The Canadian Council on Learning has delivered a major report that is, frankly, alarmist. Reading it this afternoon, it is hard to reconcile its dire warnings with the fact that Canadian students perform as well or better than those in pretty much any other nation. Look at the chart on page 25 of this document, for example - the one with Canada on the bottom row, with "no - no - no ..." listed in the set of indicators. Do any of the nations listed above surpass Canada in PISA results? No! And CCL provides no good evidence to support the contention that their remedies (see p.24) - a national strategy for PSE, acknowledged and accepted goals, benchmarks, and ratings ladders, a quality-assurance system a qualifications framework and system of accreditation, among others - will actually improve learning. You look at nations that have these things - like the U.S. - and their educational systems are in crisis. The CCL's oft-stated an unsupported desire to centralize, measure and manage out educational system is a recipe, if not for disaster, then most certainly for mediocrity.
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