SANDRAPAUL

You have just proven yet again how sad you are to take the time to question something that was and usually always is written without little consideration for keeping the content exactly as it should have been. This is a forum where people try to impart, with what little time they often have, some gut instincts that might give an alternative view on the whole subject of emmigrating.

Instead of accepting that your original reply to a thread thrown down here should, for example, have been a question about what the thread really meant you decided to insult the comments made. A simple - 'can you expand or make sense of this please' would have been polite.

You have now compounded your true nature by a further reply to this post that you have just made.

Sad.

Novocastrian

Well, you may be incoherent, but at least you're consistently incoherent.

<looks for ignore button>

Judy in Calgary

In Canadian provinces there is no 11+ exam that separates kids into different streams. I don't have personal experience of the 11+ phenomenon, because I'm not from the UK. However, I've heard about it, and I think I understand the general gist of it.

As others have told you, the school system in Canada is administered locally. The provincial government sets certain standards across a given province, but some of the finer details are even decided at the city level. That said, the education system across the country has some elements in common.

Here in Calgary the two school systems that are funded by tax payers each has a school for gifted children. A child might enter the gifted program as early as grade four (around the age of 9). During the early grades (1-3), his/her teacher might notice he/she is very bright, and might suggest psychological testing. A student's placement in a gifted program depends on a variety of factors (academic results, psychological testing, etc.).

In addition to the schools for gifted children, the two tax payer funded school systems in Calgary also have a few schools that specialize in various areas (fine arts, science, sports, etc.). Another way of providing a child with enrichment, if that specific kind of enrichment suits him/her, is to enroll him/her in a French immersion school. If you go the French immersion route, you have the choice of early immersion (starting in kindergarten or grade one, around the age of 5 or 6) or late immersion (starting in grade seven, around the age of 12).

Yet another option for bright kids is the International Baccalaureate program. It's a more demanding course of study that students follow in grades eleven and twelve, which are the last two years of schooling. The Calgary Board of Education (the so called public school system) has five schools that offer the IB program. The Calgary Catholic School District, which also is funded by tax payers, offers the IB program at a few of its senior high schools too.

All the programs I've described so far are available at schools funded by tax payers. You also have the option of sending your child to a private school. The academic standards at private schools vary. Generally speaking a private school has smaller classes than a public (tax payer funded) school, and this usually leads to better academic performance. But not all private schools offer a superior academic education. You still have to do your research, even when you're selecting a private school.

What I've described is the situation in Calgary. From your previous posts, I understand you're heading to Ontario. You'd need to do more research on the specific school system in which your children will receive their elementary and secondary schooling. However, I think my description of schooling in Calgary will give you a very rough idea of what to expect.

Let's suppose schooling in Alberta lasts for 13 years (kindergarten plus grades one through twelve). In Ontario you might say it lasts 14 years (Alberta's 13 years plus junior kindergarten). My older son completed 9 of his 13 years of schooling in Alberta, and my younger son completed 8 years in Alberta. My impression of the local school system was that, while it was less rigorous than my own South African schooling had been in some respects, it turned out people who generally were literate and who also were articulate. I liked the fact that the school system encouraged public speaking and various other skills that I thought would be useful in everyday life. Broadly speaking, I was satisfied with the schooling my children had received in Calgary. (One has graduated from university and is working, and the other has one more year of university to complete.)

I changed my mind about the adequacy of Canada's school system when I recently watched an item about illiteracy on the CBC News. It stated that 14.6% of Canadians can't understand the writing on an Aspirin bottle, and an additional 27% can't understand the writing on a material safety data sheet, the kind that is used to warn workers of the hazards that chemicals in the workplace pose to eyes and skin. Illiterate people and semi-illiterate people together comprise 42% of Canada's population. You can read more about it here.

With that newfound information, my attitude towards schooling in Canada has been transformed. I am more conscious of the potential for kids to slip through the cracks.

Hope that helps.

Novocastrian

Judy,

Thanks for that. Definitely coherent. I read the linked article from the CBC site, and I don't think you should have changed your earlier opinions based on that. It isn't a well written or well researched piece. Just a few unsubtantiated statistics and a handful of anecdotes.

Novo.

Grah

And my son is not 19 and has finished 2nd year at Uni, half of his soccer team during high school still haven't graduated.

this year 54% of the local high school failed to graduate at the same school 20% got full scholarship awards for academical achievement difference.

Some kids go to school and learns, others go to school and don't.

The old adage about leading a horse to water fits very well.

Problem is the parents, they don't discipline at a young age. So kids learn to sponge forever. Friends boy didn't bother to go to school for 2 years. Dad told him every year he was out the door if he didn't do it. Mum said its alright. This year mum backed Dad and kid graduates and gets his first job... Amazing.

Another kid 19 years old says why bother, girls are great, he already has a car what more does he need. Guess who feeds clothes and supports him.

The IB program is in Manitoba too.

Guess what - 42% illiteracy means need more immigrants. Are you coming or not?

cov-canuck

The Catholic school I went to until the age of 10 (when we moved to England) was a very "poor" school in terms of financial situations (which I realised after I left of course, thought it was great while I was there!). From the age of 6-10 I was in "portable" classrooms because the school wasn't big enough, and when I left in 5th grade there were 47 kids in my class.

Still...my brothers and I were all labelled as "gifted", I did the psychogical testing/IQ testing just after I turned 8, and qualified for their "enrichment" program (which my older brother was already in). What it basically meant was that every Wednesday I was bussed to another school with kids from all over the area, where we were supposed to do more advanced work. Personally I HATED it with a passion...of course my brother pretended not to know me, the other two kids from my grade were boys who didn't want to hang around with a girl...stuff that looking back is trivial, but at the time made me so miserable I dropped out of the program.

In the meantime, my younger brother, who was too young for the enrichment program, was having one-to-one enrichment work from about the age of 6 at the school.