In 1999, the Ministry of Education unveiled what was supposed to be a glowing and innovative advancement in Ontario’s education system. The new policy, Ontario Secondary Schools, Grades 9–12: Program and Diploma Requirement, was meant to update the previous three track system into two streams, Academic and Applied, to keep “options open for all students” so that “students are not required to make binding decisions about a particular educational and career path” . According to the policy, under the academic stream, “abstract applications of essential concepts” would be covered, while the applied stream would focus on “practical, concrete application of concepts.” Unfortunately, these objectives have been systematically obstructed under the
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According to the Fresh Starts and False Starts report compiled by Dr. Kate Tilleczek, Professor at the University of Prince Edward Island , the “physical, social and emotional processes are in flux and formation” for Grade 8 adolescents. This period coincides perfectly with the choice of academic or applied streams they are forced to make prior to entry into secondary school. This is a choice which should not be taken so carelessly, as there is direct correlation to future educational and career success as well as to socioeconomic inequalities . It is fundamentally wrong to force decisions of such magnitude on a developing teen. Quite frankly, to ask a student at that early stage of development to select an education stream is to ask them to limit their own potential. Once in a particular stream, expectations of that stream may perpetuate fallacies, manipulating a student’s sense of self into either extreme complacency or limited self esteem. For example, upon analysis of the curriculum requirements for Grade 9 academic vs. applied Geography, the differences were found to be stark . This “slower-paced and more fragmented instruction” then causes the students to adjust themselves to that environment. If students face these low expectations, there is indeed a very real danger of …show more content…
For example, if a student in the applied program wishes to transfer their courses to the academic stream, according to Annie Kidder of People for Education, “once they are in that applied stream…it’s very hard to get out .” This structural inflexibility requires succeeding students in the applied stream to repeat courses they have already taken in another stream, of which may not be economically feasible, as these applied students already “early on in their educational curricula are associated with larger socio-economic inequalities in secondary educational performance.” Furthermore, most university admissions in Canada require an academic level English credit, of which is not structurally possible if a student stays in the applied stream – which is more than likely – thereby limiting students to a college or trade-level post-secondary path. The structural barriers of the streaming system inhibit student success in secondary schools by creating a clear and gaping disparity between the two streams, as well as limit post-secondary
According to the Fresh Starts and False Starts report compiled by Dr. Kate Tilleczek, Professor at the University of Prince Edward Island , the “physical, social and emotional processes are in flux and formation” for Grade 8 adolescents. This period coincides perfectly with the choice of academic or applied streams they are forced to make prior to entry into secondary school. This is a choice which should not be taken so carelessly, as there is direct correlation to future educational and career success as well as to socioeconomic inequalities . It is fundamentally wrong to force decisions of such magnitude on a developing teen. Quite frankly, to ask a student at that early stage of development to select an education stream is to ask them to limit their own potential. Once in a particular stream, expectations of that stream may perpetuate fallacies, manipulating a student’s sense of self into either extreme complacency or limited self esteem. For example, upon analysis of the curriculum requirements for Grade 9 academic vs. applied Geography, the differences were found to be stark . This “slower-paced and more fragmented instruction” then causes the students to adjust themselves to that environment. If students face these low expectations, there is indeed a very real danger of …show more content…
For example, if a student in the applied program wishes to transfer their courses to the academic stream, according to Annie Kidder of People for Education, “once they are in that applied stream…it’s very hard to get out .” This structural inflexibility requires succeeding students in the applied stream to repeat courses they have already taken in another stream, of which may not be economically feasible, as these applied students already “early on in their educational curricula are associated with larger socio-economic inequalities in secondary educational performance.” Furthermore, most university admissions in Canada require an academic level English credit, of which is not structurally possible if a student stays in the applied stream – which is more than likely – thereby limiting students to a college or trade-level post-secondary path. The structural barriers of the streaming system inhibit student success in secondary schools by creating a clear and gaping disparity between the two streams, as well as limit post-secondary