Canada, eh?

         For my comparative education paper, I wrote about the Canadian School System.  Canada is ranked 6th on the Program in International Student Assessment (PISA) tests in 2009 (US 17th).  So it made me wonder, what is it that our Canadian neighbors are doing so well.  While I am not sure I was able to pinpoint exact things, I was able to make a few observations.  The first observation came from the person I interviewed.  She commented on how people think Americans and Canadians are similar.  She said that is completely wrong.  As a Canadian citizen living in the United States for 12+ years, she disagrees with this idea and believes while we have some similarities, Canadians and Americans are totally different.  This made me think for a bit.  How can we compare ourselves with other countries, it is like comparing apples and oranges.  We are not the same as any country; we have our own culture and structure.  What may work in one country could be a catastrophe in another.  I do think we can learn from each other, but I think we need to realize that when we compare our educational systems, we have to keep in mind how unique and different each country is, including us.

         Something else I noticed about the Canadian educational system that we in the states could learn from, is that there is no national education system.  Each province or territory is responsible for their own education system.  To me this is brilliant and makes complete sense.  The United States is big, each state and region has its own culture and history; similar to comparing us to other countries.  What works in Maine, might not be so great in Florida. 

         Another area of the Canadian educational system that I found to be interesting was their higher education options.  I like how they have university and college.  College is more of a trade school, where you can learn a profession.  Most students pick this option instead of university.  This is something I view as being beneficial for students.