Dawson City Citizen's Forum

Report on Yukon Education (General Issues)

posted by snowglitter, 07.02.2009, 13:31

Very interesting article in Whitehorse Star on 3 Feb.

Just 40% First Nation youth successfully graduate from highschool!!!

Please don't make this post an opportunity to slaughter RSS and/or staff, or parents. I don't think it's the people that at fault for the failures in our schools; there's something fundamental in the education system that is failing our youth. Something that is unable to captivate the imaginations, motivations, and interests in the minds of the students

We have teachers, parents, and community working to a greater or lesser extent to help our young acquire the skills they need to help them make the most of their lives. Maybe it's the content, the strategy, the approach to 'educating' that is failing our young. Maybe the answers lay less in trying to 'mold' our young, but rather trying to set them free... free from the burden of all the social constructs, media, and cultural pressures that subversively pressure youth to be something other than their true, pure, (read: divinity-infused) selves. Perhaps what our education system needs is less focus on 'regurgitation' of knowledge, and more development of self-awareness (and therefore 'otherness/community/global' awareness) as well as free expression of this 'self' in our educating process.

I understand these are complex issues, without simple answers. Still - worth talking about. Here's the article:

http://whitehorsestar.com/archive/story/education-branch-needs-change-fraser/

"“We found that the department is not acting to address critical gaps in student performance,“ Fraser said during a noon-hour briefing. “. . . According to Statistics Canada, the Yukon had the third lowest five-year graduation rate in Canada for the period ended 2005-06."

"According to the department’s own achievement targets, it’s meeting its goals in just six of 20 subjects, says the audit."

"The 2007 annual report by the department, for instance, indicated that 92 per cent of all students successfully graduated, including 89 per cent of first nation students.

Fraser noted, however, when you include all the factors, including high school drop-outs, the success rate for all students falls to 65 per cent and 40 per cent for first nation students."


"Fraser found the method of reporting graduation success rates is misleading, and doesn’t accurately reflect the true picture."

The department essentially removes high school drop-outs or students who switch to individual education programs, which do not require standardized testing, from its graduation equation, she points out."

Complete thread:

• Report on Yukon Education - snowglitter, 07.02.2009, 13:31 (General Issues)
  • Report on Yukon Education - Dan Davidson, 08.02.2009, 13:49
    • Report on Yukon Education - aaaaaa, 10.02.2009, 16:21
      • Report on Yukon Education - Dan Davidson, 10.02.2009, 18:48
        • Report on Yukon Education - aaaaaa, 10.02.2009, 21:09
          • Report on Yukon Education - Sunnyside, 10.02.2009, 21:33
            • Report on Yukon Education - aaaaaa, 10.02.2009, 21:39
          • Report on Yukon Education - Dan Davidson, 11.02.2009, 10:06
            • Report on Yukon Education - aaaaaa, 14.02.2009, 17:34
              • Report on Yukon Education - Dan Davidson, 15.02.2009, 00:28
    • Report on Yukon Education - Tom_Claxton, 11.02.2009, 11:33