Whose education is it, anyway?
Education shouldn't be a debt sentence. However, post-secondary education has become just that. Instead of our higher educations liberating us they enslave us through debt. We graduate with huge student debts that force us to get any job we can in order to pay them off. Some students who graduate from college nowadays end up indebted to the government by tens of thousands of dollars, and end up taking jobs outside of our professions.
Here in Ontario, we have it particularly bad. This province has the lowest per-capita funding for post-secondary education in Canada, and second lowest in all of North America. Only Alabama funds its schools less than Ontario. Students in Quebec pay only a small fraction of the fees we pay here. The worst thing is that Ontario is not only keeping rates high, our government is actually raising tuition fees to unprecedented levels!
Even though most Ontarians oppose increasing tuition fees, the Ontario government is implementing its ‘Reaching Higher' framework which will allow our tuition fees to reach higher levels, putting education out of reach for many of us. This framework is the reason our fees are increasing 20 to 36 per cent over four years.
By continually hiking fees, Ontario is not following the example of most other provinces where tuition fees have been frozen or cut. Other countries such as Brazil, Ireland, Cuba, and Sweden have taken a step further and eliminated tuition fees altogether, as they see the value in investing in their people.
It's a shame that this province does not see the value in investing in its own future, and is instead choosing to divest from its youth, leaving us drowning in debt. Students in Ontario have 250 per cent more debt now than they did 15 years ago.
Its time to fight back! Why should we go into debt to pay Howard Rundle's quarter-million dollar annual salary? Why should we allow our school to be run like a privatized business so that corporations can get rich?
Canadian students are currently $12 billon in debt so why don't we bailout students instead of the banks, or choose to drop fees instead of bombs? Canada's occupation of Afghanistan has already cost more than all the student debts here. So you can't say that it's an issue of money, the resources are there. If we have money for war we have money for education. All of the student debt in Canada could be forgiven and tuition fees abolished tomorrow if it was a priority for this country and this province.
But your education is not a priority. You and I won't be on their radar until we force the issue. So let's force the issue. Let's organize resistance and disrupt business as usual. If we want to liberate spaces in educational institutions for the next generation of thinkers we need to fight for them.
In Colombia, and many other countries, University and College students have been barricading schools and fighting cops in the fight to stop the privatization of their school.
If you are sick and tired of paying high tuition rates do something to call attention to it on Wednesday, November 5, which is the coordinated Ontario day of action. If you don't have a plan of your own to stick it to this school, administration, or government, come meet other students who are sick of the debt they owe from the fees they pay. Meet us for an impromptu rally in Forwell Hall November 5 with guest and student speakers (you're welcome to speak out about your own experience and debts).
Who's school? Our school! Let's take the power back!
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
Here in Ontario, we have it particularly bad. This province has the lowest per-capita funding for post-secondary education in Canada, and second lowest in all of North America. Only Alabama funds its schools less than Ontario. Students in Quebec pay only a small fraction of the fees we pay here. The worst thing is that Ontario is not only keeping rates high, our government is actually raising tuition fees to unprecedented levels!
Even though most Ontarians oppose increasing tuition fees, the Ontario government is implementing its ‘Reaching Higher' framework which will allow our tuition fees to reach higher levels, putting education out of reach for many of us. This framework is the reason our fees are increasing 20 to 36 per cent over four years.
By continually hiking fees, Ontario is not following the example of most other provinces where tuition fees have been frozen or cut. Other countries such as Brazil, Ireland, Cuba, and Sweden have taken a step further and eliminated tuition fees altogether, as they see the value in investing in their people.
It's a shame that this province does not see the value in investing in its own future, and is instead choosing to divest from its youth, leaving us drowning in debt. Students in Ontario have 250 per cent more debt now than they did 15 years ago.
Its time to fight back! Why should we go into debt to pay Howard Rundle's quarter-million dollar annual salary? Why should we allow our school to be run like a privatized business so that corporations can get rich?
Canadian students are currently $12 billon in debt so why don't we bailout students instead of the banks, or choose to drop fees instead of bombs? Canada's occupation of Afghanistan has already cost more than all the student debts here. So you can't say that it's an issue of money, the resources are there. If we have money for war we have money for education. All of the student debt in Canada could be forgiven and tuition fees abolished tomorrow if it was a priority for this country and this province.
But your education is not a priority. You and I won't be on their radar until we force the issue. So let's force the issue. Let's organize resistance and disrupt business as usual. If we want to liberate spaces in educational institutions for the next generation of thinkers we need to fight for them.
In Colombia, and many other countries, University and College students have been barricading schools and fighting cops in the fight to stop the privatization of their school.
If you are sick and tired of paying high tuition rates do something to call attention to it on Wednesday, November 5, which is the coordinated Ontario day of action. If you don't have a plan of your own to stick it to this school, administration, or government, come meet other students who are sick of the debt they owe from the fees they pay. Meet us for an impromptu rally in Forwell Hall November 5 with guest and student speakers (you're welcome to speak out about your own experience and debts).
Who's school? Our school! Let's take the power back!
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
