May 20: Grade 13
There used to be a Grade 13 in Ontario, the province where I live.
Not anymore. It used to be called the Ontario Academic Credit but the
province's Ministry of Education abolished it in 1998 and it was
ultimately phased out in 2003. I was working for a newspaper in that
time and the graduating classes that year were huge. It was all part of
the "double cohort," which was a juggernaut of a term that meant "extra
big class."
Eliminating Grade 13 was the New Democrats idea. They started studying the issue in the mid 90s when they formed the government. Then when the Progressive Conservatives took over, they acted on the NDP idea. This basically means that all the parties in Ontario thought eliminating Grade 13 was awesome. I don't know what the Liberals thought. I don't care either.
Gen X'ers who went to high school in Alberta had no Grade 13 to contend with. They graduated at age 18, which meant that they graduated on the onset of adulthood. They could vote. They could drink (legally.) They could claim to be high school graduates.
Today, when kids say that they're in Grade 13, they usually mean they're trying to upgrade their high school grades so thy can get accepted at university.
To be sure, the phasing out of the Ontario Academic Credit was likely a difficult one for the province's high school students. Their workload suddenly increased because now they had to assimilate 13 years worth of knowledge into 12.
Now that Ontario's educational journey has been streamlined into 12 years, it's probably a little easier for the kids. I guess that means that Grade 4 kids are being introduced to exponents and Grade 2 students are being asked to write essays on the death of Tsar Nicholas II, but that's all fine and dandy if it means eliminating one year of high school.
Eliminating Grade 13 was the New Democrats idea. They started studying the issue in the mid 90s when they formed the government. Then when the Progressive Conservatives took over, they acted on the NDP idea. This basically means that all the parties in Ontario thought eliminating Grade 13 was awesome. I don't know what the Liberals thought. I don't care either.
Gen X'ers who went to high school in Alberta had no Grade 13 to contend with. They graduated at age 18, which meant that they graduated on the onset of adulthood. They could vote. They could drink (legally.) They could claim to be high school graduates.
Today, when kids say that they're in Grade 13, they usually mean they're trying to upgrade their high school grades so thy can get accepted at university.
To be sure, the phasing out of the Ontario Academic Credit was likely a difficult one for the province's high school students. Their workload suddenly increased because now they had to assimilate 13 years worth of knowledge into 12.
Now that Ontario's educational journey has been streamlined into 12 years, it's probably a little easier for the kids. I guess that means that Grade 4 kids are being introduced to exponents and Grade 2 students are being asked to write essays on the death of Tsar Nicholas II, but that's all fine and dandy if it means eliminating one year of high school.
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