the ‘Education Debates’ Category
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Middle-class incomes are stuck: Why it matters and how to fix it
… a society where big slices of the population don’t benefit from economic growth invites trouble… [un]fairness, and… the concentration of economic power… stagnating middle incomes can be a problem in a democracy… [But] Demand for cognitive, non-routine, personal service, and creative labour remains high… long-run structural measures — like education — that can build a sustainable framework for broadly-based income growth for the future.
Tags: economy, globalization, standard of living, youth
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Falling enrolment = close surplus schools. Right? Wrong!
One solution would be to seek partnerships with other education institutions, social service agencies, and community groups to establish multi-usage of school facilities and cost-sharing. Keep small neighbourhood schools open by sharing building space with others. Make more effective use of technology to provide enriched curriculum in smaller schools… “Smaller schools are generally better for… student outcomes and most organizational outcomes as well.”
Tags: budget, child care, ideology, participation, standard of living, youth
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Canada’s universities have been doing more with less… but can they keep doing so?
In Ontario alone, 44 new programs were introduced in 2012 — just at the master’s and PhD levels. These programs are in emerging areas such as health science policy, non-profit leadership, community relations in extractive industries, palliative nursing, health industry management and design engineering… But by 2010, university attainment rates… put Canada 15th among OECD countries. Our competitive advantage is eroding because we are not ensuring the financial sustainability of universities so that they can continue growing at global rates.
Tags: budget, economy, globalization, ideology, participation, standard of living, youth
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Aboriginal education vexes Canada (and Paul Martin)
Ottawa compares what it pays for each reserve student with provincial averages and denies that a problem exists. Mr. Martin insists that the comparison should be made with per capita funding for remote and rural schools, which always require more money than urban ones. Factor in geography, to say nothing of the specific additional challenges of educating young people on reserves, and Mr. Martin believes the gap is $2,000 to $3,000 per student.
Tags: budget, Indigenous, jurisdiction, participation, standard of living, youth
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Tories gear up for (historical) war
In the 1990s, a war raged. Known as the “history wars,” scholars argued over appropriate subject matter and methods for understanding the past. In Canada, one side of this debate believed that the past should focus on politics, economics and the military; the other side felt that the past was broader. Looking more at society and culture, they argued for a more nuanced understanding that included the contributions of women, immigrants, indigenous peoples and workers.
Tags: budget, ideology, immigration, Indigenous, jurisdiction, women
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Several factors padding our high employment rate
Employment stats don’t reflect the more grim reality of the market. Too many new jobs are junk jobs. Temp jobs. Minimum wage jobs. Jobs with no security. In 2012, 182,000 people between the ages of 16 and 24 couldn’t find work at all and one-quarter of all university graduates couldn’t find work in their field… We are learning that the more we cut from a budget, the greater our economic plight becomes. In other words, the cuts have the opposite effect than what they may have been designed to address
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, rights, standard of living
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No Rich Child Left Behind
… widening disparities are not confined to academic outcomes… rich-poor gaps in student participation in sports, extracurricular activities, volunteer work and church attendance have grown sharply as well… It boils down to this: The academic gap is widening because rich students are increasingly entering kindergarten much better prepared to succeed in school than middle-class students… one part of the explanation for this is rising income inequality.
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living, youth
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Short-term, applied research won’t win Canada any Nobel prizes
Mar. 27 2013
There’s a popular myth about universities as ivory towers full of fat-cat academics and loopy students asking unanswerable questions. Their willful irrelevance is a waste of taxpayers’ money, so the critics say; get them out of the public trough and doing things Canadian business can really use. I call it a Zombie idea. It’s dangerous, because it has infected some decision-makers.
Tags: economy, ideology, privatization, standard of living
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Reducing Ontario post-secondary tuition fees is the only fair option
Apr 05 2013
Government underfunding has resulted in skyrocketing tuition fees in Ontario. At $7,180, undergraduate tuition in Ontario is more than eight times higher than what average tuition fees were in 1980… The plan presented to government by students would see tuition fees cut by 30 per cent over three years, including a 17-per-cent reduction next year at no additional cost to government. These policy changes would help ensure today’s young people have the same opportunity their parents were given: access to affordable post-secondary education.
Tags: budget, ideology, participation, privatization, standard of living, youth
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High-school grade inflation balloon ready to pop
Mar. 29 2013
High-school grades are no longer accurate assessments of students’ learning. Grades are pushed up, especially in senior years, by increasingly high entrance requirements for university programs… To a certain extent, we are locked in a vicious cycle. Universities keep publishing ever-higher admissions averages, and high schools keep raising their marks accordingly… High schools need to have some kind of standardization… At its core, the problem with grade inflation is that it does not accurately assess students’ learning.
Tags: standard of living, youth
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