Canadians need to stop taking their education for granted
Kimberly Elworthy, The Cord Weekly (Wilfrid Laurier University)
WATERLOO (CUP) — Compared to the issues people face in this world just to learn, it’s petty to look down upon people in certain areas of study or at different educational institutions.
I noticed this behaviour first-hand when I switched from a business program to the faculty of arts. Apparently, some students feel their program is the best, making them smarter than others. They’ll often vocalize their feelings about this when stressed.
Here we are in a country where everyone has the opportunity to go to school, get an education, and contribute equally to society. Yet we have no respect for each other.
It exists in all levels of education. University students look down upon their college counterparts and those with college diplomas patronize those with only a high school education.
We not only compete with degrees and diplomas but also how good our schools are. The benchmarks we use typically range from how many BMWs are in the parking lot. In high school, it’s the number of football trophies in the showcase; in university, it’s the size of our school and the fame of our alumni.
But all the blame cannot all be placed squarely on the shoulders of student population alone. Some students don’t have the opportunity to choose where they go for post-secondary education or which programs they take.
Some are forced by their parents, teachers, or guidance counsellor into university without the consideration of college or apprenticeships because they harbour prior prejudices about certain educational institutions or they’re convinced an education some place other than a university is worthless.
Perhaps it’s the cultural importance of education that has created this situation. The
“How can we measure each other based on what high school we went to and what university or program we’re in when there are students who sacrifice everything just to get an education to begin with?”
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development labels Canada as the most educated country in the world. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization says Canada has the highest percentage of adults in higher education.
But if we are such an intelligent population, why do we feel the need to measure others in such a materialistic and pretentious way? According to a 2002 report by the United Nations, there are 854 million adults in the world who are illiterate, 544 million of whom are women — a number 28 times the population of Canada.
In some countries, people risk their lives and safety to get to school. Amnesty International reports that the women in Iraq who attend school are pressured to cover their faces with headscarves or veils and are harassed, threatened, and intimidated by Islamic groups at the universities if they don’t comply.
In 2004, the Iraqi ministry of higher education and scientific research estimated that about 3,000 female students in Baghdad requested their studies be postponed because of safety concerns.
How can we measure each other based on what high school we went to and what university or program we’re in when there are students who sacrifice everything just to get an education to begin with?
Canadians discriminate over how much education we have and where it comes from, instead of realizing how fortunate we are to have any at all. Although it may be out of our power to give other people the easy access to education we experience in Canada every day, we need to appreciate what we have and value every educational institution for giving people an opportunity.
