Archive for the ‘Education’ Category
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We need to overcome our national math phobia
… this move to embed math skills more deeply in Ontarians needn’t become a question of the sciences versus the arts. Quite the opposite: just as with increased reading skills, increased math skills will allow more efficient learning of other key subjects… Math teaches us logic and proof. It teaches us to think abstractly, yet precisely… We are preparing the current generation of Canadians for careers in the fourth industrial revolution and a world economy that relies on knowledge as the driver of prosperity.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, participation, standard of living, youth
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Most OSAP overpayments recovered
Ontario has one of the most generous financial aid systems in the country… Many of the issues around OSAP identified in your article are addressed in recently announced changes to Ontario’s financial aid system. In fact, almost all of the overpayments are recovered, and the amount not repaid represents about 0.5 per cent of the total assistance provided by OSAP to students in need.
Tags: ideology, jurisdiction, participation, standard of living, youth
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Elementary students to get hour of math every day under new Ontario plan
“We know the jobs of today and tomorrow require key math skills and knowledge,” said Sandals, who noted that while Canadian students are still among the strongest math performers on global tests, scores on Ontario’s standardized math tests slipped 7 percentage points in Grade 6 over the past five years, and 4 points in Grade 3. “We’re doing fine, but we need to improve how we help students who are struggling with math,” especially in a “tech-driven world,”
Tags: ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living
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Access to what? OCUFA’s full analysis of the 2016 Ontario Budget
Our universities are already the lowest funded in Canada on a per-student basis, and this situation will continue to worsen. This will have predictable effects on the quality of education at Ontario universities. Class sizes will continue to rise without new funds to support full-time faculty hiring. The number of precariously employed professors will also grow, trapping many in insecure, unsupported positions… the worsening financial environment begs the question, “access to what?”
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living, youth
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Liberals increase financial aid for students, ease debt repayment rules
Changes to financial aid include allowing low-income graduates to defer their student loan payments until they make more than $25,000 a year, and providing a 50-per-cent increase to federal grants to $3,000 from $2,000 for low-income students. (Middle-income students will see an increase to $1,200 from $800.)… The budget envisions entrepreneurship and innovation centres, apprenticeship training facilities and research labs being built…
Tags: budget, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
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Instead of offering free tuition for some, change when and how all students pay for university
For many students, the impact of the fees will be felt only in the years after they graduate, when it comes time to repay their student loans… Reform efforts, then, should be focused less on reducing fees — indeed, as the primary beneficiaries of higher education, students ought reasonably to bear the full cost themselves — than on changing when and how students pay them. There’s no particular reason why students should have to pay anything up front, at the time they are in school.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, poverty, standard of living, youth
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Why free tuition helps all the wrong students
Marginal enrollment from eliminating tuition fees will likely come from unmotivated, lower-ability students, and in less practical programs like theatre history or equity studies. These are students for whom university education is an unprofitable investment unless taxpayers are footing most or all of the tuition bill… Eliminating tuition fees will also have the perverse effect of discouraging students from graduating on time. Students are less motivated to avoid failing courses if they don’t have to pay for additional semesters.
Tags: budget, ideology, participation, youth
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Free Tuition For Ontario Students Whose Families Make $50K Or Less
The Ontario government’s 2016 budget includes a complete overhaul of the province’s current assistance program, which Finance Minister Charles Sousa called “complex and convoluted.” The minister said the new system will be more accessible but cost taxpayers roughly the same amount. Here’s what the changes will mean for some of those who qualify:
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, participation, standard of living, youth
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Students have a right to a French-language education, but language segregated transportation?
… it’s hard to see how a dual busing requirement could prove legally durable, and it’s perhaps just as importantly hard to see how a dual busing requirement will help New Brunswick students become integrated and cohesive members of a bilingual province. Sometimes past wrongs can be remedied through positive guarantees, but it’s hard to imagine how they can be remedied through culturally divisive requirements that defy common sense.
Tags: budget, ideology, jurisdiction, multiculturalism, rights, youth
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Young grads need to brush up on 3 R’s, employers say
… the idea of entrance and exit tests of literacy, numeracy and problem-solving has value. “Sampling students at the front end would be useful to give us an idea of the state of people coming in, and offer immediate, focused help to get the student up to standard… It also would give professors a greater consciousness about the importance of these transferable skills, and students could use it at the end of their degree to show employers the skills they have.”
Tags: ideology, standard of living, youth
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