SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT

The Mystery of Deteriorating Student Writing, Part II

In response to yesterday’s posting, a commenter advanced the theory that the reason that student writing has deteriorated in Canada is that, unlike many other countries Canada attempts to keep all of its students in school for the longest possible time, as opposed to having an élitist system that educates only its brightest and best to high levels.

However, the OECD’s Highlights from Education at a Glance 2009 suggests that this explanation is not correct. On page 19, the top graph ranks the OECD countries according to the percentage of young people graduating from upper secondary education. Canada falls just below the OECD average, with lower graduation rates than 16 other countries. The top graph on page 21 ranks the OECD countries according to the percentage of young people who are first-time graduates of university-level education. Here Canada ranks well below the OECD average, with lower graduation rates than 19 other countries.

This suggests that the non-élitist theory doesn’t adequately explain why student writing has deteriorated in Canada. Other theories are welcome.