Fake Degrees Still a Problem
According to CBC News: Business, fake degrees continue to be purchased. People acquire degrees to earn better jobs. However, there are predatory credentialing institutions, where the individuals can buy into degrees that are “fake.”
Canadians attending post-secondary education are hoping for the benefits that tend to come from education, which are better jobs, higher pay, and so better lives. But as has been discussed in the media, a Marketplace investigation estimates hundreds of Canadians own “bogus degrees.”
“Education doesn’t come with a guaranteed job, but post-secondary students expect some kind of payoff for all the time and money invested, CBC News: Business reported. Canadian student debt, though, is about $28 billion.
Canada Performing with the Best, OECD
William Watson, at the Financial Post, said, “I don’t want to talk down the family business my spouse and I both teach at university but a graph in the latest edition of the OECD’s Education at a Glance might make a person think we Canadians are overeducated.”
There are no other countries in the OECD who have 50% or over for their 25-to-64-year-olds. In terms of the payoffs for education, the OECD states “still a lot” for Canadians. The gross lifetime payoff for men with a university education is about $405,800 over and above those men with only a high school education.
Granted, this is less than the difference found on average for OECD countries. The main drawbacks are the cost of education, $18,300, and the lost earnings while in school, $44,700, as well as the income taxes on the additional earnings.
Canadian High School Students Among the Highest Performing, PISA
The National Post reported that the results for Canada in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) have been positive. Our country is one of the highest-ranking countries in the world for education
Our high school students have been stagnant for the past decade, but stagnant at the top. One issue is that science proficiency is a problem. 10% of students aged 15 are lacking the basic proficiency levels to be able to participate in society at large.
The 2018 Times Higher Education World University Rankings were similar. Overall though, Canadian students performed with the top in the world on science, math, and reading performance, where 72 nations were participant in the ranking.
Make Informed and Moral Votes for Alberta School Trustees, Bishops Urge
With the nominations for the Alberta Catholic school trustees closing, many bishops are encouraging potential voters to be informed and moral in their votes for the election day., CBC Canada: Edmonton said.
Seven bishops from the Northwest Territories and Alberta recommended guidelines for the election of school trustees in a letter. Edmonton Archbishop Richard Smith, of the letter, said, “Not as a directive, not telling them how to vote. We don’t do that Catholics vote out of their conscience, but understand that that conscience needs to be informed.”
The urgent message of the letter focuses on voting for Catholic school trustees that are “first and foremost, disciples of Our Lord” with an emphasis of a “spirit of prayer and in accord with an informed conscience.”
The seven bishops’ letter centralizes on selection of leaders within the school community who will ensure the furtherance of a school environment consistent with the “values and teachings of our Lord as taught through our Church [and] ensuring that their every decision will always accord with the truth of the Gospel and the teaching of the Church.”
Scott Douglas Jacobsen is AUSUs VPFA. He works with various organizations, and runs In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, and In-Sight Publishing.
