The Canadian Student
Periodical profile published 1977

Publisher:  Student Christian Movement, Canada
Year Published:  1977  
Pages:  12pp  
Inactive Serial

Resource Type:  Serial Publication (Periodical)
Cx Number:  CX327

A newsletter that deals with a variety of issues concerning post-secondary education such as tution, discrimination and decreases in enrollment.

Abstract:  This issue looks critically at the way university education shapes and directs students and how they can be involved in this process. Main concerns examined are tuition increases and decreases in student enrolment which are a result of education cutbacks due to government restraints. One article thoroughly examines the relationship between individual, social, and corporate contribution to costs of and benefits from education. The study shows that, while education cost increase, the proportion of corporate tax as a source of government revenue is decreasing. Further, it shows that upper income groups are over-represented at university while working people are largely excluded. A suggestion is made that tuition be abolished, that ability and interest be the requirement for entrance and that the taxation system be reformed to ensure that the corporate sector pay its fair share. Another concern is raised by Saskatchewan students. They show that the "Test of English as a Foreign Language", which is being used by administrators is discriminatory in the way it screens foreign students. Other articles look at the attempts of the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF) to look at the role of universities and ways of working for change in them.
At their recent General Assembly, participants from 72 different countries examined the educational system of their respective societies. These are examined in terms of whether they oppress by propagating state policy, transplanting colonial education and encouraging the development of a ruling elite; or whether they liberate by encouraging decentralization, discouraging urban growth and changing student relationships. The WSCF has outlined a four-year program to facilitate international sharing around these questions. The paper is presented so that issues are looked at in terms of the relationship between faith, ecumenism, political praxis and theological reflection.