Archive for the ‘Education’ Category
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The school funding debate
Tuesday, March 1st, 2011
Mar 01 2011
Some suggest fundraising caps as a fix for these trends. Others propose redistributing fundraised dollars across the system, similar to my Toronto Public Library donations that support all libraries, not simply my local branch. Another efficient solution would be to raise adequate revenues through fair taxes where people contribute according to their ability to pay. Then allocate these resources equitably. In fact, we used to have such mechanisms in place. We simply need to support a return to progressive and adequate tax levels to fund the public services we want.
Tags: ideology, participation, standard of living
Posted in Education Debates | No Comments »
Rich schools get richer thanks to private cash
Monday, February 28th, 2011
February 28, 2011
Two public and two Catholic high schools in Greater Toronto are bringing in more than a million dollars a year through student fees, private revenue and fundraising, with dozens more each taking in at least half a million dollars. By contrast, other similar-sized schools report a fraction of that — one just $283,000 — raising questions about equity in the public education system. There is an equally great divide for the region’s elementary schools.
Tags: budget, ideology, participation
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The cost of Ontario’s religious discrimination
Sunday, February 20th, 2011
February 19, 2011
…the Ontario government has taken it upon itself to ensure that one particular religious denomination continues to enjoy rights that are unavailable to the rest of the population. Wasting public money so that children of Catholic families (not “Catholic children”) can be bused on half-empty buses to half-empty schools is indefensible. While Catholics do indeed enjoy a constitutional privilege to publicly funded denominational schools, it has been shown by Newfoundland and Quebec that the constitution can be changed to reflect current societal values – those of fairness and equality.
Tags: budget, ideology, youth
Posted in Education Delivery System | 5 Comments »
‘Poor school’ a poor idea
Thursday, February 3rd, 2011
February 1, 2011
The aim is to attract children who aren’t performing well in the public school system, and provide them with special supports so they can go on to college or university. While that’s a laudable goal, the way they’re going about it smacks of the kind of misguided Victorian do-goodism that sent poor children to the workhouses. Welland MPP Peter Kormos calls the plan “educational apartheid,” and says it won’t address the root causes of poverty… The way to help kids reach the top is to provide them with appropriate supports within the system — not corral them in separate silos, according to race or economic circumstances.
Tags: ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living, youth
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Prof has doubts about the DSBN Academy [for the poor]
Sunday, January 30th, 2011
January 29, 2011
Pathways to Education is focused on reducing the effects of poverty by decreasing high school dropout rates and increasing access to post-secondary education It offers academic, social, financial and advocacy supports to disadvantaged youth in participating communities… “Implementing a program like Pathways would be a much better alternative to a school designed specifically for students from low-income families… I wonder whether schools like this, in the end, will produce the very inequality they were designed to fight…
Tags: ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living, youth
Posted in Education Debates | 1 Comment »
Health support for school kids is a mess
Thursday, January 27th, 2011
Jan 26 2011
… a sweeping new report prepared for the Ontario government has backed up what parents have been saying for years, namely that the School Health Support Services program is a mess… including growing wait lists, declines in funding and conflicting interpretations of the program’s mandate… The problem is most acute for students who need therapy services. Some students must wait up to 650 days for physiotherapy and 500 days to see a speech-language pathologist… It’s a problem that patients across Ontario have also experienced in seeking either community health care or home care.
Tags: Health, youth
Posted in Education Debates | 1 Comment »
Canada’s culture of excellence in education
Wednesday, January 26th, 2011
Jan 26 2011
the OECD… praises Canada for its positive approach to immigration that is evident in narrow achievement gaps between students from different social backgrounds…. The province is praised for its urgent focus on measurable improvement in literacy and numeracy; its ability to set a clear plan and sign up key stakeholders to commit to it, including teachers; its sophisticated use of achievement data to pinpoint problems
Tags: globalization, participation, standard of living, youth
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Ontario to make it easier for students to switch schools
Monday, January 17th, 2011
Jan. 16, 2011
… he Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario says the percentages of college students who proceed to a degree program, and of university graduates who enroll at colleges, have risen noticeably over the past decade… But until fairly recently, credit transfer was considered a minor issue in Ontario, partly because colleges and universities saw themselves as having distinct roles. Schools were, and still are, fiercely protective of their autonomy and standards, not to mention competitive… a spirit of collaboration – driven by students –appears to be taking hold across the sector.
Tags: participation, standard of living, youth
Posted in Education Delivery System | 2 Comments »
The kids are all right, but we could be doing better
Thursday, January 13th, 2011
Jan. 11, 2011
… our efforts in education — through at-risk programs and early childhood initiatives — are paying off. We’re not getting ahead, but we’re not falling behind, either. But now comes the C.D. Howe Institute’s warning that dropout rates for boys, students in poverty and aboriginals, are too high… The report makes four recommendations:
Tags: child care, poverty, youth
Posted in Education Debates | No Comments »
The good, the bad and the ugly education facts
Wednesday, January 12th, 2011
Jan. 12, 2011
Canadian results ranked in the top 10 in every category, beating every Western industrialized country except Finland. But Canadian scores dropped in reading, science and math since the last PISA test in 2000… it’s education, not health care, that will light a path to a more productive future. As Canada ages, however, the public pressure to spend even more on health and less on education will intensify.
Tags: budget, standard of living, youth
Posted in Education Debates | No Comments »
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