{"id":34953,"date":"2001-02-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2001-02-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.caut.ca\/bulletin\/flip-flopping-on-education\/"},"modified":"2001-02-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2001-02-01T00:00:00","slug":"flip-flopping-on-education","status":"publish","type":"bulletin","link":"https:\/\/www.caut.ca\/fr\/bulletin\/flip-flopping-on-education\/","title":{"rendered":"Flip-Flopping on Education"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"alignfull wp-block-wicket-banner\">\n<div class=\"component-banner py-8 px-4 relative bg-accent-a-100 bg-mode-light\">\n\n\t\n\t<div class=\"container z-10 relative\">\n\t\t<div class=\"flex flex-col lg:flex-row items-start gap-5\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"flex grow flex-col gap-8 basis-full lg:basis-7\/12 w-full\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n<a \tclass=\"component-link inline-flex items-center gap-2 hover:underline focus:shadow-focus\"\n\thref=\"\/bulletins\"\n\ttarget=\"_self\"\n\t>\n\t\n<span \n\tclass=\"component-icon icon\"\n\t>\n\t<i class=\"fa-solid fa-arrow-left\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>\n\t<span class=\"sr-only\">\n\t\tGo back to \/bulletins\t<\/span>\n<\/span>Retour<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h1\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"component-banner__title text-heading-3xl font-bold text-left\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFlip-Flopping on Education\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"flex flex-col md:flex-row items-start md:items-center gap-3 md:gap-5\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n<ul class=\"component-social-sharing flex gap-2 list-none p-0 m-0 items-center\">\n\t<li \t\t\tclass=\"font-bold \" >\n\t\tPartager\t<\/li>\n\t<li>\n\t\t\n<a\thref='https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/www.caut.ca\/fr\/bulletin\/flip-flopping-on-education\/' target='_blank' aria-label=' (opens in new tab)'\t\tclass=\"\n\tcomponent-social-sharing__button component-button inline-flex items-center button button--ghost button--sm button--rounded\"\n\n\t\t>\n\t\n<span \n\tclass=\"custom-icon-class component-icon icon\"\n\t>\n\t<i class=\"fab fa-facebook-f fa-fw\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>\n\t<span class=\"sr-only\">\n\t\tShare on Facebook (opens in a new tab)\t<\/span>\n<\/span><\/a>\n\t<\/li>\n\t<li>\n\t\t\n<a\thref='https:\/\/bluesky.app\/compose?text=Flip-Flopping+on+Education+-+https%3A%2F%2Fwww.caut.ca%2Ffr%2Fbulletin%2Fflip-flopping-on-education%2F' target='_blank' aria-label=' (opens in new tab)'\t\tclass=\"\n\tcomponent-social-sharing__button component-button inline-flex items-center button button--ghost button--sm button--rounded\"\n\n\t\t>\n\t\n<span \n\tclass=\"custom-icon-class component-icon icon\"\n\t>\n\t<i class=\"fa-brands fa-bluesky\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>\n\t<span class=\"sr-only\">\n\t\tShare on Bluesky (opens in a new tab)\t<\/span>\n<\/span><\/a>\n\t<\/li>\n\t<li>\n\t\t\n<a\thref='https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/shareArticle?mini=true&amp;url=https:\/\/www.caut.ca\/fr\/bulletin\/flip-flopping-on-education\/&amp;title=Flip-Flopping+on+Education' target='_blank' aria-label=' (opens in new tab)'\t\tclass=\"\n\tcomponent-social-sharing__button component-button inline-flex items-center button button--ghost button--sm button--rounded\"\n\n\t\t>\n\t\n<span \n\tclass=\"custom-icon-class component-icon icon\"\n\t>\n\t<i class=\"fab fa-linkedin-in fa-fw\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>\n\t<span class=\"sr-only\">\n\t\tShare on LinkedIn (opens in a new tab)\t<\/span>\n<\/span><\/a>\n\t<\/li>\n\t<li>\n\t\t\n<a\thref='mailto:?subject=Flip-Flopping+on+Education&body=https:\/\/www.caut.ca\/fr\/bulletin\/flip-flopping-on-education\/' target='_blank' aria-label=' (opens in new tab)'\t\tclass=\"\n\tcomponent-social-sharing__button component-button inline-flex items-center button button--ghost button--sm button--rounded\"\n\n\t\t>\n\t\n<span \n\tclass=\"custom-icon-class component-icon icon\"\n\t>\n\t<i class=\"fas fa-envelope fa-fw\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>\n\t<span class=\"sr-only\">\n\t\tShare via Email (opens in a new tab)\t<\/span>\n<\/span><\/a>\n\t<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\t<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-primary-color has-text-color has-link-color has-heading-lg-font-size wp-elements-aee0f2252e6e6b9287bef08d669ede69\"><\/h2>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\n<p><div class=\"articleBody\">I feel like a John Ibbitson coupon clipper. Over the past two years I've been collecting the <i>Globe and Mail<\/i> columnist's articles on education, and fittingly, they are very instructive. Occasionally insightful and always bombastic, they are the basis for lively discussions about the direction of schools and universities in Ontario. They are also filled with glaring contradictions that must leave readers scratching their heads about what's going on inside Ibbitson's.<br><br>On Apr. 26, 1999, when he was still working for the <i>National Post<\/i>, Ibbitson wrote a column exposing and denouncing the plans for public education outlined in a report by the Ontario Jobs and Investment Board, headed by a key advisor to Premier Mike Harris. The board proposed turning universities into blunt instruments of provincial economic policy. Ibbitson was not impressed. <br><br>\"The autonomous liberal-arts university is in its last days,\" he wrote. \"Welcome the provincially-controlled, market-sensitive, advanced polytechnic that will replace it.\" Such a scheme would \"sacrifice our humanities programs on the altar of economic advantage (and) surrender our civilization to our economy.\"<br><br>Couldn't have said it better myself, I thought, and I pasted Mr. Ibbitson's column on my bulletin board. <br><br>On Feb. 28, 2000, he again castigated the Ontario government for spending virtually all of its new funding for higher education on market-oriented programs such as business, computer science and engineering. On the heels of the restructuring of elementary and secondary schooling these policies fully exposed the Tories' narrow educational vision. \"Rather than expanding the mind, education will now train it,\" lamented Ibbitson.<br><br>But by the end of the year, as if bitten belatedly by the millennium bug, the author was singing a different tune.<br><br>On Dec.14, in an article on the York University teaching assistants strike, he jumped on the anti-liberal education bandwagon by condemning York's research centres in the humanities and social sciences and by mocking students who were interested in \"feminist research,\" \"practical ethics,\" and \"work society\" and so on. \"If it is humanly possible to graduate with a university degree and still be unable to find a job,\" he inaccurately concluded, \"these are the sorts of courses that will do it.\" He now recommended that York get with the Tory program by emphasizing business, engineering and health sciences.<br><br>On Jan. 9, 2001, Ibbitson's conversion to the Common Sense Revolution appeared complete. Educational changes which he had previously found ghastly were now essential. \"Vital reforms in primary and secondary education by <br>the Mike Harris government have been frustrated by the teachers unions. Attempts to force the province's 18 public universities to reorient their teaching to the imperatives of the job market have led to strikes at York, McMaster University, University of Toronto, and York again.\" He enthused over private education, and praised the government for resolving \"to expose the public universities to the disciplines of the market.\"<br><br>What does this turnabout mean? One could conclude, sympathetically, that Ibbitson is demonstrating remarkable mental agility by clinging to totally incongruous ideas at the same time \u2014 or that he doesn't remember what he wrote a year ago \u2014 or that he is suffering from the pressure of producing copy for deadline. All I know is that he's giving me a headache and I'm no longer tacking his columns to my bulletin board.<br><br><b>Paul Axelrod<\/b><br><i>Social Science, York University<\/i><\/div><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:60px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignfull has-info-a-20-background-color has-background is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><div style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--500);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--500);\" class=\"alignfull alignfull wp-block-wicket-dynamically-related-content\">\n\t<div class=\"px-4 lg:px-0 component-related-posts\">\n\t\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"mb-10\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"text-heading-sm font-bold\">\u00c0 lire aussi Bulletins<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n<a \tclass=\"component-related-posts__view-all underline hover:no-underline ml-4 pl-4 border-l border-dark-070 component-link underline hover:no-underline focus:shadow-focus\"\n\thref=\"\"\n\ttarget=\"_self\"\n\t>\n\tTout voir<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"component-related-posts__col-3 grid gap-10 grid-cols-1 lg:grid-cols-3 lg:gap-4\">\n\t\t\t\t\n<div class=\"@container\">\n\t<div class=\"p-4 component-card-featured bg-white shadow-4 flex flex-col gap-4 relative component-card-featured--bulletin @2xl:flex-col @2xl:items-center\">\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"component-card-featured__content-wrapper flex flex-col grow items-start gap-3\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"component-card-featured__content-type text-dark-070 uppercase font-bold leading-none\">\n\t\t\t\t\tReportage sp\u00e9cial\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.caut.ca\/fr\/bulletin\/le-candidat-mandchou-senprend-a-harvard\/\" class=\"component-card-featured__title block text-dark-100 font-bold leading-7 text-heading-xs @2xl:text-heading-md\">\n\t\t\t\t\tLe candidat mandchou s\u2019en prend \u00e0 Harvard\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"flex gap-3\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"component-card-featured__date text-body-sm text-dark-070 italic\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t11-09-2025\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"@container\">\n\t<div class=\"p-4 component-card-featured bg-white shadow-4 flex flex-col gap-4 relative component-card-featured--bulletin @2xl:flex-col @2xl:items-center\">\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"component-card-featured__content-wrapper flex flex-col grow items-start gap-3\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"component-card-featured__content-type text-dark-070 uppercase font-bold leading-none\">\n\t\t\t\t\tMot de la pr\u00e9sidente\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.caut.ca\/fr\/bulletin\/le-probleme-avec-la-normale\/\" class=\"component-card-featured__title block text-dark-100 font-bold leading-7 text-heading-xs @2xl:text-heading-md\">\n\t\t\t\t\tLe probl\u00e8me avec la normale\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"flex gap-3\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"component-card-featured__date text-body-sm text-dark-070 italic\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t11-09-2025\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"@container\">\n\t<div class=\"p-4 component-card-featured bg-white shadow-4 flex flex-col gap-4 relative component-card-featured--bulletin @2xl:flex-col @2xl:items-center\">\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"component-card-featured__content-wrapper flex flex-col grow items-start gap-3\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"component-card-featured__content-type text-dark-070 uppercase font-bold leading-none\">\n\t\t\t\t\tStatistiques sous la loupe\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.caut.ca\/fr\/bulletin\/greves-et-lock-out-des-associations-de-personnel-academique-au-cours-de-la-derniere-decennie\/\" class=\"component-card-featured__title block text-dark-100 font-bold leading-7 text-heading-xs @2xl:text-heading-md\">\n\t\t\t\t\tGr\u00e8ves et lock-out des associations de personnel acad\u00e9mique au cours de la derni\u00e8re d\u00e9cennie\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"flex gap-3\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"component-card-featured__date text-body-sm text-dark-070 italic\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t11-09-2025\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I feel like a John Ibbitson coupon clipper. Over the past two years I&#8217;ve been collecting the Globe and Mail columnist&#8217;s articles on education, and fittingly, they are very instructive. Occasionally insightful and always bombastic, they are the basis for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"inline_featured_image":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":""},"bulletin-type":[],"issue":[],"topic":[],"class_list":["post-34953","bulletin","type-bulletin","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caut.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bulletin\/34953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caut.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bulletin"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caut.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bulletin"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caut.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"bulletin-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caut.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bulletin-type?post=34953"},{"taxonomy":"issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caut.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue?post=34953"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caut.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=34953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}