LET’S talk about education in Canada in general. Firstly, Canada has a decentralized school system. That means the education system in Quebec is totally different than the education system in Ontario. But on the average, children usually go to elementary school starting at the age of 3 and will culminate by the age of 13. They then go to high school from the ages of 14 to 18. While a public elementary and secondary school is funded by the provincial government, a private institution is funded by the tuition of the students. Since public primary education is free, it is advisable for parents to enroll their children there. They also provide quality education just like their private counterparts. The only difference is that private schools which are members of a certain curriculum follow that particular curriculum. Examples of these school systems are the Waldorf, the Montessori and the Jesuit school systems.

On the other hand, handed down by undergraduate colleges are not just bachelor’s degrees but certificates and diplomas of short courses as well. Meanwhile, graduate colleges are for people who have finished undergraduate colleges and who want to pursue a career in medicine, law or dentistry. And then there are language schools. Most enrollees in these language schools are foreigners. These foreigners choose from the following programs to enroll – English and French. It is noted that half of Canada speak English while the other half speak French. But some of the enrollees in these language schools are Canadians themselves who belong to the other half of the speaking population in a particular place.

That means people enrolling French in a language school in Quebec are English-speaking Canadians while people enrolling English in a language school in Ontario are French-speaking Canadians. For foreigners who study language here, it is a very enjoyable time for them. Students are grouped according to differing nationalities. You will have classmates from Hong Kong, Germany, Italy, Finland, Poland, the Czech Republic, Mexico, the Netherlands and Russia all struggling to learn English or French at the same time. At dusk, students will be billeted to their host families for private tutorials. There, they will be assimilated with Canadian culture local to that place and will get a taste of Canadian cuisine. But students are also expected to share their language with their Canadian hosts. A student from Hong Kong for instance is expected to share Cantonese with hosts. There is really nothing to worry about under this scheme because the Canadian host families have already been pre-selected by the language schools.

The last form of Canadian education is online or correspondence education. Correspondence education has existed since the 1960s and one will receive lessons and quizzes periodically through the mail. The student must mail back the quiz answers so they can be graded by the school. Online education is relatively new and its birth corresponds to that of the World Wide Web. There are two forms of education, one is via email and one is via a secure web site where a student has to log in.