Page 12 - TORONTO NORTH LIFESTYLE Magazine July 2022

Education and Meritocracy
Among the many goals and purposes of education, one that is rarely if ever mentioned today is how education both public and private forms part of a meritocracy. Not that long ago very few people in Canada had access to higher education and as a result to certain jobs or positions of authority. A small class of those with means had access that those without could not afford or aspire to. It is interesting to note that Sir Frederick Banting who attended the University of Toronto and failed his undergraduate business program transferred to medicine to later graduate and invent insulin and earn a Nobel Prize. Clearly the lack of competition for entry into medical school pales in comparison to the high nineties averages now required. One can only assume that currently Banting would have been directed to a community college and diabetics would be without insulin. However, this could lead to an off-topic discussion concerning marks as opposed to aptitude or marks as an accurate indicator of ability other than the ability to get marks.
In societies with a small class of people with wealth, access to desirable or important positions within society is and was limited to that group. With democratization, came the awareness that assigning roles should be based upon demonstrated competence rather than family influence. With that came the opening up of educational opportunities and the growth of universities as well as a change in their role from producing gentlemen who could quote from the classics over cocktails. Central to this process was the substitution of competition for privilege.
I often hear it said that school systems in other countries are too competitive, place too much stress upon standardized testing and approach education from an entirely wrong perspective. Curiously, countries that teach math the wrong way fare near or at the top in international competitions and I have seen no more indications of mental illness in Singapore than in Canada. But even if there is excess in one direction there is certainly an excess in the other. The elimination of academic competition in secondary schools clearly shows this.
About ten years ago I was conducting an admissions interview with a 16 year old in grade 10. When I asked him what his career plans were he told me he was to going to the University of Waterloo to do Computer Engineering. I then told him that given his D average and applied math courses that this was not going to happen. Indignantly he confronted me with why not whereupon I told him that he needed to compete to get into
elimination of scoring for NHL games so that nobody will feel sad when they lose. Such proposals are vehemently rejected as nonsense. Apparently, as a nation we take hockey more seriously than education.
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By: Dr. DAVID HARLEY Deputy Headmaster
that program and that the standards were very high. He then told me that he did not believe me as that did not make sense to him. When asked why he responded with impeccable logic. Premise A: high school is free and students have to attended. Premise B: University is voluntary, and parents have to pay. Therefore, If I am prepared to continue my education and my parents are willing to pay, I can select any university and program that I want. Given that he could not experience failure in grades one through eight and given the fact that he was pushed forward through grades nine and ten, why would he think otherwise?
This experience took some time to process but it became clear that it was possible to get halfway through high school with no understanding of what was required to go beyond it and remain oblivious until being on the cusp of graduation. Now that that encounter has been repeated over the years, I have become immune to the shock. Whereas many students float through high school, a few others enter with a preprograming imparted by their families to pursue marks and not let their education get in the way. It is unfortunate that so many students with ability and aptitude fail to get marks reflective of those skills as a result of the false promotion of the belief that competition is psychologically dangerous and the neo-Marxian doctrine that all can be equally successful and should be equally paid.
If high schools are purported to prepare graduates for adult life, how can that objective be coupled with existing practices? I have heard discussions in and around the
12 TORONTO NORTH Lifestyle JULY 2022