Jeffrey SimpsonThe Globe and Mail
Jeffrey Simpson, The Globe and Mail's national affairs columnist, has written twice ( here and here) in recent weeks about the major global comparative education test, PISA, which examines half a million students from 65 countries.
Mr. Simpson took reader questions about Canada's educational performance. Here's an excerpt; click below to read the full conversation.
Question: Why is it that immigrants do well in our schools?
Jeffrey Simpson: I'm not sure of all the reasons, but some might include that the level of education of immigrants overall is high. We see in studies of what makes for success that if the parents are wedded to education, and if they inculcate that in their children, it helps a great deal in the students' success, regadless of parents' incomes. Cultural factors are obviously huge here. I noticed an article the other day about the relatively poor performance of Spanish speakers in the Toronto school system. It so happens that on the PISA tests, students from Spanish-speaking countries do very poorly indeed, which might be a reason for what's ailing Spanish-speaking students in Toronto; their home environments don't give them the cues and support they need.
Question: Regardless of how we compare to other countries, we don't seem to be comparing well to ourselves 20 years ago. How do we combat this problem?
Jeffrey Simpson: The PISA results show we have made progress, not the other way around. Having said that, the results show some slippage in our results. We need to keep improving because the world won't keep still, and the single most important factor in a country's productivity and social well-being is the education of its population at all levels and by all means. That we are spending more on health than education is a very disturbing sign for the future.