The fallacy of equal opportunity

Davidson Falade

Isn’t it great to live in a country that truly believes in the equality of opportunity? To live in a society that recognizes the needs and barriers of its citizens? To take part in a political system whose goal is to eliminate those needs and barriers in pursuit of that equality?

Personally, I wouldn’t know. In fact, being born and bred a Canadian citizen, I would say that this country is plagued with gross inequalities of opportunity. Among many, a glaring example stares us in the face every day we seek to better our quality of life. This euphemism of which I speak is none other than our establishment of “higher education.”

According to the Canadian Association of University Teachers Educational Review, “post-secondary education provides clear benefits, enriching both individuals and society at large. Education makes a fundamentally vital contribution to the quality and well-being of Canadian society.” Yet access to a post secondary education is increasingly determined less by academic ability and more by family income.

For a country that prides itself on its high level of education and affordability, I find it ridiculously surprising that Canada maintains the third-highest level of tuition fees in the world, surpassed only by Japan and the United States. If it is so unfeasible to publicly subsidize education, why is it that major countries like France, Germany and Sweden are able to provide for their citizens and still maintain a growing economy? Even in the U.K., where they employ tuition fees, the government bears the majority of the monetary burden so that financial income is rarely a discerning factor when pursuing a post-secondary education.

What happens to those students that do well in high school and come from a low or moderate-income family? They did well, just not well enough to get one of the few scholarships offered to the top students. Apply for a bursary maybe? Fair enough. Unfortunately though, to qualify in Canada, most bursaries require a maximum household income. These guidelines must have been developed under the assumption that the majority of families are stable and spend their money wisely. Too bad that doesn’t coincide with Canada’s growing trend of debt and over-extension of personal finances. I guess the only other option would be to get a student loan. That way, when they get out of university four years later, they have a debt that, on average, is the highest in the world! Sounds like a plan. Where do I sign up?

There’s a chance I’m just naïve, but I would really like someone to explain to me why a qualified student cannot pursue a post-secondary education in this country because of financial barriers. Why they cannot do it without incurring a debt so large that they must work the next 20 years of their lives to pay it off. I’m not talking about the lucky guy that landed the great job here. I’m referring to your average student that graduates and finds a decent job and is expected to raise a family and pay the government back for their graciousness. Oh, and let us not forget the expense of that “thank you for paving my future in financial debt” card for Christmas.

It just doesn’t make sense that a first-world nation such as Canada, which prides itself on equality of opportunity, could create and advocate such disparity and barriers. After all, we cannot easily forget about the government-imposed tuition freeze. A genuine thank you to the provincial governments for saving students those valuable dollars. Now if only there was a way to keep the business (correction, I meant “academic institution”) from making up its losses in funding by increasing administration fees.

Or maybe we should make publishers realize that increasing the cost of textbooks isn’t a prerequisite to the new school year. Perhaps it is time to consider legal intervention, since it is the provincial government that actually has jurisdiction over education in Canada. Perhaps they could intervene on behalf of the students? Maybe that’s asking for too much.

As detailed by Statistics Canada, the average tuition cost per year has risen roughly 300 per cent since 1990-91. There is nothing to say that this increase will continue. However, it is increasingly evident that many Canadians cannot afford to pursue higher education even though they are qualified students. This high tuition rate, coupled with expensive textbooks, supplies and administration fees, makes the Canadian education system a very hard sell.

Though the quality is there, the affordability is not. When the education of citizens is not a national priority, it makes me seriously wonder about the long-term consequences.

Davidson Falade is a third-year political studies student.