Public hearings are being held on the subject of potentially scrapping the CEGEP system in Quebec, and replacing it with an extra year of high school.
Me to them: Hands off!
CEGEP is the best two years of many students’ entire academic careers. I’m far from the only person to say this.
For pre-university students, it’s a chance to adapt to a collegial environment before the pressure begins of choosing a major and a career path. For students in technical programs, it’s a chance to get a free education that will lead to a solid career path. For everyone, it’s a great social and academic environment, free of the trappings of the typical high school.
If a student switches programs in CEGEP, it costs them maybe an extra semester and a few textbooks. Switching programs in university can mean up to a year or more of extra tuition costs. CEGEP provides an opportunity to try out a few different things, during the truly formative years of one’s life, and find the path that suits them best before investing in a university degree in the subject.
CEGEP is one of the few things that Quebec actually got right. Work on funding education better, not messing up the system.
I’ve got to say, as an Ontario boy born and bred, CEGEP is just a black box to me. I’m not saying anything bad about it, it’s just completely outside of my experience. People from Quebec talk about it, and I just do a Jack Russell (tun head to side, look bewildered).
A Government got something right?!
Quick, change it before anyone notices…
Gotta agree.
CEGEP is a virtual last chance for those that might have received poor-average marks in high school to prove themselves otherwise and I think it works.
I never saw the point of ‘junior’ high and the need for a transition from elementary to high school, but IMO, there’s a need for one before university. CEGEP let’s you explore things before you actually commit. (Anyone take the Psi Factor at Vanier with Gary Granger?)
Another year stuck in high school learning would not advance anyone’s education and I wouldn’t want to wish upon my enemies adding another year to university either.
Yah, the CEGEP system is great, especially for former science students such as myself. Not only are the CEGEP equivalent courses slower paced and more manageable but only approximately 1/2 of my courses every term where in the sciences unlike out-of-province McGill freshman who literally only take science courses their first year. Yikes.