Blendin

Uoft MMPA class profile
http://www.utoronto.ca/mmpa/Students...11-profile.pdf

dbd33

That seems to confirm the stereotype though one can hardly imagine that people who choose to take finance at university are other than commuting hermits regardless of the school they attend. What a waste of one's youth.

lmartin999

I think you continue to use the word culture where you mean ethnicity or race. Perhaps racist is not the right term, xenophobe may be better? At the end of the day you and your daughter were not happy as there weren't enough white faces at the open day. You have offered no answer as to what you want in terms of integration (leaving aside the rather silly 'don't live at home'). Feel free to try again though.
In the classes I teach I have a very diverse group of students in terms of ethnic origin. Culturally I would say there is actually minimal difference. I think your daughter would find the same of her classmates at U of T had she not chosen to run away. There are (I understand from the stats) a number of students for whom English is not the main language spoken at home, but this doesn't mean they don't or cannot speak English perfectly well. I would say a high level of bilingualism is the norm.

You are viewing Toronto through a lens that makes no sense and serves no purpose.

lmartin999

I didn't read the numbers, but looks like a whole lot of Canadians to me.

dbd33

I think the case against the UofT is that attending the school is an opportunity wasted. Canadian business is all about who you know. University is a useful place for establishing contacts for the future, deliberately or accidentally. The UofT is a poor choice in this regard because, as a causcasian, you're not going to be able to establish that kind of connection with most of the student body. Language, culture and commuting are against you. It would be better, from a career perspective, to attend a school with less Chinese students.

Blendin

I guess it depends on the field of study.

http://agsu.sa.utoronto.ca/AGSU%20student.html

vs

http://www.rotman.utoronto.ca/phd/ac....aspx#students

MarylandNed

Correction - my daughter wasn't happy. It didn't bother me at all. I actually thought U of T was very impressive and I would have been very happy for her to go there. However, as I said earlier, teens make decisions based on criteria that parents sometimes don't fully understand. Perhaps she just didn't feel comfortable at U of T for who knows what reason or reasons and was able to articulate only one (and who knows how much weight to really place on that one). Perhaps she thought I wanted her to go there but she actually wanted to go somewhere else. Who knows? If I've learned anything as a parent, it's that I don't understand teenage girls!

Contrary to what you think, I know Toronto very well. I lived there for 7 years, I have many friends there (of many races and cultures) and I still visit fairly often. In fact my daughter was born there almost on the U of T campus at Women's College Hospital. I love Toronto - it's probably my favorite city (and I've travelled all over North America and Europe).

Also, I don't equate race to culture. As I said, I've travelled in Europe a lot and there are many white faces who are culturally different from each other in many ways. This is something to be celebrated - it makes life more interesting.

MarylandNed

This looks alit like the open day I attended at U of T for the faculty of science - except there weren't as many white kids there that day.

MikeUK

It’s an interesting spin off from the Brampton discussion, and one that was very topical a few months ago on the radio when a couple of Toronto Universities were called “too Asian”.

I was intrigued to find out that it didn’t so much as refer to the demographic of the universities population, but more to the work ethic.

I’m told “Asian universities” gain the name from the hard work results driven focus found in many Asian students.
These universities are seen as places of hard work, high standards and poor partying.. Not popular with the fat lazy ”westernized” demographic that wants lots of parties and a light social studies or art course in the afternoon to drift through to scrape a pass

cheeky_monkey

Theres alot to be said for life skills though dont you think?

Lilipuddlian

Tell that to a person in Canada of Aboriginal or First Nations descent. The irony of this thread is killing me.

JamesM

Those were the best years of my life.....besides look how I turned out

dbd33

This post seems to strive for the "More PC Than lmartin999" award. The native population was all but wiped out long before any of us were involved. They're currently a tiny minority on the fringe of the law, as relevant to Canada today as the Hell's Angels, and as likely to gain a position of political or cultural importance in the future. Toronto doesn't even have an native suburb, unless you count Allan Gardens.

MarylandNed

I spoken to quite a few people about U of T - including students who go there, students who decided not to go there and also their parents. It appears that the case against U of T for some people is that the focus is too much on academics and that a high percentage of the student population commute from home (i.e. their parents' home). Therefore there's a lack of community, social scene and "school spirit". Students are very competitive and it's a "dog eat dog" culture that isn't a good fit for everyone.

University life is about much more than just academics - and every university I've visited has said exactly that. It's about being away from home for the first time and all the challenges that brings. It's about making life long friends from different backgrounds, races and cultures. It's about exploring other interests by joining clubs, playing sports, getting involved in issues, etc. There's a lot of learning to be done outside the classroom. So the case against U of T for many people is that the overwhelming focus is on academic achievement almost to the complete exclusion of everything else. That's apparently OK because there are clearly lots of students who are attracted to this philosophy and who help cultivate it further. It's just not a good fit for everyone though. Many students think that university should be about more than that and so choose to go elsewhere. Thankfully universities are not all alike and so students can usually find somewhere that is a good fit for them.

Here's a good article: http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/11/10/too-asian/

MikeUK

The bad news is that when I'm looking at a resume for a new hire fresh from Uni, those from an "Asian" uni with its reputation for hard work will be the one I'm going to choose to interview.
I don't give a sh1t about the none academic socialization of my new graduates at that stage , I'll pick the most socialized candidate from the uni with a reputation for producing high achieving hard workers via the interview process!