I thought about writing an article of my own and asking the Commonwealth of Learning to publish it as a reply to Paul Cappon, but I don't think I need much more than the space here. Cappon is calling for a single pan-Canadian post secondary education (PSE) system, for "solutions in PSE that incorporate both publicly agreed national goals and mechanisms, including a strong federal role, and the national experimentation and local accountability that follows on provincial jurisdiction." He argues that otherwise "it is likely that federal-provincial incoherence will damage Canada's PSE capacity and outcomes," citing concerns like student mobility, international standards, equivalence of quality, and attracting international students.
In as short a response as possible: I disagree. There's no good reason to believe that federal management of the post-secondary system will address these concerns, and significant reason to believe that a single management structure will impair our ability to design programs that meet the diverse social, cultural and academic needs across the country. The call for a pan-Canadian system satisfies that manager's desire to standardize measurement across the system, and then manage to that measurement. But there is not, I believe, evidence to show that this would actually result in an improved system. My own experience suggests that a system that fosters greater diversity and autonomy will be less likely to ossify and more likely to innovate. And that our existing diversity is the explanation, not the impediment, to our success thus far. Our diversity is our strength, not our weakness.
In as short a response as possible: I disagree. There's no good reason to believe that federal management of the post-secondary system will address these concerns, and significant reason to believe that a single management structure will impair our ability to design programs that meet the diverse social, cultural and academic needs across the country. The call for a pan-Canadian system satisfies that manager's desire to standardize measurement across the system, and then manage to that measurement. But there is not, I believe, evidence to show that this would actually result in an improved system. My own experience suggests that a system that fosters greater diversity and autonomy will be less likely to ossify and more likely to innovate. And that our existing diversity is the explanation, not the impediment, to our success thus far. Our diversity is our strength, not our weakness.
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