Is the government devaluing education? (Article 2 of 3 in this series)
The Case for Post-Secondary Education
“If the idea of having to change ourselves makes us uncomfortable, we can remain as we are. We can choose rest over labour, entertainment over education, delusion over truth, and doubt over confidence. The choices are ours to make, but while we curse the effect, we continue to nourish the cause” - Jim Rohn
Anti-intellectual, that is how some of the more pointed critics of Ontario Premier Doug Ford have characterized his government’s recent announcements. In the last eight weeks the Premier’s office has sought to make significant changes to apprenticeship access for the skilled trades and to the educational entrance requirements for new police applicants. Both these announcements can be judged fairly as anti-intellectual given they disregard and reverse decades long progress, advocacy and consultation between educators and industry intended to benefit workers over their life course. Some see these new initiatives as band-aids on bullet holes, intended for short term political expediency while ignoring the downstream impacts of such choices. If all of that sounds like ivory tower hyperbole, then let’s explore the issue and dig a little deeper.
The skilled trades apprenticeship announcement purports to address a significant labour shortage in the trades, one that hamstrings the province’s capacity to build new homes at a pace that could influence our current affordable housing crisis. It posits a range of advantages from youth employment, to economic growth based on the newly found earning potential of new trade workers. According to Labour minister Monte McNaughton, 1 in 5 job openings in the Ontario will be in the skilled trades by 2026. So far so good, no one seriously disputes that there is a housing crisis, fewer still argue in favour of underemployment, and pretty much everyone agrees that if we don’t do something drastic, this current generation will definitely have diminished purchasing power compared to previous generations.
The messaging seems to imply that high school students are ready to enter the workforce and the apprenticeship route allows them to do so while by-passing post secondary requirements, but are they ready? The government still recognizes the need to fund proper training and development, they just apparently have decided to shut Ontario colleges out. An announcement by the government on March 21, 2023 made explicit their commitment to invest $224 million to build and upgrade private training centres to prepare workers for in-demand careers like electricians, welders and mechanics. The irony is that colleges already have the infrastructure to deliver such training. As a collective, the provinces’ twenty-four colleges have ideal geographical dispersement that services the needs of communities across this province. So it seems to make little sense why the government would explicitly exclude Ontario colleges from the funding.
I spoke with Edward Logan, a faculty member at Durham College who teaches in the skilled trades to get a first hand perspective on the issue. He advised me that one of the most popular programs at Durham College is the Trades Fundamentals program, a one year program taught in one of the college’s technology-enabled learning classrooms. The program helps students identify where in the trades they would like to specialize, giving them access to knowledge, skills and abilities related to several trades including carpentry, electrical, plumbing, HVAC and welding. It also exposes them to areas they may not have realized were essential components, such as trades related mathematics and solving trades related applications of ratio and proportion. Clarity and purpose in education are essential to long term success for students and the time it takes them at college arguably has many long term benefits to their future careers.
On the subject of long term career benefits, the policing announcement is equally troubling. On balance, the proposed changes to Ontario policing recruitment is not all bad. I personally see value in the elimination of the $15,450 tuition fees at the Ontario Police College in Alymer, Ontario. New constables should not have to pay for the in-service training once hired. Almost every other occupation requires baseline qualifications prior to being hired, but on-the-job training should be the responsibility of the organization that benefits from your labour and productivity. On the other hand, the elimination of the requirement for a post secondary education prior to application ignores research and previous recommendations from the police themselves. It serves as a short term solution to a recruitment challenge with significant long term social implications; potentially detrimental to community safety, public trust and the mental health of future police officers.
A report from the Ontario Association of Police Services Boards, that was previously submitted to the province indicated that two-thirds of the 107 boards around the province agreed “post-secondary education … should be a prerequisite to becoming a police officer.” Research shows that, overall, college-educated officers generate fewer citizen complaints, they are also less likely to use forceinappropriately. Among front line officers who have the most public interactions, having a post secondary education significantly increases commitment to community policing. Promoting a proactive disposition towards working with community members to resolve issues and prevent problems rather than only reacting to calls for service. As a general rule of thumb, post secondary education increases the capacity for empathy, critical thinking, acting ethically and being receptive to diverse community demographics. One would assume a global perspective and understanding of various cultures, traditions and norms would be essential given the federal governments immigration targets over the next three years. Education was commonly thought to be the best antidote to ignorance and a vital ingredient of self-awareness.
In my previous article I speculated whether the evidence supported the assertion that the government was playing fast and loose with the labour force of the future. I wondered whether this was a case of them hedging their bets on labour over education to garner public favour and secure future votes. Regardless of whether that is true, there is a significantly more pressing question I think we should contemplate. Namely, where is the public defence of education? Where is the social outrage from all the people who have diligently sent their children to post-secondary institutions? Or the outrage from all the people who have gone back to school to up-skill and upgrade their knowledge? If education is a social good, generating social value, making the world a more informed place, where are community advocates protesting anti-intellectualism?
In the last article in this series, I will explore the participatory role that educators and administrators may have played in possibly eroding public trust. Have we turned a social good into a widget that operates wholly within a capitalist paradigm? For better or worse I love being an educator but I also believe that it is incumbent on all of us to be objective, to be critical and to defend or reform this thing that we love. If we are not honest with ourselves, with our colleagues and with our administrators then surely we will be at the mercy of the invisible levers of the market economy. It may be time to ask ourselves whether we are still providing a social good or have we all accepted that we sell a commodity whose value is subject to the whims of the consumer and the prerogative of our almighty P&L sheets!
This is the second in a three article series exploring the interconnectedness of government labour policy initiatives and higher education.
(Bio: Neil Gonsalves is an Indian-born Canadian immigrant who grew up in Dubai, U.A.E. and moved to Canada in 1995. He is an Ontario college professor, a TEDx speaker, a columnist, and an advocate for new immigrant integration.)
