Ashley Fredette: Blog 4

This chapter deals largely with the decentralization of education in Canada. It really brought to light for me what decentralization is, and how each province controls their education system differently. Decentralization exists to protect the interests of the different populations living in different parts of the country. In each region, there exists an array of religious and ethnic differences that affect the way education is carried out in that area. For example, if there is a strong French population in an area, that area is far more likely to have French schools.

 I was not surprised to learn that Canada and the United States put the most funds from Gross Domestic Product into education (at 6.1%), but I was surprised that this amounts to $80 billion annually. That is an incomprehensible amount of money. How much money the government gives to education from GDP is a direct reflection of the value they put on education, and that says a lot. It determines how we are raised (with a huge emphasis on education), what we are learning, and how we are learning it. Government impact and funding are some of the largest societal impacts on schools.

I think that which faith-based schools receive government funding is a very tricky issue. The chapter tells us that because of the existence of the Catholic school board, the province of Ontario funds only Catholic denominational schools while schools based on other faiths receive no funding. I believe that if we are going to fund Catholic schools, we should fund the schools of all other faiths (providing they meet the provincial standards). We pride ourselves on being multicultural, and yet this seems like a huge step back. Another problem is the absence of secondary schools on Aboriginal reserves. 40% of Aboriginal children leave home in order to attend high school, which I am sure has a profound effect on their sense of self and well-being, although it is several steps up from the residential school system. I was interested to learn that there are Canadian schools in several different countries for students of parents who work abroad or for students interested in qualifying to do their post-secondary education in Canada.

When reading about post-secondary institutions, I discovered that the private institutions were not able to grant degrees until 2000. I did my Bachelor of Music at a private university (CMU) and knew that my university was not established (an amalgamation of three Mennonite colleges) until about 2000. It did not become a member of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada until 2008, and I started studying there in 2009! That is crazy. If I went to that university during the early 2000’s, I might not have had the same opportunities and thus would have gone to a different institution and had a different experience.

Discussion Question: How can we best approach the issue of funding for denominational schools?