Kudos for Klein, Harris

The howls of outrage which greeted the recent decisions of Ontario and Alberta to fund new post-secondary programs that focus on practical skills rather than liberal arts were not unexpected. Similar outbursts have been heard every time someone suggests that Canada’s education system needs to be retooled and revamped to meet changing times and changing needs. Canada needs “great thinkers,” we are told, not “techies,” who don’t know Charles Dickens from Gore Vidal, or Sparta from Athens.

We’d like to add our howl of rage too. These programs, which are aimed at teaching students practical and “employable” skills, should not be confined to post-secondary institutions. What’s the point, if the high-school students they are meant to attract are dropping out by the droves to hang out at video arcades, or leaving high-school with few skills other than keeping up pretenses while living in their parents’ basements?

Practical, career-oriented programs should be introduced into high schools to keep students who aren’t necessarily university-bound on-track for technical training or some other type of career-oriented higher education. And we’re not taking about outdated vocational programs, which have been the standard gruel grudgingly meted out to non-academic students for much of the past century. Just because a student isn’t interested in Shakespeare doesn’t mean he or she is brain-dead.

It would be a worthwhile investment too, keeping in mind that only 26% of young people aged 25 to 29 have a university education. The education system needs to invest in the two-thirds of students who are not university-bound and who are not interested in becoming art historians or deconstructing Descartes.

What’s more, parents want these changes, and they want them yesterday. A recent poll in Ontario shows a high degree of dissatisfaction with the education system: more than two-thirds of all respondents believe students in private schools receive a better education than those in public schools.

The poll also showed that 60% believe high schools are not doing a good job of preparing students for today’s workforce, while 61% believe students do not have solid reading and writing skills. More than 51% of the respondents said students should be encouraged to develop a trade or skill at a community college, while only 38% said it is preferable to go to university to get a general education.

The liberal arts advocates will argue that Ontario Premier Mike Harris and Alberta Premier Ralph Klein want to produce robot-like armies of workers who will follow orders blindly and put the square block into the square hole at least nine times out of ten. They balk at the notion that some students should be shunted into a pure career track. Yet many parents feel otherwise: they want their children to have a broader range of career options, particularly ones relevant to the times.

The powerful teachers’ union of Ontario — which has amassed the richest pension plan in North America while resisting constructive changes to the education system — pretends that this dissatisfaction is not directed at them but rather at Harris.

Hogwash. Dissatisfaction with the education system predates the election of Mike Harris. Many parents believe the education system has been hamstrung by union intervention for too long, and that the system protects poor teachers and is too resistant to changes. It’s an issue in the U.S., where all presidential candidates are promising reforms to education.

Most parents want schools to offer a broader range of options for students, including high-tech training and other marketable skills. This doesn’t mean that the arts and humanities should be ignored. Quite the contrary. It means parents desire a better balance in a system that is badly and sadly askew. A child who stays in school to learn what he likes is more likely to develop other interests as his self-confidence grows.

The education system also needs to question why it is failing so many young men. A recent study released by Statistics Canada and the Council of Ministers of Education showed that while girls have made major strides in all academic disciplines, including mathematics and science, boys are being left behind at an alarming rate.

The study found that boys are less inclined both to participate in and complete post-secondary education. Several experts blamed the “one-size-fits-all, monolithic ideal” education system, which celebrates a “co-operative, feel-good” approach while subordinating the masculine, “competitive style” of learning.

A more practical focus in high schools might help reverse the growing gender gap in education. The number of young women entering university has surpassed young men, and while this is a wonderful development that should be cheered, something must be done to keep the interest of young males, starting in high school.

Parents want more options for their children and more accountability from teachers. It’s time educators gave it to them.