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Yes, the school system isn't as wonderful as it could be. Anyone can see that curriculum reform is necessary. In their enthusiasm for change, however, the Harris government has completely overdone it. Rather than fix the plumbing, they've blown up the house. Oh dear ... Let's look at some of the major issues: Bill 160 - Lest We ForgetRemember Bill 160? It passed in December of 1997, but not before its opponents had a chance to wreak some havoc with a province-wide teachers' strike. Bill 160 is now ensconced as the Education Quality Improvement Act. According to a government website, it makes the following changes to the school system:
What the government doesn't tell you is that the Act also:
The government's opponents say that stripping the principals of their right to unionize was just a way to cripple unions by reducing their memembership, and to punish principals for supporting the strike. Furthermore, many teachers dislike the legislation because it gives the government the power to set working conditions, which have traditionally been determined by unions and boards. This piece of legislation was rammed through with no green paper, no white paper, very limited public hearings and shortened legislative debate. If it is, as the government says, such a wonderful advancement for Ontario's school system, then there was no need to be so secretive. Fundamentally, Bill 160 is not about the quality of education. The law deals
exclusively with bureaucratic and structural issues that don't directly affect the
student's school experience. It's about centralizing power, and that's it. Bill 160 LinksCompendium: Education Quality Improvement Act, 1997
Universities
This is an area where the provincial government can't take all the blame, because post-secondary education depends partly on federal funding. The provinces have taken a funding cut in the area of 40% in the last two years, and everyone is hurting. Still, the Ontario government have done their best to screw everything up. Tuition fees in Ontario have been rising by about 10% per year ever since the Rae era. Since 1995, the Harris government has cut no less than $400-million out of universities, and now Ontario spends less on universities (per capita) than any other province in Canada. Alarmingly, Mike Harris has recently opened the door to deregulated tuition. People who favour increased tuition fees often argue that a university education is a private gain, not a public investment, and therefore the individual who benefits should bear all the cost. In other quarters, high tuition fees are praised because they deter people from wasting their time on a "useless" thing like a university education. If that's the way it is, why don't we charge fat tuition fees for primary and secondary school? Then there's the issue of income-contingent loans, which the Harris government has promised to implement this year. It sounds like a good idea -- paying off your loans based on how much money you make. However, the longer you take to pay off the loan, the more it will cost because of compound interest. Rich kids, therefore, will pay less because they can pay faster. The fact is, the more educated people are, the more productive they are and the less likely they are to be unemployed. Everyone has the right to be educated to the extent that their abilities allow. The net effect of the Harris government's "reforms" will be quite simply to prevent people from exercising their right to an education.
University LinksThe Canadian Federation of Students
Curriculum ReformThis is an issue about which we can be cautiously optimistic. Over the past year or so, the government has introduced a series of new standards for students in Ontario primary schools. From what I've seen, they look rigorous and appropriate. Of course, as with all Tory actions, it's not as simple as it sounds. Many schools may have problems implementing the new curriculum because of lack of time. Just this summer the minister has introduced new guidelines for arts education and health education, and he expects schools to be using them by in the fall. Somehow, six weeks seems like inadequate preparation time. Furthermore, there won't be enough teachers, especially for the arts. Something like 40% of arts teachers have lost their jobs, so how can Ontario's students get the arts education the curriculum demands? Then there's the cash problem -- for many schools there simply won't be enough money to pay for the new texts and teaching supplies needed to implement the curriculum. If you were a bit paranoid (and who isn't?) you could theorize that the Tories are doing this on purpose. They want to set impossible goals to make teachers and the school system in general look bad. They're doing what they said they would do, "creating a crisis" in the education system to give themselves an excuse to "revolutionize" it. The new high school curriculum has arrived as promised. Just two observations:
Mike Harris & Co. love to think of education as a business -- selling a product (education) to customers (students) who themselves become a product (workers) to be handed over to the business world. The changes to the education system are supposed to please the Tories' corporate masters. I doubt business is as hungry for mindless drones as Mike Harris believes, but the school system will be in quite a sad state before he comes to his senses, I'm sure.
Curriculum LinksCurriculum Information |
