Editorial – Student Funding Back in the News

This week, the International News Desk is back with a couple of stories about student funding. It reminds me of a very long time ago when I was doing the Fed Watch column for The Voice Magazine. That column died out partially because I moved on to doing other things, but largely because government action when it came to post-secondary education essentially dried up.

I’m hopeful that the attention that student funding is getting in Newfoundland and the United States signals another shift in society back to valuing education for education’s sake once again, rather than just as a means to further commercialization of our economy.

Here in Canada, the long campaign chosen by the CPC government has some advantages for education. Notably that it means politicians will be campaigning as parents are trying to get their kids ready to head off to college and university. Justin Trudeau has already announced a plan to put money toward educating aboriginal children, and we wait to see if the NDP or Conservatives will follow suit with their own plans to benefit education. As it will be a top of mind issue for many parents, I expect both parties will soon have something to present.

Meanwhile, here at The Voice Magazine, Minds We Meet interviews our own Barbara Lehtiniemi, and she follows that up with her own article about the upcoming AUSU elections, blatantly titled to try to bring traffic into it. I applaud her attempt, and it will be interesting to see what the statistics on it come back as.

We also have a Course Exam, this time by Bethany Tynes, who gives us a closer look at Women’s and Gender Studies 422, a course about violence toward women around the globe. Personally, I think it’s a sign of a failure in our society that such a course even exists, and even more so that there’s enough material to create such a course in the first place. The article, however, goes a good way toward explaining why you might want to take the course, and some of the challenges you can expect if you do. Worth a look if you’re considering it or looking for a social science course to round out your degree. And don’t miss The Fit Student this week, especially if you’re gearing up to finishing some courses before the regular post-secondary year starts in September. The advice on handling pressure might be just what you need to take on your exams.

Jason Sullivan returns with a new Fly on the Wall, this week looking at links between truth, the construction of identity, the role of society in both, and exactly how The Beatles tie into it all. It’s a challenging column, and not our usual fare, but that’s part of why I like it. I hope that you do as well.

Of course, we still have our selection of reviews of music, film, and books, plus Primal Numbers looks at the technology of noise protection, Carla Knipe looks beyond the book club, and Deanna Roney takes on one of my favorite topics, procrastination. Her article looks at how to make it work for you. Although I have to wonder, if you’re making procrastination work, aren’t you doing it wrong?

At any rate, enjoy the read!