Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Mar 11/02) - The Northwest Territories' education system is getting higher marks than it deserves.

So said some MLAs when the legislative assembly on March 5 turned its focus to what Tu Nedhe's Steven Nitah called the "silver bullet" cure to social woes, the education system.

Nitah said the education system is failing in the smaller communities.

Yellowknife MLA Brendan Bell urged the government to focus more on preparing students for post secondary education instead of promoting the number of graduates it produces.

Education Minister Jake Ootes said statistical comparisons do not offer a complete measure of the effectiveness of the education system.

And the numbers do not reflect the success of adult education programs and apprenticeship programs, he added.

The NWT leads the country, on a per capita comparison, in apprenticeship training, Ootes said.

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The government practice of advancing students with their peers regardless of academic performance can ultimately discourage students from small communities, said Nitah.

"That's a devastating blow to a 16-year-old that's ready to take on the world," he said.

Not long ago, Nitah was just such a person.

At the age of 16 he moved from Lutsel K'e to Akaitcho Hall in Yellowknife to attend high school. Nitah was told he would have to spend the first year in an upgrading class.

Already a year or two older than most students, Nitah lasted until Christmas, then left. Unlike many, he returned the next year.

Education Minister Jake Ootes said keeping students of the same age together has proven to reduce drop-out rates.

"That doesn't mean that in Grade 9 everybody is at the Grade 9 level, there may be students who are taking subjects in Grade 7 or Grade 6 or whatever level they're at."

The minister acknowledged that teaching multiple levels in each grade in communities where classrooms often have multiple grades is a challenge for teachers.

Nitah said the government should do away with the practice of automatically advancing students.

Parents must also play a more active role in the education of their children, he said.

The NWT slant

Bell said that completing Grade 12 English and social studies courses is a requirement for graduating high school in Alberta.

In the NWT the only mandatory Grade 12 course is English.

Final grades are an even blend of the mark for course work in NWT schools and results on Alberta standard exams.

Bell suggested universities and colleges are more likely to focus on scores on the Alberta exams if there is a wide range between the two.

"I think they've tended to focus on graduation rates rather than how many kids are really able to go to post secondary school after they graduate," Bell said.