Archive for the ‘Education’ Category
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Not everyone needs a university education
… less than 10% of poor children now graduate with a four-year college degree… only 20% of high school students “concentrate” in career and technical education, even though that’s a better bet for many more of them… less than 10% of them complete a two-year degree within three years. Most won’t ever get past their remedial courses… a worker with technical skills will outearn a high school or college dropout with no such skills. That’s the true choice facing many students.
Tags: ideology, standard of living, youth
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There is a crisis in universities: It’s in teaching undergrads
if there is a crisis in higher education in Canada it is in the quality of undergraduate teaching. Many universities – in response to cutbacks in funding, debt crises, and mounting costs – have grown their undergraduate enrollment rapidly and focused their resources on graduate programs and research. The funding model currently in place puts pressure on universities to grow class sizes
Tags: participation, standard of living, youth
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OCUFA criticizes new paper on “faculty productivity”
Ontario’s universities have the lowest level of per-student funding in Canada… our institutions must constantly do more with less. Since the year 2000, the number of students at Ontario universities has increased by over 64 per cent. Over the same period of time, the number of full-time professors has only increased by 30 per cent… Ontario’s student-to-faculty ratio is the worst in Canada at 28:1. In 2000, this ratio was only 22:1.
Tags: budget, ideology, participation, standard of living, youth
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Professors need to teach more
… how are the professors spending their time? Research. The system is skewed toward research, because research is rewarded by government grants, promotions and prestige… these days, everyone is supposed to be a teacher-scholar, even though there is little evidence that research improves teaching, or that all this scholarly endeavour is worthwhile… using faculty resources more effectively “may be one of the most promising opportunities for universities to increase their productivity.”
Tags: participation, standard of living, youth
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University education, like love, cannot simply be moved online
Teaching and learning involves human beings, interaction, opinions, facial expressions, emotion, and yes even a touch of the hand or a warm, sweaty handshake. The dialectal method involves asking questions and getting answers, and this means living people sitting in a room together and spontaneously interacting… experiencing all the excitement and disappointment, the frustration and fury, of involved discussion.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, standard of living
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How to make the city a classroom and free the students
Our young citizens rightfully expect universities to provide them with high-quality learning experiences that are social, flexible, interdisciplinary and relevant in order to learn how to improve our cities and create a better world. They may need the information and degrees that universities offer, but they also crave experiences that will teach them how to become changemakers, innovators and social entrepreneurs in our cities.
Tags: participation, standard of living, youth
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Tinker, tailor, university grad – guess who makes the most money?
… recent university graduates have fared significantly better than graduates from other postsecondary institutions. University graduates in Ontario have the best employment rates, make the most money and are more likely to get a job in their field than are students with other credentials… Six months after graduation, university graduates earn 30 per cent more than college graduates. The income gap only increases with time
Tags: economy, participation, standard of living, youth
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Money alone can’t fix aboriginal education
Aboriginals have won the fight that there should be parallel systems: one for their children on-reserve, and one for others… The reserves themselves, in too many cases, are economic basket cases because of location, size, lack of wage employment, welfare dependency, breakup of families and a litany of other challenges… [It’s] it difficult to compensate for poor social skills, discipline or work ethic if a child is less than ready to learn due to family or community issues.
Tags: budget, ideology, Indigenous, jurisdiction, rights, standard of living, youth
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A standoff on native education ends at Stand Off
Native groups want more money for education – and that’s what Ottawa has promised, to the tune of $1.9-billion. The federal government wants higher education standards for native schools – and the AFN has agreed to small but meaningful steps on that score… All of which leads to a less than perfect outcome: the two levels of government with the least expertise in education, negotating an education agreement that largely sidelines the level of government with constitutional responsibility for education.
Tags: budget, Indigenous, jurisdiction, participation, rights, standard of living, youth
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University funding in Ontario falls behind
New data shows that the Ontario government operating funding to universities in 2012-13 did not keep up with enrolment increases. For the first time in a while, the level of funding also failed to keep up with inflation… Inflation-adjusted per student funding has been in decline since 2006-07, but the pace of decline has been picking up. In the latest year alone, it dropped by 2.9 per cent; since its peak in 2006-07, it has dropped 11.0 per cent.
Tags: budget, jurisdiction, standard of living, youth
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