Opinion: Canada's monolithic education systems are falling short

The government has convinced parents that at some point it's no longer their responsibility. And in fact, they force them, in many respects, to turn their children over to the public education system and wrest control from them and block them out of participation of that. That has to change or education will not improve in this country. Rick Santorum
             



PUBLIC PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS EDUCATION IS A RIGHT. EDUCATION FOR POOR CHILDREN IS A HUMAN RIGHT!  
It’s something we learn in kindergarten; there’s no point complaining about something unless you are willing to help out. According to our recent study Business Gone Quiet: Why Does Canada’s Education Monopoly Continue Unquestioned? it’s a lesson most Canadian business associations need to learn.


Education in Canada needs a lot of help. Leading economists at Canadian banks have described the nation’s results in literacy and numeracy as “depressing.” Employers are quick to bemoan the existence of a workforce that, while credentialed, lacks key skills and a basic work ethic. And it’s not as if Canadian provinces have been cutting spending. Research notes that provinces spent more than $60 billion on public schools in 2012-2013, about 46 per cent more than we were spending 10 years ago. We’re spending more, and getting poorer results. This is precisely the time you would expect the business community to advocate for alternatives to our current monolithic elementary and secondary education systems.

Yet only a tiny minority of students in Canada have access to education beyond the public monopoly. It ranges from 1 per cent in Prince Edward Island to approximately 12 per cent in Quebec and British Columbia. Expenditures are high, results are poor and the Canadian business community regularly reminds us that graduates are ill-equipped for the modern workplace.

Yet when Cardus surveyed the 31 leading business associations, we found only one offering any clear public commentary on how to move forward.

This is strange because the business community is a vocal advocate for alternative models of public service delivery in other areas ranging from waste collection to health care. The Ontario Chamber of Commerce goes so far as to say our “fiscal and economic future” depends on “introducing greater competition and diversity into public services and creating more scope for partnerships.”

This model, known as Alternative Service Delivery, is not about privatization per se but, as the Ontario Chamber puts it, “unleash[ing] the untapped dynamism of the public service economy — the mix of public, private, and not-for-profit providers who deliver public services.” It is a policy that cares less about maintaining a system and more about what it delivers. This means focusing on the student, regardless of the type of school she is educated in. For a business world obsessed with results, you would expect a
cacophony of voices calling for alternative delivery of education services.

In fact, the business community seems to have caught a rare case of policy laryngitis. Only the Business Council of Canada questioned publicly the efficacy of Canada’s current system, noting that “the current emphasis on self-esteem and low-pressure teaching” is leading parents to vote with their feet either by purchasing extra tuition or sending their children to private school. Canada’s PISA results and scores in the OECD survey of adults skills have been on a downward trend for 10 years.

We suggest that economic interests, ideology and lack of imagination account for the absence of meaningful discussion around Canada’s education service delivery model.

The main beneficiaries of increased spending in a consolidated education structure are unlikely to bite the hand that feeds them — teachers’ unions in particular, but also vendors who benefit from contracts with massive school boards. But it goes deeper than money. There is a dominant ideology that believes state monopolies in education are necessary for social cohesion.

However, evidence from a separate Cardus study examining school-sector impact on educational outcomes suggests this is simply not true. The Cardus Education Survey shows that independent providers of primary and secondary education produce not only the outcomes valued by employers and business, but also graduates who show a stronger orientation toward society and community than their public counterparts.
The only thing standing in the way of improving our current system is an inability to imagine something different. It’s time for both Canadian businesses and educators to come off the sidelines and cheer for a vision of education delivery that works.