EDUCATION AND TRAINING

A comprehensive, people-centered employment strategy aimed at achieving full employment, demands that the education and training systems of this country be re-examined and re-structured to meet the skill needs of individuals and the economy.

Basic Education

Changes are occurring in the communications systems of our society "that are affecting our traditional view of the "educated" person, and; ultimately, our basic skills for participation in the every day activities of society, namely the ability to read and write. As Toffler's Future Shock and Mcluhan's Global Village have helped us to understand, the mass media, the computer and highly sophisticated systems and networks are no longer peripheral but central to daily social existence. Very soon, it will be insufficient to be literate only in print media. Computer literacy will become necessary for participation in the communications systems of society. The view of the educated person as one who can read and write will have to be expanded to include those who can operate and program computers.

The jobs for which demand is growing are mainly technical jobs (Dodge 1981; Allmand, 1981; Economic Council of Canada, 1982). These jobs require not only functional literacy skills in print media, but also technical literacy, that is, basic knowledge of mathematics and science.

These changes in the communications and economic systems of Canadian society imply that a basic education to which all Canadians must have access, should include more than the three r's. It must include basic training in mathematics and science.

Women are at a tremendous disadvantage with respect to economic participation in society in the coming decade. First, as women, they are provided with a basic education that de-emphasizes mathematics and science, and indeed, any type of technical training. Secondly, they are provided with skills and values for traditionally female occupations (mostly non-technical occupations).