Not Too Smart, Are We?
Statistics released by the OECD appear to reveal that Canada's university graduation rate has been on a steep decline. Ranking Canada 20th of 24 countries compared in the process of university-graduate rankings. We're ahead of Hungary, Austria, Germany and Greece. But - good grief, isn't that incomprehensible? - behind Poland, Portugal and the Slovak Republic! Wot the hell!
Here we've been burnishing our medals for scholastic achievement in our young, and we've managed, somehow, to fall by the wayside. Canada ranks fourth in university education for our population between 55 - 64 years of age. But 12th in the 25 - 34-age bracket. So our old fogies were smart enough to obtain a good education for themselves, but our younger cadres have resisted the impulse.
Portugal has four times the PhD graduates as Canada! Unbelievable, truly. Finland manages three times the number, and Australia and the U.K. have each twice the number of doctoral graduates as Canada has managed, of late. Why are fewer young Canadians actively seeking out higher education? It's a costly process yes, but it's also a state-subsidized one.
We don't look too bad when college graduates are lumped in with our university graduates. That nicely brings up our numbers, and there's no reason whatever to begrudge college degrees as representative of some elements of higher learning. Still, they're not quite the same thing; community colleges are more directly utilitarian in education-acquisition.
And here's the really scary thing about all of this. It isn't the Canucky-shmuckies who are mostly enrolling in great numbers in Canadian universities. Children of recent immigrants are flocking to Canadian universities in far greater comparative numbers than the young of the indigenous population.
Children of parents who hail from India and Asia, for example, who are far more education-achievement-oriented, and for whom education is a tradition, one honoured and respected by their communities. Whereas Canadians of long standing, by and large, appear to feel that graduating from secondary school is about as ambitious as they can bother striving toward.
Here we've been burnishing our medals for scholastic achievement in our young, and we've managed, somehow, to fall by the wayside. Canada ranks fourth in university education for our population between 55 - 64 years of age. But 12th in the 25 - 34-age bracket. So our old fogies were smart enough to obtain a good education for themselves, but our younger cadres have resisted the impulse.
Portugal has four times the PhD graduates as Canada! Unbelievable, truly. Finland manages three times the number, and Australia and the U.K. have each twice the number of doctoral graduates as Canada has managed, of late. Why are fewer young Canadians actively seeking out higher education? It's a costly process yes, but it's also a state-subsidized one.
We don't look too bad when college graduates are lumped in with our university graduates. That nicely brings up our numbers, and there's no reason whatever to begrudge college degrees as representative of some elements of higher learning. Still, they're not quite the same thing; community colleges are more directly utilitarian in education-acquisition.
And here's the really scary thing about all of this. It isn't the Canucky-shmuckies who are mostly enrolling in great numbers in Canadian universities. Children of recent immigrants are flocking to Canadian universities in far greater comparative numbers than the young of the indigenous population.
Children of parents who hail from India and Asia, for example, who are far more education-achievement-oriented, and for whom education is a tradition, one honoured and respected by their communities. Whereas Canadians of long standing, by and large, appear to feel that graduating from secondary school is about as ambitious as they can bother striving toward.
Labels: Canada, Traditions, Values
posted by Pieface | 7:06 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home