Improving Canadian Education

The Mark Radio ep. 26: As students head back to school, four of The Mark's contributors suggest ways to change education for the better.

As frosh weeks kick off across the country, university enrolment is increasing and class sizes are getting larger, while cuts to federal and provincial education funding have made it harder for schools to scale their quality with their growing size.

A recent study by the Canadian Council for Learning warned that Canada is falling behind other industrialized nations, and that funding, literacy levels, and educational goals all need to be rethought.

Can we afford to ignore education in the new knowledge economy? As British statistician Claus Mosler put it, “Education costs money, but then so does ignorance.”

On the show this week, host Chris Mitchell speaks with four experts on the state of Canadian schooling:

First up, Graeme Stewart on whether the high cost of education is worth it.

Howard Woodhouse argues that universities' pursuit of knowledge has been influenced by the corporate agenda.

Paul Bennett shares his insights on education after 30 years of teaching.

And Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández explains why we should take a hyper-local approach to education.

(Run-time: 30 minutes.)

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