Once upon a time, in a magical, distinct society known as Quebec, a very small portion of the student population sought to take down their government. A Maple Spring is what they were calling for; a complete ousting of the corrupt government. Their cri de coeur was a tuition increase. Quite grandiose in scope when cited in terms of percentage, but less impressive when perceived with respect to the absolute difference in regards to the rest of the country.
These students compared themselves to the people of Syria and the leader of the alleged repressive regime running the land to various murderous dictators. Accordingly, true to the general social IQ of the average protester, Nazi comparisons were made faster than we could all muster up the term Godwin's Law.
Eventually, the government that was mired in scandal, corruption and unpopularity called for an election. The students could finally take their cause from the street to the voting booth. They found allies in the opposition parties. One seemed to truly have the protesting students' best interest in mind, they advocated for free tuition, and supported a myriad of social causes that became intertwined with the student movement.
The other opposition party seemed to opportunistically seize the moment, donning the official symbol of the protest when it suited them, and then dropping it as soon as they realized it would cost them votes from the tax-paying population.
They did, however, manage to recruit one of the integral players of the student movement. Baby-faced and even-tempered, it seemed as though he was their ace in the hole. With its demographic mish-mash of socially-conscious leftists and right-leaning separatists, even the baby-faced former protester looked as though he would emerge triumphant in a hotly-contested riding.
As these stories often go, the wrong party maintained its momentum all the way to voting day, and rode the coattails of the student movement right into the National Assembly.
Now that their political party was finally in place, the students all lived happily ever after -- except they didn't.
Last night, it seemed as though the time machine that I so often haphazardly daydream about had finally worked. After the second protest in the last two weeks following a provincial summit on higher education, everything about Montreal's current spring weather seemed to have year-old maple undertones to it, including violence, arrests and injuries.
The plight of student debt, post graduation underemployment, and rising housing costs are all unarguably quite legitimate burdens faced by my generation. Will free tuition as demanded by the Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante (ASSÉ) and its followers solve these zeitgeist conundrums? Unlikely.
The fact of the matter is that Quebec currently offers the lowest tuition, and consequently, has the lowest student debt burden. Incongruously, however, Quebec also boasts a higher-than-average university dropout rate and has one of the lowest post secondary enrollment rates in Canada. It seems as though the cost of post-secondary education is hardly the monolithic barrier to an egalitarian utopia that my protesting counterparts suggest.
Free tuition -- or more accurately, tuition absorbed by the already overtaxed citizen -- also inherently implies a relationship that the protesters are unwilling to acknowledge: that which is paid for by the state requires that only the truly qualified obtain it. This would put an end to Quebec's decades old tradition of granting university admission as if it were fleur-de-lis flags on St. Jean Baptiste Day.
Premier Marois and the Parti Québécois reneged on their promise to the students, that much is patently clear. In assuring the students that the PQ would maintain a tuition freeze if elected, the protesting students are right to feel like they were played by a red square wearing millionaire for political gain.
The cost this time around, however, is indexed to inflation. Increasing tuition $70 a year, as opposed to the $325 a year increase proposed by the Charest Liberals. Quebec has already once let itself be overrun by a vociferous minority. I doubt it would let ASSÉ make an ass out of itself yet again.
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Most countries in Europe have free university tuitions.
Correlation between free tuition and drop out rate is weak rathe coincidental and related to other social issues. Which actually might mean that higher tuition could create more problems.
Anyway, its an issue of priorities and allocation. If ROC wants to buy F15s, pipelines or deep pollution infra for oil sands extraction fine, if Turkmenistan strongman wants to build a 500 m statue of himself, fine; if North Korea or Iran wants to built nuke... Well whatever... Why would it bother you so much that Qc wants to give its youth the chance to go to universit?or almost free, give kids moms
Yes it sure is terrible that for a few months last year a new generation of young people figured out how to organize and effect change in politics. What a terrible thing to do.
Keep writing that policy! It does so much for the rest of us.
I've heard both sides of the argument (ad nauseum), and most people are dug in on the issue. There is no "winning hearts and minds" in this war; it's a question of personal ideological outlook. It's not an issue that is an impending threat to life or our social fabric, and there's little reason why most Canadians should get their knickers in a bunch over it.
I wish the students, the schools and the new provincial government well in resolving their disputes. I've heard the story now, so I'm changing the channel. Peace.
Along with healthcare, education is the most important item on the menu of a nation.
Who do you think will create value for today's middle age reactionaries once you enter the twilight of your life sometimes referred to as retirement?
Make education affordable and keep Canada envy of the world.
Actually post secondary enrollment rate is 20% higher in Quebec than it is in the ROC. 50% for Quebec and 40% for Canada.
Source : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbtOSexa1yg
I say we cut the subsidies to Centre of Genomics and Policy and use the money to keep the tuition fees low.
Love you guys.
Thanks for the early morning smile.
If you check the Stats Canada website , you will see that Quebec does have one of the lowest enrolment rates in the country.
Where exactly do you get your (mis)information? According to Stats Can, Quebec has the lowest university drop-out rate in Canada (11%) while post-secondary enrollment is at exactly the Canadian average.
Also, "According to a study published by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario, about 30 per cent of Quebec’s young people go to university, six percentage points below the Canadian average and more than 20 percentage points behind Atlantic Canada, where the average tuition is nearly three times that in Quebec. For Ross Finnie, the University of Ottawa economics professor and author of the study, part of the problem of low university enrolment is rooted in Quebec’s history." - http://oncampus.macleans.ca/education/2012/04/23/quebec-cheap-degrees-but-nobody%E2%80%99s-buying/
Keep fightin' the good fight though.
It is true that Quebec low university enrolment is rooted in Quebec’s history. In 1965, 3% of francophone went to university, while other North Americans went at a rate of 20%. That is because Quebecker have historically been an oppressed people (still is through taxation). Oppression brought solidarity. Today we have the highest level of post-secondary enrolment in North America. The phenomenon is more apparent for younger cohorts. The whole point of the Maple spring was generational inequity. I suggest you study the economic concept of inelasticity and how it applies to tuition fees. I don’t understand why the youth in the rest of North America accept to pay like 4-5 times what their parents paid in constant inflation adjusted dollar.
If you think it’s a good idea to increase the fees by 85% for Quebecers that are 12 years old today, and then are you willing to reimburse the difference in cost for what Quebec society invested in YOUR education within the past few years so that it’s fair? Remember that part of the Quebec high debt is due to the fact that Quebec invested in your education as well as Charest’s bachelor degree. Now, only people born after year 2000 have to for all that because you want vacations?