Statement made on 14 December 2010 by Senator Rose-Marie Losier-Cool
Hon. Rose-Marie Losier-Cool:
Honourable senators, last week, the OECD, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, released the results of its latest triennial report on education in 65 countries around the world.
As a former teacher, I always read this report with a great deal of interest, particularly when it pertains to my home province of New Brunswick. I learned this year that Canada now ranks fifth in the world in reading, seventh in science and eighth in mathematics.
I was interested but not surprised to learn that girls still outperform boys in reading skills across the country and around the world. I was also not surprised to learn that francophone students in minority situations have more difficulties than anglophone students.
While Canada's current scores may seem enviable, honourable senators, I am concerned that our country has slipped in its ranking since the year 2000. I urge our government to pay attention to this trend and to address it. After all, today's children are tomorrow's leaders, and we want the best for them now and for us later.
New Brunswick has made some progress in reading skills since 2000, seeing that we are now ranked eighth in the country. We advanced from ninth to seventh place in math, and from tenth to ninth place in science. Thus, some progress has been made, but I would like to see more. I truly hope that the budget cuts imposed by the New Brunswick government, including cuts to education, will not affect the progress made thus far.
Honourable senators, a good reading ability is the key to all scholastic success. No matter the subject, if someone cannot read properly, they will not learn the subject well. I urge all parents and schools from New Brunswick, and those in the rest of Canada, to help our children acquire superior reading skills, which will give them access to stores of other knowledge. Moreover, reading well usually translates into writing well, something we all want our kids to do, if only to save us from cringing when we read their Christmas cards.
During this holiday season, why not give the gift of reading? As gifts this year, we should all give our children or grandchildren a book, a magazine or newspaper subscription, a dictionary or even private reading lessons.
To all honourable senators, my wish for you is the pleasure of reading each and every day.