Accessible post-secondary education: where do you stand?
First, a little background:
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Quebec’s Maple Spring
Montreal – As 180,000 students continue their 12-week strike against tuition increases, and police respond with concussion grenades, pepper spray, batons, kettling and mass arrests, Quebec’s major city is becoming ungovernable.
What was a fairly routine student strike has turned into what many are calling the Maple Spring.
Day after day, protesters wearing signature swatches of red cloth clog the streets of Montreal’s downtown chanting anti-capitalist slogans. A minority has responded to police aggression by trashing government offices and corporate windows, building barricades and ripping up concrete to heave onto police lines.
This week, CLASSE, the main coalition of student unions, rejected Premier Jean Charest’s attempt to defang the surging movement by spreading the tuition increase over seven years instead of five. Hours after the offer, thousands of protesters in a boisterous nighttime demo condemned it as an “insult.”
Outsiders, it seems, are having trouble grasping why students with the lowest post-secondary tuition in the country (generally around $2,600 yearly) would be so exercised about the Charest government’s increase of $1,625 over five years.
But the reality is, the hike portends a weakening of government commitment, and there’s a long tradition here of pushing back when public supports are threatened. Quebecers are just plain more aspirational when it comes to social rights, something Charest had to reckon with in 2005 and 06 when labour forced him to back down on cuts and privatization and a student strike nixed cuts to loans and grants.
In the nightly mass demonstrations of the past week, one feels the frustration of a generation that is seeing the promises of social security their parents benefited from being taken away.
Furthermore, the narrative about making university a fee-less service like health care has deep roots here. “It’s written in the most fundamental text of the Quebec educational system that there should be free education,” says Simon Tremblay-Pepin, of the Institute for Socio-Economic Research and Information (IRIS), referring to the 1960s Royal Commission on Education, or the Parent Report.
Until now, low tuition has had an undeniable impact on quality of life. As an IRIS report points out, students in Quebec carry a lighter debt load than elsewhere in Canada – average debt for students in their final year was $15,102 in Quebec compared, for example, to Ontario’s $25,778.
And participation in post-secondary education is 9 per cent higher than in other provinces. Tremblay-Pepin also notes that because of ease of access, most parents have small or no college savings plans for their kids.
For Holly Nazar of Concordia U’s Graduate Student Association, the protests are “about a whole vision of how we want Quebec society to be.” The fee hike, she says, “has everything to do with ideology and very little to do with economic conditions. There are so many places the government can find revenue. It’s a question of where you put the burden.”
Interestingly, that’s exactly the position of former co-chair of the Parent Commission, sociologist Guy Rocher. He and prof Yvan Perrier recently penned a widely circulated letter backing the student cause. The two call for a more equitable and fairer tax system as a way of abolishing university fees altogether.
“Free university,” the two write, “is not a utopia. It would cost about 1 per cent of the entire Quebec budget, and reintroducing the tax brackets abolished between 1988 and 1998 would yield the necessary funds.” Tuition, they charge, is a “regressive” tax.
That’s not how Education Minister Line Beauchamp sees the issue. “The government of Quebec is firm and convinced that students should pay their fair share,” she tells the press.
“The debate always comes back to this demand for a freeze on tuition. I want to be very clear. I will always refuse to ask all Quebec taxpayers to foot the bill,” Beauchamp says.
So students and the government are locked in a game of brinkmanship, a clash over the direction of the province and whether higher education is a public good or a private advantage.
The movement has been gaining a lot of ground, even in the States. Arcade Fire, a Montreal-based band wore the red squares mentioned in the article during their performance on SNL yesterday:
Michael Moore also weighed in on the issue on Twitter today, tweeting the following:
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Also, the band Arcade Fire wore red patches in support of the striking students in Quebec, one of the most amazing mass protests of the year
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Canadians are in revolt in Quebec over new gov't law limiting democratic rights. No news of it in US press. Their uprising is inspiring #ggi
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Canadiens, ne laissez pas votre gov't pour les étudiants ce que nos écoles et banques ont fait à nos étudiants de niveau collégial.
Translated: Canadians, don't let your government do to your students what our schools and banks did to our university students.
So my question is, where do you stand on accessible post-secondary education? Should it be subsidized by the state or should you have to pay your own way? Is education a right or a commodity like any other?
Education should be free or at least the less expensive that we can. It's NOT a comodity, it's not a personal investment, it's not a placement like buying a house. It is knowledge and something amazing for all the society. An educated population doesn't allow injustice in their society.
We do not allow a doctor to pratice medecine before he has his diploma, so why would we ask students, who don't really have that much money, to pay their studies while they don't have that much income? Completely absurd. You should pay your study when you have money. Ie : when you're done studying and you pay taxes. Education should be payed by every citizens by taxes. Those who support high tutions fees are those who profits of students debts, banks and all those loan sharks.
Anyways, it's a long debate and I live in Montreal too. I'm one of those who supports the student strikes and I'll continue protesting for accessible education for everybody
Don't forget that Quebec has the highest % of post-secondary education in the world, thanks to its low fees.
May 22nd will make history I can feel it, with yet another national protest!
Agreed. In the long run, it's not just the students themselves that profit from a university degree but the population as a whole. So who should really be investing in education?
Also, I'm going into the details of the our particular situation in Quebec, but over the years, taxes have gone up, now tuition, and yet public services are going down! The roads are crap, healthcare is crap and now the price tag for education is going up just because we have to catch up to the other provinces? C'est n'importe quoi...
The only thing making headlines of this out west is rioting in Montreal and that Quebec will still have the lowest tution fees in all of North America with the proposed increases.
Unfortnantely nothing in this world is free, as school's do need money to operate and pay teachers. I mean here in Alberta it costs like $300 - $500 per year of just high school.
I do agree that education should be more affordable though...
The only thing making headlines of this out west is rioting in Montreal and that Quebec will still have the lowest tution fees in all of North America with the proposed increases.
Unfortnantely nothing in this world is free, as school's do need money to operate and pay teachers. I mean here in Alberta it costs like $300 - $500 per year of just high school.
I do agree that education should be more affordable though...
The thing is that the government does have the money to subsidize it. They have till now. The reality in Quebec is very different compared to that of Alberta, and I'm not talking culturally. Our income tax percentage is 48% of our income when you combine federal and provincial. Moreover, Alberta only pays GST on sales while we get taxed and additional 9.5% on the original price + GST.
Tha article is right about it being an ideological thing because what it comes down to is whether it's right to commodify higher education. A lot of people are going to be affected by this hike.
Education is the single most important thing a government has to provide. Education leads to a more capable population and a more capable population leads to more prosperity for everyone. Especially post-secondary education! That is what truly sets a country apart from others.
There are other ways to keep students from lazing about without forcing them in debt.
They should do something about universities forcing their students to buy $200 books that are 90% useless. If they need money, get it from those corrupt, money hungry publishers.
The thing is that the government does have the money to subsidize it. They have till now. The reality in Quebec is very different compared to that of Alberta, and I'm not talking culturally. Our income tax percentage is 48% of our income when you combine federal and provincial. Moreover, Alberta only pays GST on sales while we get taxed and additional 9.5% on the original price + GST.
Tha article is right about it being an ideological thing because what it comes down to is whether it's right to commodify higher education. A lot of people are going to be affected by this hike.
I'm learning new things about this everyday, as I said the media / news here is only giving us the negative details. And I don't live in Quebec (or have even been there) so I don't know much about it other then its french, and you can drink at 18.
I've never understood why education has been so expensive in the first place. I understand a few fees, but $40,000 a year is pretty ridiculas.
I'm learning new things about this everyday, as I said the media / news here is only giving us the negative details. And I don't live in Quebec (or have even been there) so I don't know much about it other then its french, and you can drink at 18.
I've never understood why education has been so expensive in the first place. I understand a few fees, but $40,000 a year is pretty ridiculas.
We're so hated by the rest of Canada
It's not surprising that the whole thing isn't being covered in detail in the thee provinces. I'm sure they don't wanna give te students any ideas. And you can drink at practically any age
$40000 is beyond exorbitant. I can't even begin to comprehend. McGill is a world class university and tuition is (soon, was) $1400/semester. What's more is that society has made it that you can't get a decent job without a university degree. It's not a luxury anymore, it's become a necessity. My parents' generation got jobs right out of high school and now you can't do those jobs and maintain the same standard of living without a degree.
Kworb, I agree about those damn textbooks. I applaud people who have them photocopied. Those bastards are robbing us blind.
They're protesting to avoid reaching the same position you're in. You can't tell me it's fair to charge $60k a year for something that is crucial in your success in the workplace.
They're protesting to avoid reaching the same position you're in. You can't tell me it's fair to charge $60k a year for something that is crucial in your success in the workplace.
I attended a private school, so I accept that they can charge $60,000 a year or any price they want to. I see the school as a business. You pay for the services and opportunities they provide.
While a college education is often crucial for success in the workplace, that doesn't mean that everyone should be guaranteed a college education or that it should come easily to everyone. Employers just happened to increasingly desire applicants with college degrees. Unfortunately, that means we have to follow suit and jump through the necessary hoops in order to become more desirable in the job market. An education is an investment and it's also a risk. You can graduate and still not find a job. I have a friend who graduated from a Top 20 university and is now scooping ice cream at a little shop.
These students are already in an advantageous situation. Their cost of attendance is extraordinarily low relative to that of many other schools. I would be interested in knowing how many of these protesting students own iPhones and other luxury items.
I attended a private school, so I accept that they can charge $60,000 a year or any price they want to. I see the school as a business. You pay for the services and opportunities they provide.
I'm a business student and I'm all for capitalism and reaping the benefits of what you sow, but it is ridiculous to commodify essential things like education and healthcare. How can you justify a system that allows only the rich to become educated and live healthily?
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While a college education is often crucial for success in the workplace, that doesn't mean that everyone should be guaranteed a college education or that it should come easily to everyone. Employers just happened to increasingly desire applicants with college degrees. Unfortunately, that means we have to follow suit and jump through the necessary hoops in order to become more desirable in the job market. An education is an investment and it's also a risk. You can graduate and still not find a job. I have a friend who graduated from a Top 20 university and is now scooping ice cream at a little shop.
What you're saying in the first line of this paragraph is extremely elitist. Everyone pays income taxes, therefore everyone is entitled to the same quality of services. You can't just make things easier on people because they had the fortune of being born with a trust fund.
An education is an investment, on behalf of the student and of the society. When is a well-educated society a risk? Maybe to a corrupt government, or a group trying to keep a population ignorant. Otherwise, investing in education only helps raise the standard of living of any specific place.
Having a degree and what you make of it are two different things. Your friend could've had a GPA of 0.5 for all I know, what does it matter? Companies are looking for more well-rounded employees and while that piece of paper called a degree won't be enough to secure you a job, it is essential to even be considered for an interview.
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These students are already in an advantageous situation. Their cost of attendance is extraordinarily low relative to that of many other schools. I would be interested in knowing how many of these protesting students own iPhones and other luxury items.
What does that change? The article says it's more of an ideological issue than an economic one. Sure, there are many people (myself included) who won't be affected by this hike but that doesn't mean it's right.
They're planning a massive protest today. Especially in light of new legislation that people are comparing to the War Measures Act of 1970. They've literally been arresting people for no reason
"If you cannot afford books, steal them"
This quote is my favorite ever. And i hope the Canadians will get what they want, especially if it's a right, not a commodity.
