Questions come at students, like seasons come to land: different situations ask different questions which are answered differently.  However, having aged through two years of student life, I have realized that there is one such question which seems to be a question for all seasons, one such question that students regularly ask themselves  or get asked – to “work” or not to “work” while studying?

From a distance, this question seems to lead to an obvious answer and the student who “works” while studying is seen to be headed in the path of success: I am quite sure that many people have already told you the greatness of the student who studies and does a job simultaneously.

Hence before I embarked on my university degree, I came at it from a distance and immediately planned a course schedule to make room for a job. The plan seemed to be planned to perfection and from my view, I saw the chance to foot my own bills and learn to literally walk in the world. Classes began and so too did work and as I moved with my newly found feet, I eventually came to a stop, a stop at all ways, a stop at which I began to critically asses the progress of my movement.

It was awesome that I was able to make a buck or two and that I was complimenting my education with an education in work experience. But the toll could not be dodged and I began to feel as though I was breaking the limit on the highway of life. I have just completed my second year as a “working” student and it was in my “Sociology of Work” class that Professor Stephen E. Bosanac introduced me to an idea that summed up the rocky roads I was speeding on.  The idea was that of “Socially Reproductive Labour”.

Now before I open up the idea, it must be said that my aim here is not to scathe the idea of a student studying and holding a job simultaneously. However, I do not aim to shower praise at such a student, praises which we all know about. My aim is to stress the idea that different folk work with different strokes and that it is not necessary for a student to hold a job in order to matter.

With the idea of “Socially Reproductive Labour” ( SRL ), Stephen elaborated that students often forget that their education in and of itself suffices as labour, i.e. work – we invest our minds, our time, our bodies and so much more to acquire knowledge and sets of skills that hold the potential of making society’s matters move. Our role as students not only shapes our future roles but gives a set of roles to millions around us and if it was not for our work in the classroom, the labour of professors and the university itself would be non existent. The student who studies is engaging in work, work which involves working with knowledge and deploying it wisely. The difference here is that we pay to work  and this often blinds students to the reality of their work status. Stephen warned us to realize that work is not work because it brings in a special paper called the dollar. Work is about exercising the mind and body, it is about putting an effort to make matter move and unless a student pays no attention to academics, then each student at university is a “working” student! The idea is powerful, so simple yet subtle, obvious yet obscure. Stephen was not blind to the demands of the dollar and he realized that students have to make ends meet. But the onus of his explanation was that students need not see themselves as any lower on the achievement scales, if they are not holding a job while at university.

I know this for a fact that each semester, ideology and finances will get you to consider taking up a job. Take the opportunity to consider and do so wisely. If you can take studies and a job hand in hand, then hats off to you and if you choose to get your hands into your studies only then hats off to you too. There is no dictionary definition of the successful student. The journeys of success are adventures for you to unravel and far from following the footprints of those before you, carefully chart your own course and live to tell and hear many more from both yourself and those around you.

Enjoy the journey and the seasons of the semesters!

Author: Ali Abbas

Whether your ideas of knowledge are embedded in an essentialist mesh or not, you
must all agree that to some degree our knowledge comes into being as a result of
the environments we are located in. Regardless of the degree of truth, there is
some truth in the assumption I have made and as such it warrants me to question
and relate the recent shifts I have had in location and environment – shifts
that have located me where I have perhaps never seen myself. So join me as I
trace the travels I have had through location and pick at an important issue –
grandeur and size – which often determines one’s preference in University.

In the summer of 2005 I was your regular (still am) Dubai born teenager ready to
embrace the norm and dig deep into my parent’s pocket for a University
education. My mind was set on pursuing psychology as well as media and when I heard
that Middlesex University’s nouveau Dubai campus was offering the exact same
course, I filled out my paperwork and presented myself for admission. Admission
was granted and I found myself with hundreds of new faces excitedly ( nervously
too ) entering into a space heard of but relatively unknown – the space known
as University!
Like an immigrant to a new country, a student’s first day at University is about
realizing the new space. University has a culture to it : orientation day was
meant to initiate me into this culture and with time the routine settled in.
However, an idea of a University space which I had always had was one of size –
when I entered Middlesex the following thought echoed through my brains, “ Jeez.
This place is small.”  The smallness had its advantages – I knew where I was. Or
did I?

As time progressed the size of our Dubai Campus became a hot topic of
discussion and I began to realize that I truly did not know where I was. The
overwhelming sense was that the demands of academe were far too many to be
squeezed into a campus of three or four floors. There was much appreciation for
the variety on offer at Middlesex – however, questions were being asked as to
whether such a small campus could cater to the overwhelming sea of students
eager to avail of the opportunity. These questions began to plague my mind and
as conversations continued the lack of resources began to manifest itself
further and I began to feel that the education in general was beginning to
suffer as a result of the minimal space. The constrained space was damaging to
the avenues Middlesex aimed at opening for students : my worry was that
Middlesex Dubai was not matching up to par with what exists elsewhere and in
terms of its space and resources it was clearly not set to compete. My issue
more precisely put was with the “grandeur” of the campus and since it lacked
the size and architecture of those across the globe, I began to feel the urge
to head elsewhere. And head elsewhere I did – to Canada’s York University!

Truth be told, I was only going to spend one year at Middlesex Dubai, regardless
of my issues with the space. I was waiting on my paperwork to get into York
University and figured it best to transfer credits and spend one more year
where my heart will always be. However, as I spend more time at
Middlesex Dubai, I began to feel the need to break away : a need to get the
“real” thing. I made plenty of friends and grew close to members of the
faculty, yet my ideas of the “real” and the grandeur of a University pushed me
to leave.

However, I have spent three years at York and a year at Middlesex Dubai and I now have to ask myself an important question. Was my shift in location based on anything that was even remotely real? Was I right in comparing Middlesex Dubai to my “real”? My answer surfaces on an unsettling negation.

The grandeur and size of a university speak to a university’s privilege and all that is socially constructed. Universities are dressed in robes of privilege which classify them into a hierarchy – yet these very robes need not determine the intellectual prospects a student stands in line of embracing. I speak from example and experience – I read Ronald Barthes and Ferdinand De Saussure at both Middlesex Dubai and York University and I dare not say that the text read any differently on paper. Indeed the shift in spaces determined the context within which the texts were presented, yet the essence of intellectual stimulation remained the same within both spaces. The difference though came in me: the difference was in how I came towards the text and the stimulation with which I aimed to unpack the package of information.

The difference was within me. I realized within a short span of time that the mission to convert an education into something meaningful rested solely on my shoulders – if I wanted it to be, it would be. It was all a question of the head: what could I make of my education?

Studying in a three floor or a three acre sized university was not the determinant factor in a productive education ( unless your measures of productivity lie solely in the dirham ). I agree, that the history of the university brings to its system a tradition of thought and practice yet this should not curtail a student from galloping forward with his/her education. Of course environment does influence our behaviour – but what about the environment within our selves? The instant the self is motivated to succeed, all other barriers become challenges ushering the person to succeed.

Regardless of a three floored Middlesex Dubai, if a student is keen on empowering education, he/she can surely attain it and match to par with the highest of all intellectuals. The centre of a successful education is the student!

So, before most of you dismiss an education at Middlesex Dubai as incomparable to those at more “grander” universities, take a step back to analyze your stance. My illusions of the “real” were unveiled and I realized that by simply going with the masses I was heading for the path of a blind follower.

Am I saying that exploring the world and heading abroad for an education is wrong? Am I saying that you should stay put in Dubai? Far from. But if your mind is set at pursuing the image of the “real” as I was, then you ought to scrutinize this image. What you and I take for the real is often glossed in vested interests – hence, beware.

“To be fully an object then was to lack the capacity to see or recognize reality,” says Bell Hooks and I strongly agree. If all of us students hail our culture and ability, then we must recognize reality.

Be real, keep it real: make of your education what it is that makes you. Locate you, be you and live in reality.

Author: Ali Abbas

I hate Math, I hate Math, I hate Math, I hate Algebra, I hate geometry is what I have always told myself before a Math exam day. My friend shared the same sentiment with me. For hours we would sit around and chatter about the possibility of cheating and getting a perfect score, we would fantasize about stealing the test from our teachers’ office but all was vain at the end of the day. I always thought that this is the case with all girls, but I was wrong, horribly wrong actually.

A study led by Nicole Else-Quest analyzed the tests of almost a half million students between the ages of 14 and 16. “When they have the same resources boys have, nothing holds them back,” Else- Quest said.

What sparked the study?

The former president of Harvard University, Larry Summers, suggested in 2005 that a girls’ gene probably result in the underrepresentation of girls in science. Researchers took to the study. And drum-roll, Else-Quest said. “There’s nothing to support that. When we studied cross-national patterns, it pointed to cultural forces.”

In countries where women are perceived to be equal members of the society, no real difference existed between boys’ and girls’ performances in Math test. So for example in Iceland, girls beat boys – Go girls! In Korea boys do better in Math, Ah well! It’s Korea we are talking about. And in Canada, the difference between the girls’ and boys’ test scores is almost negligible.

Almost non-existent difference between how girls and boys do in school does not necessarily mean that women are equally represented in the field of hard science. Else Quest believes that this could be because of the fact that there are more males in this field than women. And this gives away to the perception of girls that we can’t do it. Well, now I know we can.

“We showed that even something that may seem unrelated – like women’s representation in government – is an indication of how much a society values women and their achievement and that value trickles down to things like girls’ math scores in high school,” says Else-Quest, an assistant professor of psychology at Villanova University near Philadelphia. Her research was just published in the bulletin of the American Psychological Association.

Author: Saptarsi Saha

Our education system gets an A for basic education but we lag behind when it comes to higher education. Canada gets a “D” in annual number of PhD grads, the same low ranking earned for over a decade. Though the number of grads specializing in math and sciences has been increasing over the past few years, we still get only a “C” in that area, too.

Also poor is the adult literacy rate. “Four out of ten Canadian adults lack the literacy skills necessary to be fully competent in most jobs in our modern economy,” the report states.

Canada ranks eighth in low-level adult literacy, but no country got an A grade. “There are no superstars on this indicator,” the report says. Sweden got the best results, but nearly 30 per cent of adults there have low-level literacy skills. Italy was the worst, with eight in 10 adults lacking everyday literacy skills.

Government planning becomes more important in supporting math and science careers, especially at the PhD level. That’s crucial if the country is going to improve its ranking in another area of the How Canada Performs project – innovation, where we’ve earned a steady “D” since the 1980s. “Blackberry is the exception, not the rule,” the report warns.

• Canadian education results improved to an “A” grade. Canada ranks 2nd among 17 peer countries.
• Canada has been delivering a high-quality education to people between the ages of 5 and 25 with comparatively modest spending. Canada’s high-school graduation rate is relatively high.
• To move ahead of Finland, Canada needs to produce more Ph.D.s and graduates in disciplines that support innovation, while pushing to improve the adult literacy rate.

Source: http://www.conferenceboard.ca/HCP/Details/education.aspx#class

Increasingly Facebook has become the mode of initiating debates on controversial issues. Most recently the backlash on Facebook is being expressed by more than 11,000 students in Ontario who fear that their teachers will be on strike starting January of 2010. Many of these students have heard stories on how the students at York had been affected by the 12-week-long strike.

A group called “Ontario College Students against a Strike” has so far more than 13,000 students who are angry that the teachers’ strike is imminent. The group has posted the message:

“On January 13, 2010, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) will seek a strike mandate. The union is seeking $218 million increase to the annual teaching, staffing as well as salary.

After witnessing what happened at York University last year, I do not want the same thing to happen to Ontario colleges. A strike would mean thousands of college students out of school.

This could lead to two things. First option, a shortened strike would lead to a semester being extended into the summer, which would affect the hundreds (if not thousands) of students who rely on summer jobs. The second option is a loss of the whole semester, which would throw off the academic schedules of students.

While I respect the a everyone’s right to demand what they feel is best for them, all parties involved need to take into consideration the impact that this will have on college students.

The union and the colleges needs to pursue these negotiations through means that don’t throw the academic careers of thousands into jeopardy.”

“We are disappointed that the discussions were not successful,” said Dr. Rachael Donovan, chair of the colleges’ bargaining team. “We had hoped the union would bring its positions in line with the current economic environment and the four recommendations of the Joint Workload Taskforce Report. This did not happen.”

A strike vote will be held on January 13, 2010 to ask faculty members if they favour a strike or not. The union bargaining team has stated that this vote will strengthen its position at the bargaining table. The colleges believe that a strike mandate will be used by the union to take its members out on strike.

“A strike mandate will not change the fundamental reality, which is that a deal has to be affordable and practical. A strike mandate will not give the colleges more money or flexibility to reach a settlement,” said Dr. Donovan.

The Star reported “The union says it is fighting for academic freedom and more teacher control of workload, but it became even more upset in November when the colleges chose to exercise a new right to impose a contract after months of talks failed. The new contract provides an 8 per cent raise over four years, while the union is asking for 7.5 per cent over three years. Imposing the deal does not prevent both sides from reaching an agreement at the bargaining table, but until that happens, the imposed conditions apply.”

One of the concerns of students has been voice by Ashely Brock who starts Durham in January. She says “I don’t start college until January 2010, so what happens if this strike happens? If our semester is pushed into the ’summer’ then our second semester is pushed back as well right? Which means that it will overlap with the September start programs.”

And many students who have to work their way to pay tuition and to support their families at the same time would lose on time in summer if the union goes ahead with the strike.

Author: Rahul Mahta

• In 2008, 36% of adults aged 25 to 64 participated in job-related education or training activities, up from 30% in 2002. At the same time, 32% of adults reported that they wanted to further participate, but did not, an increase from 26% in 2002.
• Data from the survey’s youth component shows that parents are saving for their children’s future education. Two-thirds of children up to the age of 17 had savings for their postsecondary education. Of those with savings, 69% had a Registered Education Savings Plan.
• Between 2002 and 2008, the largest increase in participation occurred among middle-aged people, followed by older Canadians. The increase was less pronounced for younger Canadians. Consequently, for the first time, adults aged 35 to 44 had participation rates similar to younger adults aged 25 to 34. Participation in job-related education or training was highest among the 25 to 34 age group (43%), followed closely by the 35 to 44 age group (42%). The rate fell to 29% for adults aged 45 to 64.
• Participation in job-related education or training increased in all provinces. The fastest growth occurred in Prince Edward Island, where the participation rate rose from 27% in 2002 to 41% in 2008.

• Family responsibilities, needing to work and conflicts with work schedules were the most common reasons for not pursuing further education or training. These reasons differed between age groups.
•  Young people aged 18 to 24 cited training costs as the most important reason, while adults 25 to 64 cited family responsibilities.
• Reasons for not pursuing further education or training have changed over time. Among Canadians who reported an unmet need or demand, the proportion of adults who reported costs as a barrier fell from 43% in 2002 to 36% in 2008.
• In contrast, the proportion of adults who cited conflicts with their work schedule rose from 27% to 39%. The proportion of adults who cited family responsibilities increased from 27% to 34%.

• In 2008, 68% of children up to the age of 17, whose parents expected them to go beyond high school, had savings for their postsecondary education. This was an increase from 43% in 1999 and 52% in 2002.
• Of children who had savings put aside for their education, 69% had savings in RESPs in 2008, up from 42% in 1999 and 55% in 2002.
• Children with parents who had a postsecondary education were almost twice as likely to have savings compared with children whose parents had less than high school education.

Source: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/091125/dq091125b-eng.htm

High school seniors can get away with not writing a college essay, but they would be probably only applying to public colleges or for two year programs. For others applying for scholarships, private colleges or honors programs at public colleges, now is the time to crank out the college essay. 

For many students, the college application essay, also known as the personal statement, is the most important part of the college application process. Since colleges don’t give applicants that much space to write, there’s a lot to do.

So what’s it all about? The college essay is anywhere from 400-800 words usually, and the topic is generally on something related to the personality of the student. That means the topic is not very specific but pretty open. A common topic given by colleges is: Discuss an experience that changed you. I have seen some colleges ask applicants to create an interview transcript (line by line summary) of an interview between the applicant and Jon Stewart on the Daily Show. However, there’s no right answer and no formula for success.

The college essay is a chance for students to reveal who they really are. Though students are sending in test scores and grades, the essay is the opportunity to write about motivation, interests, goals, and even more. 

The first key to a good essay is to start early, way way ahead of when it is due. Secondly, students should have 7, 8, or even 15 drafts! 

The good essay may contain some dialogue, or at least some actual experience. I have seen great essays with a description of a past experience – a traumatic, a successful, a personal moment that can provide the reader some insight into what happens in the applicant’s life.

A good essay will have focus on the applicant, the writer and will demonstrate some of the applicant’s characteristics or qualities. 

A good essay will show without telling. In other words, a good essay will find a way not to tell the reader who special or amazing the writer is, but will show it. A good way to do this is of course to use examples.

Finally, a good essay may have a turning point, or a description of the moment when the reader realized or learned something

The essay is not the place to share your opinions on your philosophy of life, of religion, or why you love your mother or why you like (or dislike) biryani. It’s not the place to show off your vocabulary, there’s no need to use SAT words unnecessarily. A few nice SAT words will do nicely. 

Since I have written quite a bit about examples, maybe I should give one right about now. A lot of applicants who are writing college essays wonder what they should write about. There really is no limit, but some good examples might be role models that have shaped or affected the way you are now – it could be a cousin or friend. Another good one is an experience that has changed you and this might be a sports experience or something related to afterschool activities like a performance.  Those are rather traditional, but other great topics I have seen include passions, identity, relationship between the student and their neighborhood or neighborhood, among many others. There are many topics but the focus must always be on the writer, the applicant!  

Let me ask the readers a few questions! How many who read this article have decided not to go to college? How many students have decided to apply to private colleges?

  Author: Muntasir Sattar is a PhD student at Teachers College.

Four years of university or one year of career school is choice many students struggle between after completing high school. While many students choose four years of university, students with little money and new immigrants to Canada are compelled to choose a career school. However, a recent investigation by Toronto Star proved this choice to be a critical one.

According to Toronto Star, “fake diplomas, false promises” is what career colleges are about today. John Ratiu who paid 6,000 dollars in tuition to learn the skills for aesthetics industry is now frightened with the idea of treating people. He says “I think I did laser (techniques) in the school for … two or three minutes. The laser is very dangerous if you don’t know how to use it. You could destroy somebody’s face for life.”

It has been  found that provincial colleges and training ministry has failed to protect students against below average education. There are only 10 inspectors who provide licenses to schools and colleges and the same inspectors are also responsible for unlicensed schools. Many students feel that they wasted money paying career colleges and left the college unskilled and unemployed.

Training and Colleges Minister John Milloy said in an interview that his administration is making efforts improve these private colleges. “We’re in the process of developing a system that’s going to protect students,” Milloy said. However, critics have something different to say. Many complain that the ministry has taken too long to take essential steps. MPPs and provincial ombudsman André Marin said, “We believe that it is an area where exploitation, illegality and abuse takes place without recrimination.”

Tuition rates for these career colleges vary with some being as low as $1,000 but some high as $35,000. Most students pay out of their pockets while some are known to use government funding. A strange fact is that about 27,000 students enroll in licensed schools each year.

Records of complaints against licensed schools show 2,546 complaints in a two-year period: About 1/3 of these complaints say that the school had self-study sessions and many diplomas were handed out to students with little and sometimes no instruction at all.

Apart for the ministry being understaffed, there is no regular inspection of these licensed schools.   900 inspection reports of few selected colleges show that the schools had no attendance records on file and many of the teachers were unqualified to a great extent.

When Michel was 10, the war began in Congo, and he and his family escaped to Uganda, and then eventually at the age of 16 he came to Ottawa.

His first memory in Ottawa was temperature of -42 degree Celsius. “It was shocking,” he says, “and it was hard to settle.”

With no education from Congo where teachers are killed, it is amazing to hear Michel speak English. It is hard to believe that he had learned it in a past few years. Now, he has graduated from high school and is a student at University of Toronto.

Michel is aware of issues like hunger, poverty, lack of education and healthcare in the world having faced it himself in Congo, however what issues does he see here in Canada, I ask him.

Living in Downtown Toronto, homeless people have attracted Michel’s attention. “We have to see them as humans rather than as homeless men and women in the society, maybe smile at them,” he says. “Every single person has some kind of struggle,” Michel says however your belief should be “yes, you can make it out; yes, there is hope..and keep being courageous.”

For a year after his arrival in Canada, Michel used local food banks. And he has come across many students who use food bank, “but they would never tell that they use food bank,” Michel says. “So hunger is another issue in Toronto.”

Michel has been working with Free The Children for the past two years.

Free The Children in an international development and youth empowerment non-profit organization. It has built more than 500 schools throughout India, Sri Lanka, Asia, Africa and Latin America, providing education to over 50,000 kids. Craig Chiliburger, the co-founder of Free The Children, is a 26-year-old young chap who has initiated excellent projects here at home as well as abroad.

“Locally we do Halloween for Hunger. We have over a million people who have volunteered..that’s more than any political party” in Canada, says Craig. Free The Children has launched summer camps, food banks, leadership programs for the youth and so on.

I asked Craig why don’t we focus on social issues here at home rather than starting projects abroad. And I have asked this question of a number of politicians, of professionals, of community leaders, of youth, however this was the first time I heard a reasonable answer.

 “1 in 5 Canadians were not born in this country..so what is Canada..and we need to have a global vision,” Craig says. He adds there are people whose friends and families don’t live in Canada, so “I question where is home.” “We have won the lottery of life,” he says about life in Canada and this is exactly “why we need to look at global issues.”

Many a times I hear that issues of youth – youth of any community – are the same. Many complain that adults do not take youth’s initiatives seriously enough. Craig wholeheartedly agrees.

 “Youth is not challenged enough to engage from local to global” – Craig Kielburger, the co-founder of Free The ChildrenWhen he read the newspaper article on the suffering of a child, he took it upon himself to come up with the idea of Free The Children. Just like any youth, he was told “to wait” to finish his education first, find a job and then think about poverty and hunger, climate change and war in the world. This he says is the youth issue – not being “challenged enough to engage from local to global,” not being taken seriously, having the youth to wait until they are 30 or 40 years old.

“Youth is not challenged enough to engage from local to global” – Craig Kielburger, the co-founder of Free The Children

Dalai Lama summed the challenge of our time best “The greatest challenge of our time is that we are raising the generation of bystanders.” Craig and Michel and many others are working tirelessly “to raise the generation of upstanders.”

How does youth get involved? Craig’s suggestion is to identify what you are most passionate about, and his experience has been that youth do get involved in issues that have affected them one way or the other.  And he firmly believes that every youth has “a gift to share.” Issue + Gift = Change in the World

Craig has a unique perspective of bringing about political change. He feels that Canadian politicians have failed to inspire the youth with their lack of leadership; that “young people are interested in changing the world; they are just not doing it the way their parents did it.” Yes casting the ballot is important but that is just once in four years.

Youth, Craig feels, is more interested in bringing about social justice by joining non-for-profit organizations such as Free The Children. Be being engaged in organizations such as Free The Children is how their voices is heard the best.

 Author: Asma Amanat