Published by Senator Grant Mitchell on 16 November 2011
I met with representatives of the Canadian Federation of Students recently. There were three of them, each very impressive. They are fighting for a variety of matters which they capture in the title of their booklet, “Public Education for the Public Good”.
They have 5 core recommendations: develop a national vision for high quality and affordable post-secondary education; reduce student debt; fund research and graduate studies; fund Aboriginal education; and measure results. They remind us how important a fair and accessible education system is to the strength of our society.
It dawns on me that there might be some good reason why young people are not particularly interested in politics. Perhaps they see a system based on the baby-boomers’ interests that is dumping fiscal and climate change disaster on them; making it increasingly difficult for them to afford a post-secondary education; putting them in undergraduate classes with 500 students if they can find the money; and making it impossible to find career track jobs once they graduate. And, not even allowing them to vote on-line. Why would they be engaged with politics?