The government funds they rely on to survive as students have been delayed due to some computer SNAFU. It also seems to me that the system, both technological and human, is too insensitive to the critical consequences of such screw ups on these students. I was told many had to drop out of school because they could not continue because of the delay receiving in the life changing funding they are relying on.
This is an emergency for these people and I hope the powers that be understand this and don't just see it as some kind of technical computer glitch. This has serious human consequences. I understand that the Alberta government messed up on the processing of funding for these people. This is obviously a life changing experience for many - but not in the way it is supposed to be changing their lives.
Personal debt levels are very high these days for everyday Albertans. Debt concerns are to the point there is a general anxiety amongst many middle class Albertans over how sustainable their futures are. I am told that many middle class people are just two pay cheques away from poverty. Scary. Aspirations to better their standards of living are diminishing as they feel they are running harder and longer just to stay in the same place...life on the treadmill. Youth are even in worse shape.
Take that level of concern and add marginalization, poverty and vulnerability to the emotional mix and you get a toxic brew for folks trying to better themselves through education and upgrading. When they get the courage and conviction to take on more education in order to become self-reliant and resilient they sure don't need the kick in head of a funding fiasco.
I am told the bucks problem stops at Minister Thomas Lukaszuk's desk. I know Thomas and believe he is all about doing the right thing. This right thing is urgent as well as important. I hope Minister Lukaszuk if fully and forcefully engaged in resolving this problem given the emergency it is for so many vulnerable Albertans who are just trying to better themselves.
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If anything should be cut to the bone in the government it's post-secondary education subsidies. Waste of money. It's the student who benefits only.
ReplyDeleteIf we gave half as much to post-secondary students as we do to Big Oil -- including a shameful greenwashing PR campaign and billions on untried technology -- the problem would solve itself. Sadly, too many of our so-called leaders have little or no formal education pst high school.
ReplyDeleteGovernments tend not to worry so much about people living in the margins.
ReplyDeleteAs someone engaged with the trans community, where congruent identification can get in the way of obtaining jobs or housing (or even put someone at risk of violence); many ID amendments can't be obtained until surgery; surgery can't be approved (funding or no) until 1-2 years after starting transition and now funding is cut, you've got an entire group of people who find that careers, relationships and much else that goes with life are postponed indefinitely.
I'm not going to go on about that, because I'm sure you've heard it before. But the point is, there's little consequence to marginalized populations, and sometimes this government even specifically targets them to save a fourteen thousandth of the health budget. I wish it was otherwise.
Education is one of those areas where access has always been dependent on affluence. It doesn't matter if you're brilliant and driven when you leave high school -- if you can't afford it, you simply don't advance from there. Of course, this issue is something that is not limited to Alberta, but it does mean that we will always have a certain segment of our population's potential go wasted.
We -- whether politicians or Albertans at large -- need to start recognizing health and education funding as an investment in the potential and future of our province, rather than seeing it solely as an economic burden.