Goodbye, to my old college program

Today I went to a farewell party for my old PR program, which is shutting down after many, many years being a program for young professionals to grow.

Many people I knew over the last 10-12 years have done really well for themselves, and I've followed their career fairly closely.  They've been doing really well as directors, managers and coordinators of communications, public relations and marketing. They are hardworking, incredibly smart, dedicated individuals. They've succeeded.

But the Ontario education system has not. Ontario colleges, to fill the gap in funding they took it from international students, which then turned into a housing crisis. which then turned off the international student tap, which then meant colleges are now closing and struggling.

When I started in my program there was maybe 1 or 2 international students.  When the program ended, the mandate for the programs was to bring in as many international students as possible. (Slightly differently worded, but the same outcome for my college program and many similar programs.)

And we can't train only local resident Canadians because then the government shoulders the cost of education at the post-secondary level.   And the cost of real, practical post-secondary education is a problem no government wants to solve or pay for, federal or provincial.

It's expensive to train people. It's expensive to give them a world class education. We are beyond lucky we have the good teachers and good educational systems built into Canadian values.

But the creative programs that're being cut from Ontario's colleges will, eventually, have negative effects.

Where will we train young people before they get into the workforce? Are we going to be returning to unpaid internships and a never ending promise to pay younger employees?

Training costs money. You can't avoid that. And if the government won't address the educational gap that will eventually exist, what kind of quality of work will we have in Canada, which is known as a country of experts and highly skilled and highly trained individuals?  

I'm not all doom and gloom, but it's telling that a full program of students can still shut down because the funding does not exist for what is an extremely modest program with mostly part-time staff and very little corporate costs other than a nearly run-down Degrassi set and some stationary.

It's college programs that will continue to make Canada a great nation; it's great teachers and great ideals that produce the kind of workforce Canadians can be proud of.