All Posts Tagged With: "Ontario"

Who’s winning the competition for students?

Photo courtesy of m2ec on Flickr

Far more Ontario high school graduates are choosing to study science or engineering in 2011 than in 2010, while arts, music and fine arts enrollments declined, according to new data from the Ontario Universities’ Application Centre. Education registrations declined dramatically too — unsurprising considering that Two-Thirds of New Teachers Can’t Find Full-Time Work.

But arts programs can take comfort in the fact that they still take in more students than any other programs. Arts (25,845), Science (14,212) and Business Administration (9,300) accounted for 71 per cent (49,357) of the 69,546 first-year registrations made by July 7, 2011.

Here are the major program areas, from the fastest growing to the fastest shrinking.

OTHER ADMINISTRATION +21.6 per cent

OTHER DEGREES +6.2 per cent

ENGINEERING +5.8 per cent

SCIENCE +5.6 per cent

JOURNALISM +4.6 per cent

FAMILY & CONSUMER STUDIES +4.2 per cent

PHYSICAL & HEALTH EDUCATION +3.1 per cent

SOCIAL WORK +2.9 per cent

BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION  +2.7 per cent

OVERALL REGISTRATIONS +1.9 per cent

ARCHITECTURE +1.5 per cent

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES +1.4 per cent

ARTS -0.4 per cent

MATHEMATICS -1.2 per cent

NURSING -2.8 per cent

FINE AND APPLIED ARTS -4.4 per cent

EDUCATION  -6.7 per cent

MUSIC -9.4 per cent

Note:  These figures include students who applied directly from secondary school to undergraduate degree programs. Only subjects with at least 100 registrations are included in this list.

Which schools are gaining popularity?

Only certain programs will get new money

Today, Ontario’s Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities announced the creation of 6,000 new spots for master and doctoral students in “high-demand and emerging fields – such as engineering, health and environmental studies.” The seats would be rolled out between now and 2015.  However, these plans may not come to fruition if the Liberal government loses the election in October, which looks increasingly today as a new Angus-Reid poll shows Premier Dalton McGuinty has an approval rating of just 19 per cent.

Report concludes that schools generate as much as $90,000 a year from prohibited fees

Students at a majority of Ontario high schools are required to pay “course fees” that are suppose to be illegal, according to a recent report by People for Education. Nearly 70 per cent of schools generate income from everything ranging from activity fees, to athletic fees, to fees for french textbooks, and even fees for mandatory English courses. Schools generate between $1,000 and $90,000 from these fees, suggesting, the report states, that schools in wealthier neighborhoods are capable of charging their students for more services. “There appears to be some evidence that schools with a higher proportion of low-income students have lower average course fees, leading to a possible conclusion that fees are charged on a ‘what the market will bear’ basis,” the study reads. Course fees are prohibited by the Education Act and the province, which has recently completed consultations on the issue, is expected to issue guidelines.

New survey says education should be ‘high priority’ for the province

Ontarians are concerned about the quality of education in the province, according to a survey released today. While close to half of the 1,800 adults polled agreed that education quality had not changed since premier Dalton McGuinty took office, nearly a third said that quality is worse than under the previous Tory government. Additionally, 74 per cent of Ontarians said they believe education should be a “high priority” for the province, and two thirds said that tuition fees are too high, including almost 90 per cent of those aged 18-24. The survey was conducted in January and was jointly commissioned by the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations, and the Ontario branch of the Canadian Federation of Students.

Changing standards for training schools have created a flood of dental hygienists

Though she could use more hours, Maria Di Bartolomeo, who works in three different  dental offices, considers herself “pretty lucky.” That’s because the 23-year-old from Woodbridge, Ont., is a recently graduated dental hygienist practising in the profession’s toughest provincial market. “Right now I have to take what I can get,” says Di Bartolomeo, who splits her time between offices in Woodbridge, Richmond Hill and Etobicoke. Competition to land even a few hours a week is ruthless, she says: “There are just stacks and stacks of resumés that come in.” And graduates are so desperate for a job they’re willing to work for as little as $20 an hour—about 30 per cent less than the going rate in recent years for newly minted hygienists.

Every source Maclean’s spoke with had the same answer for what’s gone wrong in Ontario: there are too many private schools, too many graduates, and the market is flooded. And the problem seems to be spreading. Data collected by the Canadian Dental Hygienists Association (CDHA) shows that between 2006 and 2009 salaries have declined 6.5 per cent and the share of dental hygienists younger than 29 was up 17 per cent. Part of the issue is that Ontario has 28 dental hygiene programs, 24 of which are private colleges. By comparison, second-place Quebec has a total of eight private and public schools, while Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia all have one school each. And Ontario schools are pumping grads into other provinces, chiefly Alberta and British Columbia, says CDHA acting executive director Ann Wright.

The proliferation of schools in Ontario started after the provincial government passed an act in 2005 that allowed private dental hygiene programs to seek accreditation after opening, says Wright. While all dental education programs must still demonstrate to the Commission on Dental Accreditation of Canada that they meet certain minimum standards, since September 2006, in Ontario at least, the schools have been able to start training students before passing the quality test. With barriers to entry into the lucrative Ontario market so low, schools started springing up everywhere. At one point there were more than 40 schools, says Wright. (Numbers have declined as several schools failed to achieve the required accreditation and were subsequently shut down.)

Last year, the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities determined that all dental hygiene programs must meet Ontario’s accreditation requirements by December 2012—seven schools have already announced they won’t make that deadline. Still, it will take a while before the market assimilates the high number of hygienists that Ontario schools have produced in recent years, and the province could still have more than 20 schools.

Some graduates are feeling shortchanged. After all, a two-year program at one of the private schools costs about $40,000, says Wright. “When I went into school, there was an abundance of jobs and I thought it would be the same when I got out, but now with over $60,000 in personal school debt and no job it looks really bleak,” lamented an anonymous commenter on the public chat room of the website DentalHygienist.ca.

Others remain optimistic. Tiffany Halioua, a dental hygiene student at Aurora Dental College, says she was aware of the tough job market but enrolled anyway. A job in the health sector with flexible hours and no handling of blood is a dream. “I’m expecting that when I graduate I won’t have a full-time job,” but it’s worth it, she says.

Spokesperson says remarks were taken out of context.

Last week, the blogosphere lit up with news that the Halton Catholic district school board in Ontario had banned Gay and Lesbian groups from its schools. Alice Anne LeMay, Board Chair threw gasoline on the fire when she defended the decision, in part, on the grounds that there are all sorts of groups the Catholic board bans. “We don’t have Nazi groups, either,” she was reported to have said.

Well, it turns out even school board officials know a public-relations disaster when they see one, and the board quickly issued an official statement. In it, LeMay claims to have been taken out of context:

It is unfortunate that the comments I made were taken out of context, and I apologize for the words that I used and the offense that was caused. It was not my intent to make any type of comparison between gay straight alliances and Nazi groups. Rather, I was providing a number of examples of groups that are not endorsed and permitted in Halton Catholic schools, for example, groups in favour of abortion or hate groups of any nature. I did not make a direct comparison between gay straight alliances and any of these groups, nor was that my intent.

Where to begin? Well, let’s see. If the remarks were taken out of context in such a way as their meaning was misconstrued, why apologize for them? Is LeMay sure she knows what “out of context” means? Apparently not, because her apology essentially restates the original inflammatory remark. Her point (in context) seems to be that there are many groups not allowed in Catholic schools because they promote what is immoral. Like Nazis. And gays. Apparently, Ms LeMay doesn’t know what “comparison” means either.

To be fair, I think what she is trying to say is that she does not think being gay is as bad as being a Nazi. But both are intolerable in schools.

Bizarrely, after quoting LeMay’s clumsy clarification of her disastrous gaffe, the board goes on to say that none of that matters anyway. The real reason they don’t allow gay and lesbian groups is that “The Catholic Church recognizes the dignity of all persons and neither defines nor catalogues them according to their sexual orientation.”

Oh, well, that’s a relief! It’s because they are so tolerant, they don’t even want to make sexuality an issue! You know, that’s funny, because I was under the impression that the Catholic Church believed things like this:

There are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God’s plan for marriage and family. Marriage is holy, while homosexual acts go against the natural moral law.

Now, where did I get a crazy notion that Catholics believed that? Oh, that’s right: The Vatican. In the Vatican’s official statement on gay marriage, the word “homosexual” is used to denounce gay people 52 times. The Catholic Church doesn’t categorize people by sexual orientation? Are you sure you’re talking about the Catholic Church? The one with the Pope and everything? This obvious lie would be funny if the lives of real kids weren’t at stake, but they are and the Church knows it. From the same official document:

Lifestyles and the underlying presuppositions these express not only externally shape the life of society, but also tend to modify the younger generation’s perception and evaluation of forms of behaviour.

Now, all of this is bad enough. Gay kids — many already isolated, confused, and bullied — are not only deprived the opportunity of supporting each other at school — a place where they are likely to get picked on the most — but are implicitly told by their school and their church that what they are is “contrary to natural moral law.” Can they convince their teachers and principals to relent? No, because it is the Church. It is doctrine. I say the Halton Board can wrap it in the language of modern tolerance all they want, but it is what it is: bigotry and discrimination directed against those who are different. It’s the old story of religious homophobia, plain and simple.  And we still think that religion and education are a good combination?

All this is bad enough, except that in Ontario’s atavistic system of education, Catholic schools are funded by the government.  These are taxpayer-funded schools telling kids that being gay is unnatural, immoral, contrary to God’s law, and on a moral spectrum somewhere to the left of Nazis (with whom the Catholic Church at the time did not have a big problem).

The Catholic Church needs to come out of the middle ages once and for all, but I don’t expect that to happen any time soon. Meanwhile, how about publicly-funded schools stop bullying gay kids and lying about it to cover their asses?

Quebec program has more promise, fewer drawbacks than Trillium Scholarships

Two weeks ago, in an effort to attract more international students, the Ontario government announced that they would be funding a handful of scholarships for foreign PhD students. This announcement raised some hackles.

Quebec also has a program to attract international students to the province. But they’ve gone a very different route. Instead of offering scholarships, they’re offering a fast-track to permanent residency.

Under a deal with Ottawa, immigrants who are planning to start their Canadian lives in Quebec have to apply to the provincial government and obtain a “selection certificate.”

The fast-track program essentially guarantees international students, in all levels of university and college, the certificate, provided they speak French (taking an intermediate French class at a Quebec university is sufficient) and receive approval by the federal government.

The program, which took effect over the summer, looks to have few, if any, drawbacks.

Quebec needs skilled workers and with an aging population the province, like the rest of the country, needs those who are just beginning their carriers and can step up as older people retire. Encouraging those who have trained in Canada to stay in the country also avoids problems involving the acceptance of foreign credentials. As well, immigrants who have spent some of their formative years in Canada will have a much easier time integrating into society. And, unlike the Ontario scholarships, this plan could benefit a lot of people not just a few.

The program does have one thing in common with the Ontario scholarships, it was announced overseas.

Proving the law is ‘unconstitutional’ may not be so easy

Twenty-year-old University of Western Ontario student Kevin Wiener has challenged Ontario’s controversial new law, which prohibits drivers under 22 from consuming any alcohol before getting behind the wheel.

Wiener filed an application with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, telling the Toronto Star, “As a young person, I don’t feel it’s fair for the government (to do this).”

“The Charter (of Rights and Freedoms) prohibits discrimination based on age,” he said.

That’s very true. But the Charter also guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it “only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified.” That little line may upset Wiener’s battle. Though it may not be “fair,” the necessity of such an “infringement,” so to speak, can be easily justified.

Statistics show that drivers under 22 are simply more likely to be involved in fatal drinking and driving collisions than older drivers. Furthermore, age is not a static group; everyone is under 22 at some point, and some studies, such as one by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, show that brain development of an area inhibiting risky behaviour is not fully formed until 25. But of course, that’s academic mumbo-jumbo. Too bad that’s just what the Ontario Superior court loves to hear.

Now, there is a compelling argument for extending the ban to all new drivers, which frankly, may be a fairer move, but let’s be real; with an impending provincial election, better to place restrictions on a demographic with the poorest showing at the polls. But I digress.

Though Wiener certainly faces an uphill battle, at least he’s going about it the right way. Remember, if all else fails, write to the UN.

-Photo by DOliphant

Canada’s biggest hate-crime capitals are three Ontario university towns

For many, it may come as a shock to find out that Canada’s biggest hate-crime capitals are three Ontario university towns. Kingston, London and Guelph boast the country’s highest rates of police-reported hate crimes, according to Statistics Canada.

But Barbara Perry, a professor and associate dean of social sciences at the University of Ontario Technical Institute in Oshawa, Ont., isn’t that surprised. All three populations have traditionally been homogeneous—white, Christian and English-speaking. And, says Perry, “like many other communities, they’re experiencing a lot of fairly rapid demographic change. These sorts of relatively small cities are struggling to come to grips with these shifts.” Guelph and London tied for first at 8.2 hate crimes per 100,000 citizens in 2008. And Kingston followed with a rate of 7.7 per 100,000. (Among Canada’s 10 biggest cities, Vancouver and Hamilton ranked the highest with a rate of 6.3 per 100,000.)

The presence of post-secondary schools, says Perry, can be a double-edged sword. Although those in university and college towns are likely to be better educated, roughly six out of 10 people charged with hate crimes were between the ages of 12 to 22. “Perhaps the victims themselves are more aware of their rights,” says Perry, “but I also think more youth means more offending.”

Since hate-crimes, which can include crimes motivated by race, religion or sexual orientation, are generally underreported, some experts see a silver lining in a city’s higher rates. Perry says it may have something to do with a greater awareness among citizens. Or, she says, perhaps the police are better trained and more perpetrators are being brought to justice.