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The Role of Universities in a Changing World

February 11, 2016 by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) at 03:30 PM

Thanks to Frank Gue for drawing our attention to this article in Macleans Magazine about how universities are helping students with "invisible" disabilities. According to the article, a 2013 survey found that Canadian universities students suffered from the following conditions.

  • Obsessive-compulsive disorder - 2%
  • ADHD or a learning disability - 4%
  • Chronic illness such as cancer, diabetes or auto-immune disease - 5%
  • Depression - 10%
  • Anxiety - 12%

Of course, some students may have more than one of these conditions, but even so it appears that close to a third of Canadian students need to be accommodated in some way by their university.

This reminds me of the Syrian refugee situation. Of course, Syria's neighbouring countries would like to help the refugees, but their numbers are overwhelming and are putting at risk the well-being of the non-refugees. Is it reasonable to ask Canadian universities to accommodate so many students with special needs? Will doing so compromise the universities' ability to serve their students without special needs? 

A secondary question is - or maybe it should be the primary question - why do so many Canadian students have special needs these days?

Your comments are solicited.

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Comments

If the numbers were smaller then it would be fair to ask whether academic integrity was being diluted by accommodations.  But we are now talking about the MAJORITY of students.

The only sensible path is to redefine accommodations as the default. 

Employers better get ready, because Ontario’s workplaces also have obligations to provide accommodations.  As of Jan 1 2016, workplaces with more than 50 people have to have disability-friendly hiring, interviewing, and workplace policies in place (an IEP for grownups).  Smaller companies have until 2017.

http://www.internationallawoffice.com/Newsletters/Employment-Benefits/Canada/Fasken-Martineau-DuMoulin-LLP/New-year-new-accessibility-obligations

Posted by Tom on 02/12 at 12:01 AM

It is a fascinating social exercise that is presently being rolled out within our society.  Whether it will ultimately slow or accelerate our ultimate demise remains to be seen. 

We largely now live in a fully artificial construct which is quite vulnerable to dramatic collapse if the right conditions precipitate. 

To put some context and perspective on this very tenuous experiment, one could benefit from reading:  Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

It is fascinating how homo sapiens can drift very quickly from real connections to virtual connections. Within the virtual world, one could readily see anyone capable of navigating and operating there effectively as “able bodied” and undoubtedly she/he’s will do just that.  Performance will tell the tale.  One can also imagine an unintended consequence of the political correct action as being the more rapid spawning of alternate education forms which meet the fundamental needs rather than the proffered service.

Posted by Frank Xavier on 02/12 at 08:28 PM

The main disability I see today is the quantity of so called “university-ready” kids that haven’t been taught to read or write properly, or perform mathematics beyond a grade 6 level.

Posted by Tym Barker on 02/16 at 08:10 AM

There is a fine line between helping people who are disadvantaged and being unfair to non-disadvantaged people.

Personally I think a society has to help with equalizing opportunities to achieve and to stay away from trying to equalize outcomes.
As a consequence I believe some types of accommodations go too far; giving extra time or several chances to redo work or exams on a regular basis is simply incorrect.
One either is capable of doing the expected work in the given circumstances - same for everybody - or is not.

If this goes too far there is no incentive for people to work hard, to study hard.

Was the socialist experiment successful? Is this something we want to replicate?

Actually, we’ve already done that in elementary school with social promotion and no standards. Are we happy with the results?

Posted by fromEurope on 02/16 at 01:20 PM

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