scilly

FWIW ................ OH and I are both UK educated to post-graduate level, our daughter is Canadian born and educated, with 4 university degrees.


The end result is the same in both countries ........ well-educated, but I dare to say that the Canadian might be more well rounded because the students do not specialise as early.

Like most older Brits, we had to choose our "speciality" at the tender age of 14/15 ............. that was what we were supposed to do to the end of our working lives.

I was an example of a student who really didn't know ........... I choose history at 14, by 16 I wanted to go to university to study biology.

That meant I had to stay on at school for an extra year in the 6th Form, picking upon the chemistry (at both O and A level) that I had dropped at 14 ....... fortunately, I did not need physics.


Canadian high school students can keep their options wide open, as long as they do the 5 core subjects for university entrance. My daughter did both science and art subjects to graduation, and also managed to do some science along with being in the Arts Faculty at university to a BA, then specialised to her MA.

She then decided to go to another university and qualify as an architect (all financed by herself and her OH) ........ which gave her another 2 degrees.

The only subject she had to do for acceptance to the second university was a calculus course that she had managed to side-step in high school.

scrubbedexpat091

From what I can gather the BC education system is much like many in the US where its geared towards preparing students for college but largely leaves those not suited for college behind with few skills useful in real life.

rivingtonpike

I think another plus for us (unwittingly at the time I admit) is the plethora of excellent private schools in BC. We have both Shawnigan Lake School and Brentwood College within a few Kilometers of us. Both have an international reputation (personally prefer SLS).

scilly

You have to know which high schools put an emphasis on scholarly vs trade

In the larger cities that's easy ............. there is always a range, and students can cross school boundaries.

In Vancouver, there are high schools that concentrate, and always have done, on "technical" or trades; there are others that in the last 15 or so years have put an emphasis on providing education to students who are preparing themselves for careers in ballet, the arts, hockey etc, so they attend school for half days while spending the rest of the time practising, rehearsing or whatever; others that place the emphasis on preparation for university; and even one or two that cater to the minority who want a rote type of learning.

And these are all public schools, with no fees to be paid.


I think you are wrong in saying that those who are not academically inclined are left with few skills useful in real life .......... there's always going to be a few that have absolutely no desire to learn, and who may even have fathers who did leave school at 14 or 15 and went straight in well-paying jobs in forestry or the lumber mill.

Most however will have skills .......... and I have found that students from small towns where there may only be one high school often get an excellent education and grounding. Even small high schools usually have a programme for those students who want to concentrate on a career, whether that is skiing, hockey or whatever, so that they can get an education.



We've had contacts in US schools, and I've generally found that the graduating Canadian student is better educated than the American one. It has occasionally been horrifying to find how ignorant an American Grade 12 student can be, for example, about world geography. My experience has been that Canadian students do usually know about the world!



Just one person's experience ................. so shoot me down if you want

scrubbedexpat091

Interesting. My wife went to school in BC in Squamish going by her comments but its been 20 or 21 years so things have likely changed.

My high school in California only offered academics to prepare one for college. That was the schools only goal. Have as many 12th grade students accepted into a university before graduating to have their stats look good.

They had shut down non academic classes like shop of various sorts.

For someone like me with long term significant learning issues dating back to 1st grade and earlier it was useless 4 years and I remember little I was apparently taught.

biggayowl

Personally i love how you can transfer credits from institution to institution - allows for so much flexibility and time to figure out where your real interests lie in a subject (after all most are pretty broad)

I feel fairly opposed to forcing big decisions on 13 /14 year olds and seems like the UK is obsessed with testing kids from such an early age. Admittedly I need to read up on both systems, and of course the individual school plays such a huge role, but overall I'm leaning toward Canada. We also have the option of Sweden too, as well as the UK. In a way it's too much choice, and we're in an incredibly fortunate position. Easy to forget that sometimes.