2020: The Future of Canadian Education

George G. Ambury is an associate professor of adult education at
Queen’s University.

Readers who recall Crawford Kilian’s School Wars (1985) will be
startled by his changed stance regarding both education and party
politics. Here he sets out to examine some recent developments that have
led to difficult times for public education. Again, British Columbia is
his focus. His critique of high-school education is scathing but
sensitive to the problems faced by educators trying to sort their way
through the morass. Going into the 21st century, Kilian supports an
education system that is increasingly diverse, that values independent
learning, that has standards without being standardized, and that places
strong emphasis on the arts.

Kilian’s writing is clear, his criticism accurate, and his wit
acerbic. He manages to cut through the jargon of the education system
and shed new light on old issues. However, some of his recommendations
are questionable. For example, his advocacy of the unlimited development
of small, privately operated schools assumes that effective teachers
will also be effective businesspeople and, further, that politicians
will be willing to cede control. As well, his discussion of
cost-effective ways of providing course material omits mention of both
distance education, which could be accredited interprovincially, and
computer-assisted instruction, which is now international. Nevertheless,
when it comes to the politics of educational change, Kilian offers a
timely warning: “In the short term, education is more useful as a
problem than as a solution.”