Canada 加拿大

Education in CanadaⅠ.IntorductionEducation in Canada is for the most part provided publicly, funded and overseen by federal, provincial, and local governments. Education is within provincial jurisdiction and the curriculum is overseen by the province. Education in Canada is generally divided into primary education, followed by secondary education and post-secondary. Within the provinces under the ministry of education, there are district school boards administering the educational programs. Education is compulsory up to the age of 16 in every province in Canada, except for Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick, where the compulsory age is 18, or as soon as a high school diploma has been achieved. In some provinces early leaving exemptions can be granted under certain circumstances at 14. Canada generally has 190 (180 in Quebec) school days in the year, officially starting from September (after Labour Day) to the end of June (usually the last Friday of the month, except in Quebec when it is just before June 24 – the provincial holiday).Ⅱ.GeneralLike China, the year of a semester is from September to June next year, and the mandatory of school is continued to the age of 16 (some is 18).In general, children start to go to the kindergarten at the age of 5. But in some provinces, the kindergarten program is unnecessary. Then after finished the programs in kindergarten, children will go to Elementary & junior high/middle school. Before going to college, people sometimes will have a program called 'victory lap' to get ready to the college studying. In college, students will get Bachelor's degree then they will decide whether they will have a farther study for a Master's or a Doctorate degree. V ocational students can get certificates and diplomas which are the evidence that prove their skills (to get a job).We can see the general systems between China and Canada are similar. But there is still difference, like the course choosing in primary school, you will have certain classes in China which likes a lock to the interest of students. We can make the course opened that have more choose for students not only beginning at the subject in college. Maybe it’s the best reason why people would said “You will find that Can ada is nothing if not diverse!”Ⅲ.Divisions by religion and languageThe Constitution of Canada provides constitutional protections for some types of publicly funded religious-based and language-based school systems.The Constitution Act, 1867 contains a guarantee for publicly funded religious-based separate schools, provided the separate schools were established by law prior to the province joining Confederation. Court cases have established that this provision didnot apply to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Manitoba, British Columbia, and Prince Edward Island, since those provinces did not provide a legal guarantee for separate schools prior to Confederation. The provision did originally apply to Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Newfoundland and Labrador, since these provinces did have pre-existing separate schools. This constitutional provision was repealed in Quebec by a constitutional amendment in 1997, and for Newfoundland and Labrador in 1998. The constitutional provision continues to apply to Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta. There is a similar federal statutory provision which applies to the Northwest Territories.Section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the right of citizens who were educated in the minority language in a particular province to have their children educated in the minority language in publicly funded schools. In practice, this guarantee means that there are publicly funded English schools in Quebec, and publicly funded French schools in the other provinces and the territories.Quebec students must attend a French school up until the end of high school unless one of their parents qualifies as a rights-holder under s. 23 of the Charter. In Ontario, French language schools automatically admit students recognized under section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and may admit non-francophone students through the board's admissions committee consisting of the school principal, a school superintendent and a teacherⅣ.Pre-universityPrimary education and secondary education combined are sometimes referred to as K-12 (Kindergarten through Grade 12). Secondary schooling, known as high school, 'collegiate institute, "école secondaire" or secondary school, consists of different grades depending on the province in which one resides. Furthermore, grade structure may vary within a province or even within a school division and may or may not include middle school or junior high school.Kindergarten (or its equivalent) is available for children in all provinces in the year they turn five (except Ontario and Quebec, where it begins a year earlier), but the names of these programs, provincial funding, and the number of hours provided varies widely. For example, the Ministry of Education in Nova Scotia refers to Kindergarten as Grade Primary.Ontario offers two years of optional kindergarten (junior kindergarten for four-year olds and senior kindergarten for five-year olds). At French schools in Ontario, these programs are called Maternelle and CPE Centre de la Petite Enfance. In 2010, Ontario increased both years to full-day programs, while BC's single year of kindergarten became full-day in 2012. Quebec offers heavily subsidized preschool programs and introduced an early kindergarten program for children from low-income families in 2013. Students in the Prairie provinces are not required by statute to attend kindergarten. As a result, kindergarten often is not available in smaller towns.Dependent on the province the age of mandatory entry to the education system is at 4–7 years. Starting at grade one, at age six or seven, there is universal publicly funded access up to grade twelve (age seventeen to eighteen), except in Quebec, where secondary school ends one year earlier. Children are required to attend school until the age of sixteen (eighteen in Manitoba, Ontario, and New Brunswick). In Quebec, the typical high school term ends after Secondary V/Grade eleven (age sixteen to seventeen); following this, students who wish to pursue their studies to the university level have to attend college (see Education in Quebec). Quebec is currently the only province where Grade 12 is part of postsecondary, though Grade 11 was also the end of secondary education in Newfoundland and Labrador prior to the introduction of grade 12 in 1983.Ⅴ.CollegeThe colleges in Canada all have a characteristic, that is, high quality. And because of the diversity of culture, universities in Canada provide the opportunities to try the education settings. And they belong to two groups, Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada. Moreover, some universities offer themselves.Another characteristic is the wild boundary of the college lesson. There are many choices to the student to choose to study undergraduate, graduate or professional programs in many areas. And the college system had used a new model which focus on combining the theory study and the practicing. And because of the mix people group in Canada, many colleges offer English lesson and French lesson.Not only a place to study, but also a part of life for the local people. They often organize some activities like concert and provide the facilities for people use. And some universities participate in the country research.Compared to Canada, the college system in China has many things to learn. First, the levels of Chinese colleges are not unified. Like undergraduate colleges, there are 3 levels. And it is a good idea to establish the college organization. On one hand, it is convenient to manage, on the other hand, it provide a way for communicating between each other for improving. Unlike in Canada, most of the colleges in China would be only described as a place of study, although there are people live in the university, but they are not relative to the college system. In my opinion, the college could share the facility to the people like the gym and provide the chance to students that let them work in the community.Ⅵ.Religious schoolsEach province deals differently with private religious schools. In Ontario the Catholic system continues to be fully publicly funded while other faiths are not. Ontario has several private Jewish, Muslim, and Christian schools all funded through tuition fees. Since the Catholic schools system is entrenched in the constitution, the Supreme Court has ruled that this system is constitutional. However, the United Nations Human Rights Committee has ruled that Ontario's system is discriminatory,suggesting that Ontario either fund no faith-based schools, or all of them. In 2002 the government of Mike Harris introduced a controversial program to partially fund all private schools, but this was criticized for undermining the public education system and the program was eliminated after the Liberals won the 2003 provincial election.In other provinces privately operated religious schools are funded. In British Columbia the government pays independent schools that meet rigorous provincial standards up to 50% of the per-student operating cost of public schools. The province has a number of Sikh, Hindu, Christian, and Muslim schools. Alberta also has a network of charter schools, which are fully funded schools offering distinct approaches to education within the public school system. Alberta charter schools are not private and the province does not grant charters to religious schools. These schools have to follow the provincial curriculum and meet all standards, but are given considerable freedom in other areas. In all other provinces private religious schools receive some funding, but not as much as the public system.An example of how schools can be divided by religion, Toronto has two English boards; Toronto Catholic District School Board and Toronto District School Board, and two French boards; Conseil scolaire de district catholique Centre-Sud and Conseil scolaire Viamonde.。