How Much Diversity in Our Schools?

Abstract

CANADIANS tend to see our country as demonstrating the possibilities of a society with high cultural diversity and low conflict. (1) We are officially a bilingual country, with guarantees of education for religious and language minorities, as well as the rights of Aboriginal people, embedded in our constitution. Since 1971, multiculturalism has been an established element of Canadian national policy alongside bilingualism. We are a country built on immigration from many parts of the world; Canada accepts about 250,000 immigrants and refugees per year, which is close to 1% of the population, among the highest rates in the world. The vast majority of Canada's immigrants today come from eastern and southern Asia. Many do not speak English or French as a first language. As a result, Canada's large cities are highly diverse. Toronto is nearly 50% foreign-born, while most other urban centers also have substantial immigrant and nonwhite populations. In recognition of these realities, Canada's public school system already embodies quite a bit of diversity and choice, even though the issue has not sparked the same sort of passionate debate as in the U.S. or a number of other countries. Consider some of the educational choices already available to Canadian families: * All provinces have a system of independently governed Francophone schools to meet the requirements for minority-language education in the Canadian constitution; in Quebec the situation is reversed, with a system of Anglophone schools established for the same purpose. * All provinces provide French immersion programs for non-Francophone students who wish to be educated in French. * Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario fund Catholic schools as part of their public systems, again as part of the constitutional arrangements under which they entered the Canadian confederation. * Many provinces provide substantial public funding to independent or private schools, typically at about 50% of the level of funding for public schools. * Most First Nations control their own education systems. * The three northern territories all recognize and support Aboriginal languages in their schools. In Nunavut, most primary teaching is carried on in Inuktitut, the Inuit language still spoken by almost all residents of the territory. * Within their public systems, most provinces support a variety of other alternative programs. Examples include Aboriginal-focus schools, black-focus programs, single-sex programs, religious schools within the public system, bilingual and heritage language schools or programs, multigraded programs, International Baccalaureate programs, and others. For the most part, this approach has worked reasonably well. Canadians feel we have done well compared with the challenges in European countries that suddenly face large numbers of foreign students; think Ireland, Norway, Spain, Sweden, or Switzerland (yes, Switzerland, now 20% foreign-born), not to mention the well-known disputes over immigration in Germany, France, or the Netherlands. But there are definite signs of strain in Canada, too. Recent immigrants--those who have come in the last decade--are not faring as well as did earlier immigrants. (2) Their incomes are lower, and they are having more difficulty getting established, even though they are generally well educated in their home countries and Canada has experienced prosperity and declining unemployment for quite a few years. Canada has continued to struggle over recognition of the educational and labor-market credentials of immigrants, and many immigrants find themselves unable to use professional credentials from their countries of origin. There are worries that many second-generation Canadians feel alienated from Canadian society and continue to experience unacceptable levels of discrimination, especially with regard to employment. Meanwhile, Canada's nearly one million Aboriginal people--who are, of course, not immigrants--continue to lag significantly behind national averages in such areas as longevity, health, and education. …