Should Cegeps Be Removed From Quebec Education?
Montreal has some of the best universities in the country, but the legitimacy of Cegeps is an issue often brought up during political elections. While the federation of Quebec Cegep students', professors' and professional officials' have demonstrated back in 2009 that removing Cegeps is the wrong way to go, both the pros and cons of Cegeps should be debated.
Ideally, Cegeps are meant to give students the time and resources to try out different career options and decide upon a career before university.
On the negative side, Cegeps are argued to be place for students "to learn how to smoke drugs and drop out" as Francois Legault claimed in 2011. We invest "billions of dollars" said l"ADQ's Guillaume Leduc in 2009, but is our educational system clearly reflecting such a sum?
The major boon to abolishing Cegeps would be more funding for other areas of Quebec's educational system. If Cegep's two year pre-university programs were removed, with teachers relocated, maybe the billions already invested could prevent tuition fees from spiking.
It may be a long time before free education is put into place, as some protesters wished for, but one thing is for sure, we should stop and evaluate our educational system to better strengthen it.
