Monday, January 9, 2012

The Grass Is Always Greener

I have long whined about Quebec and its underfunding of Higher education, so it is only fair that I should point out, as I learn more about my new home, that Ontario is trying to compete with Quebec in undermining its future.

First, there is the tuition rebate--students who bought into Ontario universities expecting a certain level of fees are getting a significant chunk back.  Which would be ok if the government knew how to pay for it.  But they didn't.  They really did write a check without thinking about how to pay for it.

Which leads to second, they are cutting research funding to pay for the tuition cuts.  Lovely.  Because, as we all know, there is no connection between research and teaching.  Sure, some would argue otherwise.  Oh, I wrote that.  Damn.  What was I thinking?  Oh, that's right, I was thinking that knowledge creation/dissemination might actually be a better multiplier than pretty much any other investment by governments.  Silly me.  Darn those inconvenient facts.

The guy responsible for this, Premier Dalton McGuinty, is a Liberal.  Funny, I used to think that Liberalism went along with Enlightenment, knowledge, education, and such.  But if this is the future of the Liberal Party, then I might actually be glad that the party has been marginalized at the federal level.  Oh, and the future of the Liberals is also mighty @#$!^*&-ed, despite getting sound advice.

On the bright side, it is nice to know that Quebec and the US do not have a monopoly on politicians who don't understand math, budgeting, or education. 

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