The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge - The Weekend Special #27 - Enjoy.

Episode Date: September 18, 2020

The focus this week -- going back to class.

and hello there peter mansbridge here with the latest episode of the bridge daily it's the weekend special and you know what that means for the most part it's your thoughts your questions your comments on issues of the day and today we're going to focus really on one issue, and that is the issue of back to school, back to college, back to university. Because quite a few of you have written in, and I'm going to read a few of them. First of all, location for the podcast today is once again, as it was yesterday, from the Gatineau Hills north of Ottawa. I'm inside today, inside the old log cabin, because outside it's not one of the greatest days that I've seen. It's quite windy actually, and as a result, trying to do the

podcast outside would probably not work with the microphone I've got. So instead I'm inside, but I'm looking out through the forest in the direction of the lake where I was sitting yesterday down on the dock. Okay, so the focus today is on issues surrounding heading back to school, back to university or college. I heard a story yesterday which was disconcerting, to say the least. It was from a friend of mine who was attending the University of Toronto. And you remember in the spring when everything went into lockdown and schools, colleges anyway, and universities, you know, grade schools basically shut her down in mid-March and didn't go back. But colleges and universities continued teaching online remotely. And there were problems, not surprisingly. Certainly in the case of some

profs who really weren't up to speed like their students were in the new technology of today, and so they were having problems. But that was kind of understandable. The assumption was over the summer, these same people would spend a lot of time figuring out the new technology, and so when they hit remote classes again in the fall, as many are doing, they'd know what to do.

So this was a story yesterday of a first class of the year, first class of the semester, in this one particular area by this one particular prof. It was supposed to start at a certain hour. Everybody logged on. They were online. It was a Zoom start at a certain hour. Everybody logged on. They were online. It was a Zoom call of some kind. So the appointed hour arrives.

The students are all there. No prof. Well, you know, maybe he's running a couple minutes late. Five minutes later, no prof. Fifteen minutes later, no prof. Half an hour later, no prof. Fifteen minutes later, no prof. Half an hour later, no prof. It was 40 minutes before the prof came online. Why?

Because he couldn't figure out how to turn his mic on. Couldn't figure out how to turn the mic on. Couldn't figure out how to turn the camera on. This was unfortunate. And it didn't get things off to a good start. And I'm amazed at the students who sat there waiting for 40 minutes, believing that eventually

the prof would come online. So that's going to be an interesting class. All right. Your thoughts, because that's what I asked for, and I'm going to focus just on three writers this week, and then I've got a special little way to close off the podcast for this weekend. So starting off, do you remember last week how I ended the podcast, the weekend special?

It was by reading a letter by a fellow by the name of Andrew Work from Hong Kong. And Andrew wrote to us to talk about a particular situation with his daughter in Hong Kong who was going to University of Toronto. So maybe I should actually read his letter from last week first to you in case you missed last week or if you just need to be reminded because it's a short

letter uh but it's a great one so i've just got to sort of flip through here and find it here it is so this is andrew work writing a week ago from hong kong i came home from a late 2 a.m. finish from work to find my bleary-eyed 17-year-old daughter in between her first online uni classes at University of Toronto. I may have been bleary-eyed at first classes at McGill in 1989, but that was from hardcore partying on Peel Street. My daughter flies into quarantine in Toronto on Saturday, which would have been the day after I read this letter. And we all hope we've reached the right decision about not deferring her start for a year

and sending her into a comparatively high COVID zone. But it's time to grow up and go on, and so the waterworks will flow at the Hong Kong airport as she flies her Canada back to the old country to begin a new life. Proud, sad and slightly anxious parents and sister say goodbye to a slightly nervous, excited and ready to go girl. But when we next see her, she'll be a woman see you later kid i love that letter you know because it had all the emotions many of us who've sent our kids off in the past have gone through um and you can just imagine the scene and the picture and sending your child halfway around the world is a lot bigger than sending

them halfway across your city. So I wrote back to Andrew to let him know how much we appreciated his letter and how much the listeners to the podcast appreciated it. So I heard back from Andrew a couple of days later as a quick update my daughter arrived safely but not quite how we thought our last supper as a family the night before was interrupted by an email saying the Air Canada flight was cancelled but an hour of panic ensued for mom and daughter before another email arrived saying that she had been confirmed on a Cathay Pacific flight,

leaving about two and a half hours after the original. I grew up in an airline family, father, mother, aunt, uncle, and brother. They're all ex-Air Canada in various roles, and so was a little more confident that Air Canada would work it out, and they did. They were WhatsAppping me, answering questions, and even checking in with me right up to and after takeoff. Air Canada's Hong Kong office is really dynamite. One of the questions was, can we go to the airport? Under current COVID restrictions, no can do.

Boarding pass ticket holders only. So we had to see her off from the airport express, the downtown train that goes right into the terminal. And yes, there were tears. And yes, I put on a brave face. Reality is settling in. So she landed in Toronto and made it to the hotel they're putting international and Canadian international students in until they're done quarantine. So far, it seems like the University of Toronto is doing a good job of this. They pick up the kids at the airport, then bring them to quarantine, and the cost is covered for lodging and F&B,

I guess that's food and boarding, and presumably Wi-Fi. F&B. Whatever that is. They're paying for it. We're paying for residence and meal plan already, so I guess it evens out. She says they have a really fantastic care package with tons of food and snacks. He sent along a bunch of pictures as well and then he adds this. If you ever need anything from Hong Kong let me know. I've been here 24 years. Used to run the Canadian Chamber

of Commerce in Hong Kong. Opened a small policy and politics newspaper, now a website only, called Harbour Times, was a Canadian Scout leader, I'm currently president of the Canadian Club of Hong Kong, promoting Canadian arts, culture, history and values, and founded an economic think-tank, the Lion Rock Institute, and my latest thing is China's forthcoming digital currency electronics payments system. Hong Kong has a great Canadian community, and the impact of Canada is felt in many parts of Hong Kong. There's a great little minor hockey league. I've been to that city more than a few times,

and in fact, I think I spoke at the Canadian Club in Hong Kong many years ago. Nevertheless, there's a lot of Canadian history in that city, not the least of which is the fact that Canadian troops were stationed there at the beginning of the Second World War. They got overrun by the Japanese in 1941 many of them were killed they're buried in Hong Kong there's a little Canadian war cemetery there been there as well

it's very moving and others were taken capture by the Japanese and went in some of the notorious prison camps prisoner of war camps and suffered greatly as a result of it. Anyway, there's Andrew's follow-up letter, both on Hong Kong, but more importantly on his daughter's experiences so far. Hopefully she wasn't in that class I was talking about at the beginning,

waiting for prof to turn up. So anyway, there you go. The follow-up to a great letter last week and an equally good one this week. Now here's a letter from a fellow by the name of Sean Mitchell. I come from a farm near Walton, Ontario. That's not far from Stratford. And I've just finished my fourth year as a student at the University of Guelph. While I'm returning to complete one final course this fall, I'm also running in a by-election for the position of Vice President Academic for our undergrad students unit. So the academic experience of students at the university level is of particular

concern to me. Some of the issues we're dealing with are in some ways not different from the usual school year. Access to education remains an issue, for example. Affordability of tuition for students looms large, as always. Even with the student version of CERB, many students haven't had the same amount of income to cover tuition expenses that often exceed $9,000 a year, and that doesn't include living expenses. As I mentioned, accessibility is an issue, but not just from a financial or as defined by the Accessibility Act. Rural students like myself are being told that classes are almost exclusively online, which is for the most part a good thing. We shouldn't be having in-person classes right now. But poor internet access in rural Ontario and seeing the various school buses and thinking

about, you know, for them finally getting back to school is a big deal, especially in rural areas where internet service isn't great. Other issues include the fact that we're paying for services through student fees that we don't have access to, despite the university trying to spin it that they're reducing student fees, which is good, but we really shouldn't be paying anything for some of the fees. Our student union is also responsible for advocating for international students. Imagine being an international student unable to travel to Canada because of the pandemic, already paying two to four times what domestic students pay, while also being asked, required in some

circumstances, to participate in lectures that are only live stream, meaning you have to be awake at 4 a.m. Hey, you must have listened to Andrew's letter. These are just a few of the issues post-secondary students are experiencing, which all acknowledge pale in comparison to elementary and secondary education issues. I'll note that the federal government and our local Guelph MP, Lloyd Longfield, have been incredibly helpful while the provincial government has essentially said that universities are on their own. You would hardly know that education is a provincial jurisdiction. Well, you know, Sean, there are a lot of views on both those issues in terms of federal and provincial governments and the way they've handled this

kind of return to school issue. But listen, we're grateful for your letter and it shows the, you know, the interesting issues that really are surrounding students that are becoming clearer to us now, especially as we've seen in these letters, university and college students. We've heard a lot from teachers through this podcast over the last

few months and from parents, so it's nice to be getting a sense from the student point of view as well. One last letter today, and it comes from Alex Cianfloni. He's going to Brock this year. I think we heard from last year too. So here's his letter. My return to Brock University this year has been unique with the exception of a handful of specific programs. Brock's fully online. To be quite honest, I'm not as nervous about my class dynamics as I was a few weeks

before. I give myself a sufficient amount of time to ensure I have quality notes from my pre-recorded lectures and ensure my readings are completed properly. Prior to the pandemic, our readings were accessible virtually, and rather than buying my books as textbooks, I bought all of my textbooks in virtual formats. Example, PDFs and EPUBs, EPUBs. That's a new one for me. I don't know what that is. Electronic publications? I'm not sure. The only concern that remains is ensuring that I still receive the quality of education as would the in-class experience provide. For that there, I'll have to rewrite you in the coming months with extensive feedback. This year and possibly next term will be a

challenge. I remain optimistic, and I know that if I can conquer the fully online format, I can achieve anything I put my mind to. Well, that's a great attitude, Alex, and I hope it works out for you. And I hope you remain that confident in the way it's unfolding for you. We can all get used to change. We've all had to get used to change over these last six months in various areas of our life. And this is just the latest. Okay, I'm'm gonna close out today on this week's podcast on this the weekend special by reading you an article from um esquire magazine well i'm not going to read the whole article i'm just going to read a couple of paragraphs um but it's an article in Esquire called The Crushing Reality of Zoom School. So this isn't college or university.

This is more like grade school, and it is the American experience, but I think you'll see some similarities here. The article is written by Dan Sinker in the September issue of Esquire. And I'm just going to read the last couple of paragraphs because I think they're pretty good. I spent the first week of Zoom school despondent, feeling like my life had ground to a halt. All I did was sit next to a five-year-old boy. I should explain this. The story is about a parent, right,

watching their child experience Zoom school. So let me start it again. I spent the first week of Zoom school despondent, feeling like my life had ground to a halt. All I did was sit next to a five-year-old to ensure he stopped pulling his shirt up, didn't hit the beckoning leave meeting button, and always stayed on mute. You've got to know Zoom, and I'm sure all of you do, to understand what some of this terminology is about. By the time it was over, I was wrecked for the day. But also I know he's lucky to have a parent next to him, let alone

two, a solid internet connection, and food and snacks when he needs them. There are so many kids that lack these essentials, and all of this is more terrible for them. The divide falling largely along race and class lines already exacerbated by the pandemic makes this all the more crushing. None of this is fair, but it has been fairer for some than for others. To forget that is to forget our humanity. There's a lot of humanity visible through the Zoom windows.

Every day we log on, teachers, children, parents, and invited or not, we enter tiny portals into each other's lives. In our home, it's a child, head on hands, struggling to listen through the noise, whispering, I'm tired of this. Water bottle at his side is instructed, a dog running past to bark at a delivery person, and two parents just off camera, barely hanging on, desperately asking if he's muted. Elsewhere, the gym teacher lays on her

kitchen floor, talking kids through a leg lift. An art teacher sits in her front seat, a baby in the back, parked to teach the lesson, clearly coming from something unexpected. The kindergarten teacher opens every morning asking children if they had breakfast, knowing not every answer will be yes. Gently, he asks one girl, are there any grown-ups around that can help you? She shakes her head, no, unable to speak because she can't find the unmute. Oh my gosh, that's so sad.

That's so beautifully written, Dan Sinker and Esquire. You know, we're all in this together, but we're not all equal in it together. And Dan hits that note very well. All right. Another weekend unfolds before us. Another weekend where the challenge is clear in many parts of this country, where the numbers have been going up. Ontario and Quebec, Alberta and BC.

Still okay in Atlantic Canada, still okay in the north Manitoba and Saskatchewan have been having their challenges but not like those four most populous provinces we are in a moment of change things are going to become more difficult and how we make out in these next weeks and months will depend on us

and how seriously we take this challenge. So, wash your hands. Stay physically slash socially distant. And wear a mask. Please wear a mask. That's it for the weekend special this week. I'm Peter Mansbridge. Thank you so much for listening.

And we'll talk to you again on Monday.