Archive for the ‘Education’ Category
« Older Entries | Newer Entries »
There’s no online substitute for a real university classroom
Sunday, August 26th, 2012
18 August 2012
The classroom experience – live – remains the heart of real education… By “education” I don’t mean training or even mere instruction… Online education of this sort may sound good – false economies often do… Something is always better than nothing, and I applaud colleagues who undertake such outreach. Still, don’t mistake what’s better than nothing for what’s best.
Tags: budget, ideology, participation, youth
Posted in Education Debates | No Comments »
Changing postsecondary education must be a collective process
Friday, August 24th, 2012
9 August 2012
It is clear that the current system of publicly funded postsecondary education is in trouble. (In fact, the term now in use for universities and colleges is “publicly assisted,” since the share of operating revenues provided by provincial grants has shrunk to less than half of total revenues.) In Ontario, as enrolment numbers have dramatically expanded over the past decade, the hiring of faculty has not kept pace… Apart from internal consultations, we all need to listen carefully to the most important constituency here: students… There are plenty of interesting ideas for reform.
Tags: budget, economy, standard of living, youth
Posted in Education Debates | No Comments »
International graduates of career colleges should have opportunity to work in Canada
Wednesday, August 22nd, 2012
5 August 2012
The government of Canada recently announced its intention to introduce stricter rules for international students seeking to study in Canada… The proposed changes are intended to ensure that foreign students who obtain study permits enter Canada for the purpose of study. Currently, there is no monitoring of international students once they arrive in Canada… Governments will create lists of educational institutions that meet established standards and are eligible to host international students.
Tags: globalization, immigration, multiculturalism, privatization, rights, youth
Posted in Education Debates | 1 Comment »
A university degree’s value is incontestable
Saturday, July 21st, 2012
Jul. 20 2012
In 2009… those with a bachelor’s degree had an unemployment rate of 5.2 per cent, about 2.5 points below the national rate. Those with graduate degrees were doing even better, at 4.6 per cent. By comparison, those with only a high-school degree had a jobless rate of 9.1 per cent, and those with only “some” high school faced an unemployment rate of 15.9 per cent… The income gap between those with university credentials and those without starts slowly in the first few years after graduation, but after a decade, the gap is wide and stays there.
Tags: budget, ideology, participation, standard of living, youth
Posted in Education Debates | No Comments »
Ontario universities promise funding guide amid Carleton donor backlash
Saturday, July 14th, 2012
Jul. 14 2012
Ontario’s universities are trying to assemble a toolkit to help their leaders navigate the delicate, sometimes controversial funding deals they broker with wealthy private donors… The absence of clear rules is apparent in a 2010 donor agreement whereby oil magnate Clayton Riddell pledged $15-million to Carleton to start a new political management program… with power to “approve the budget, the selection of adjunct faculty and staff, including the Executive Director and to participate in the faculty hiring decisions.”The Canadian Association of University Teachers was quick to condemn the terms.
Tags: budget, ideology, privatization, rights
Posted in Education Debates | No Comments »
Copyright law a win for consumer, educators, and telecoms as court reins in multiple fees
Saturday, July 14th, 2012
July 12, 2012
Consumers and educators emerged victorious in several significant Supreme Court of Canada rulings that effectively modernize Canadian copyright law. Thursday, the court released its judgments in five different cases that touched on tariffs set by the Copyright Board governing music downloading, photocopying textbooks, videogames and movie and TV soundtracks… while it’s unfair for a teacher to photocopy an entire textbook to avoid buying it, the average teacher copies fewer than 10 pages per student per year, Andrew says. Countries like the United States, Germany and Japan already have similar guidelines in place
Tags: budget, rights, youth
Posted in Education Debates | No Comments »
Disastrous… report suggests three-year university degrees and online classes
Monday, July 2nd, 2012
July 01, 2012
I oppose cutting degrees to three years, not just because other provinces and countries won’t accept this, but because fourth year is when you come into your own intellectually… The greatest danger is the report’s warm welcome to online study… You learn from the hard slog of long afternoons spent in classrooms with brilliant people. You learn to read and understand and read further. You learn to evaluate and criticize and think for yourself. You won’t get this fast, alone and on the cheap, but that is precisely what the government is planning…
Tags: budget, ideology, youth
Posted in Education Debates | No Comments »
Our research universities can leap ahead
Monday, June 25th, 2012
Jun. 25 2012
To fully leverage our current investments and enhance our competitiveness, I present four lessons for Canada, drawing on the work of the NRC committee: Commit to stable, effective funding for university-performed research and development… Reduce regulatory burdens and increase accountability… Enhance graduate education… Strengthen partnerships with all innovation stakeholders. Governments, universities and public- and private-sector organizations all play roles in innovation.
Tags: economy, globalization, standard of living, youth
Posted in Education Delivery System | No Comments »
Closing the ‘achievement gap’ for Toronto’s aboriginal students
Monday, June 18th, 2012
Jun 16 2012
Teachers don’t know much about aboriginal history and culture and admit they haven’t been taught how to connect with students who can be shy or suspicious. Yet a provincial pilot project discovered that when aboriginal children do get extra attention and encouragement, and lesson plans that reflect their lives, they become engaged… After two years, the results were so promising that the board will continue to bankroll the push even though provincial funding has ended.
Tags: Indigenous, multiculturalism, participation, poverty, rights, standard of living, youth
Posted in Education Delivery System | 2 Comments »
With PSE funding, Ontario treads water…at the bottom of the ocean
Friday, June 15th, 2012
June 14, 2012
For 2010-11, per student funding was 34 per cent lower than in the rest of Canada, the same gap as 2009-10. Ontario remains dead last in terms of public operating funding per student… The latest provincial budget promises to maintain support for enrolment increases through a separate funding envelope, even as it calls for funding reductions in other areas. But without increases to base operating funding, the net effect – especially after adjusting for inflation – will be to reduce the level of per student funding further.
Tags: budget, standard of living, youth
Posted in Education Delivery System | No Comments »
Recent Comments