By Dr. Bikkar Singh Lalli PhD (Brit. Col.)
We know that only a higher education improves an individual’s quality of life, and a community’s social standing. .Studies after studies show that, “compared to high school graduates, college graduates have longer life spans, better access to health care, better dietary and health practices, greater economic stability and security, more prestigious employment and greater job satisfaction, less dependency on government assistance, greater knowledge of government, greater community service and leadership, more volunteer work, more self-confidence, and less criminal activity and incarceration”.
I am wondering if the Indo-Canadian community is realizing the importance of higher education. The children from this community, are falling behind in this race of acquiring higher degrees. No community, in fact, no country can progress without providing adequate education to its citizens. In 1868 Emperor Meiji of Japan, started “Meiji Restoration”- educating the citizens, the project which accelerated Japan’ economic development. By 1910 Japan was almost fully literate, by 1913, publishing more books than Britain, and more than twice as in US. In second half of 20th century, South Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, followed similar routes and firmly focused on general expansion of education. The Jewish community, with population much less than the Sikh community, has produced over 145 Nobel Laureates, is practically controlling the US economy, media and foreign policy. Why, because in order to survive the Jews must have a political and economic clout., and that can be achieved only through high quality education. The Sikhs have struggled for survival ever since Sikh religion came into existence, and will have to keep on struggling. So they must arm their children with the best possible weapon they can have, and that is high quality education. They must start living in the present, and rely less on the past, the past must strengthen the will to survive. Indo-Canadian community will never have any impact on the governance of Canada unless it changes its priorities, and start thinking seriously in motivating the children to dream.
During Convocation Ceremonies, both in May and in Nov. of this year, UBC, awarded around 10950 degrees. Among the recipients of the degrees, were, roughly, 279 members from Indo-Canadian community(Hindu-Sikh).Thus, the trend of year by year “diminishing-returns” continued. I must remind my community again that post-secondary education has become a basic educational requirement for most occupations in the modern economy. Sometimes ago the Ministry of Advanced Education projected that, in the future, 74 per cent of the employment openings will require post-secondary education. So our first resolve should be to prepare our children for a college or a university education We must start parenting our children well from day one a child is born to equip him/her with necessary social skills and academic competence to compete. Like other Canadian parents we want our children to enter professional colleges. In 2012,a poll questioned 1003 Canadian adults on what profession they would be most likely to encourage their children to enter. The top spot went to doctors with 94 percent. For 290 (?) placements in the Faculty of Medicine at UBC, each year over 1800 well qualified applicants vie for those places. I sincerely admire those parents who, in case of disappointment in Canada, send their children to medical colleges in Caribbean Islands, Poland or Ireland. An investment in knowledge pays the best interest. — Benjamin Franklin.
An entry to a good college, is getting harder year by year. The cut off point at UBC was 88%, at SFU-87%, in 2014. The admission averages, for entry to Business Faculty and Science Faculty, were higher. Initial letter of acceptance from UBC is conditional,-can be revoked if the initially reported average is not maintained, when final marks are in, after provincial exams. Being a member of the admission committee, I know that we receive many appeals from students who fail to satisfy the stated condition. For the last three years, UBC is using a method called “Broad Based Admission”, for making a selection. It is using personal profiles to determine who gains admission to a school instead of relying on grades. Although grades still play a very important, the use of the personal profile allows for a more holistic admissions evaluation. The profile consists of 3-5 short answer questions where applicants identify significant personal or academic experiences, describing what they have learned from their experiences. I belieeve that applicants from our community are disadvantaged by this method a large number of them have relatively poor upbringing. I do get some calls of perceived unfairness, from some parents. The university received more than 29,000 applications for about 7,700 undergraduate spots last year, including first year and transfer spots in second and third year.
Shakespeare: “Some men are borne great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them In the schooling of the children we have to make sure that we do not have smallness thrust upon our young”. Is the Indo-Canadian community in Canada, especially in Surrey, unwittingly, thrusting smallness on the next generation?. Why almost all the elementary schools in Surrey, where children from our community are in majority, have among the worst ranking among the elementary schools in BC? We know that there is a language gap, and that develops long before children enter pre-K We also know that many children who arrive in school unprepared, lack not just exposure to language but also lag in their social-emotional development, making it difficult for them to succeed in a classroom. Children from Chinese community, also have this “language gap” when they initially register in a school. But with their parents’ persistent involvement , the gap disappears by the time they enter grade four. Key learning takes place in a child’s first six years, and that learning sets the stage for success in school and in life. So let us heavily invest our time in “Early Childhood Development”, sit with them , read with them, paint with them, and sing with them.. Create in them a love for learning.
I would urge our “societies” to spend as much time and money on projects that are geared to improve the academic performance, social skills , and communication skills of our children as they are spending on organizing sports tournaments. Though, I commend our political representatives who participate in the “affairs” of the country, they must find some time to explore some ways in reducing the “Knowledge Deficit” in our community. It our collective responsibility to prepare our children for a glorious future.
