Mandy Marchant: Structure of Canadian Education

I thought this chapter was very informative because it is important for up-and-coming teachers to know the various education institutions and how they work since we will be teaching in them. I can make a connection to the section about private schools in Canada, which is very near and dear to my heart. I graduated from a private or independent school, Cartwright Community Independent School (CCIS).

The community of Cartwright is largely based from a rural population, with only approximately 300 residents living in “urban” Cartwright. The school in Cartwright is comprised of residents surrounding Cartwright, which differs from other schools in the area that are comprised of students from more than one community/village/town. Cartwright was originally in Turtle Mountain School Division but eventually joined Prairie Spirit School Division, which is largely why the school is comprised of only Cartwright students.

In 1991 the school division threatened to shut the secondary school in Cartwright down, forcing high school students to bus to neighboring communities. However, the town resisted and instead formed an independent school. Grades 10-12 of Cartwright Community Independent School are partly funded by our local community and through small tuition fees. Like the textbook states, CCIS is also partially funded by the government but is separate from the formal school division that is responsible for the rest of the school. CCIS is staffed by provincially certified teachers and follows the Manitoba curriculum. Cartwright School is Kindergarten to Grade 9 and is covered by the school division, and then Grade 10-12 are considered Cartwright Community Independent School.

The textbook talks about privately funded schools that were formed because of denominational reasons or special/specific programming, so I thought it was important to provide another context for independent schools. Our community has maintained the secondary school and provided students of CCIS the opportunity to graduate from their local community and remain with the classmates many have known since Kindergarten. My oldest brother was in Kindergarten when the community began fighting to save our school and my parents never thought I would have the opportunity to graduate in Cartwright. However, I have been graduated for five years and our community is still fundraising for our education, which I am thankful for.

andDiscussion Question: I am interested in this topic and don’t know much about it but I am wondering if anyone knows the answer to this question. Do students who are homeschooled participate in standardized testing to see if their learning is at the same level as public or privately educated students? Is homeschooling regulated somehow? If it is not, do you think it should be?