Bella

“Morality is diverse. It's not set. And telling people that there’s a set standard for what is morally good and what isn't is something that I personally disagree with.”

Quality education is often one of the biggest drivers of upward social mobility. For many, it's a tool for a better life, so that after obtaining a degree, one can find a decent job and make a comfortable living. People living in regions where education is limited or heavily politicized— as we will see with Bella— travel here to Canada, a top-five international education destination.

Like many others, her story starts not here in Oakville, Ontario, where she currently resides, but 11,000 kilometres away in her hometown of Beijing, China. 

“I’ve always gone to an international school my whole life, so going abroad to study was always the plan. It was just a question of sooner or later.”

International schools are typically described as independently funded schools with a foreign curriculum or teaching staff from various places globally. However, for many students in China, schools are seen as an opportunity for education away from government control, one that prepares them for the “Western world”.

“[International schools in China] don't follow government regulations, and some of the things that were mandatory for public school students weren’t mandatory for us — and when I went to that school when I was very young, that was the case”

But this would change as Bella approached high school.

“[The school] took on a lot of political shifts, and there were some changes in ’power’. Who was funding it? Making the changes? [The school] became really affiliated with the government, and there were changes that were really political that my parents didn’t want me to be a part of.”

But beyond just the concerns surrounding impartiality, the new changes affected many students’ abilities to pursue their interests.

“We can’t take the subjects that we used to want to because there were other mandatory subjects that we had to take, and that took up too much time. My parents didn’t want me to take subjects that are not going to have anything to do with what I want for my future...They’d rather I have the choice of what I want to study.”

The politicization of education took place in many forms, in ways as subtle as the interactions between teachers and students to more obvious changes in the curriculum itself.

“The characterization of [the government’s influence on the education curriculum] would be the moral and legal education class. The closest thing we have in Canada is civics, which is really talking about the Canadian law system. But they’re not trying to persuade you.”

“Morality is diverse. It's not set. And telling people that there’s a set standard for what is morally good and what isn't is something that I personally agree with.” 

Just months before starting high school, when these effects became increasingly evident, her family made the difficult choice to move to Canada. Now moving into her junior year at St. Mildred’s Lightbourn School, I asked her to look back and compare some of the differences she experienced between the two education systems.

“[In China], I was used to taking up to 14 courses at the same time. And because of how many subjects there were, I didn’t really get to dive deep into any subjects. When I came to Canada, you were spending two hours alone in science. That’s double the time we used to have.”

She also described the increase in the quality of education.

“Taking science as an example, with biology at my old school, we would learn about experiments but we wouldn’t actually do them. Step one, step two…. the results, what this means, what that means. But we wouldn’t do them because we didn’t have the time. In Canada, there hasn’t been an experiment that I learned about that I didn’t do. [This hands-on experience] was really different.”

“Also, the general speed of the courses was slower and the teachers really broke everything down into small bits to make sure that the students understood. And I feel like the teachers are more committed to the students because there are fewer. There are 40 people in my grade here compared to nearly 100, so teachers get to know each student better.”

For Bella, the Canadian education system allowed her to specialize in her passion for computer science. It allowed her to take the necessary courses to pursue a degree in that field.

The decreased school load and the increased freedom for course selection allowed her to pursue hobbies on her time, such as drama and debating, which she never had back in China.

“In China, the options were there. I could have picked computer science but there’s other things that you have to do that take up your time. So while both options are available, you have less time to dedicate to do what you really want to do.”

She described her frustrations with a humorous hypothetical.

“For example, if I absolutely suck at a humanities course, I wouldn’t be able to graduate even though I’m not going into social sciences, even if there’s nothing beyond high school that I want to do with humanities. That’s the kind of thing that I’m getting at, right? Options were available, but they weren’t really available.”

Bella’s story isn’t alone. There are currently nearly one million international students living in Canada, as it is often seen as one of the top destinations for university students, particularly for those originating from Southeast Asia, such as India (41%), China (10%), and the Philippines (5%). Canada’s education system offers a more relaxed alternative to the highly competitive environment of their homeland, where a single standardized test is often the only factor considered between applicants.

This trend of student immigration is only growing. Over the past five years, Canada saw a 63% increase in the influx of immigrants over the previous five years and more than 200% growth over the last decade of international students in Canada. From 2022 to 2023 alone, there has been a 29% increase. 

However, in recent years, Canada has made various attempts to decrease the volume of new international students, particularly in light of the housing crisis, and to reduce the stress on Canada’s healthcare system. Earlier this year, Canada imposed a new cap on international student visas, from 437,000 last year to fewer than 300,000. 

Public opinion has also shifted; according to the Environics Institute, 58% of Canadians wish for the government to see their government accept fewer international students. But their concerns aren’t entirely unwarranted: one in five study permit holders in Canada are not studying at the institutions to which they have been accepted to. Furthermore, critics have argued that some universities are providing immigrants with inadequate education and exist solely for students to get visas to immigrate eventually. They believe that these diploma “puppy mills” exploit vulnerable students who aren’t prepared to handle the rising cost of living in Canada, and that policies such as raising the minimum income will provide transparency for well-prepared students.

The solution to an issue like this will never be clear-cut. Bella’s story is a testament to the importance of student immigration programs. It has become evident in recent years that unscrupulous universities profit from international students moving to Canada, providing them with no support or real intention for success. Students wanting opportunity and education should not be ostracized – look towards the institutions for the blame. Historically, Canada has been the land of opportunity to make a decent living, and Canada must continue to support newcomers so that individuals like Bella can succeed.