Good morning from the Region — three cities, one wire, zero time for small talk. Let's go.
### Your kids might get marks just for showing up
Alright, so here's the thing about this Region. We've got a lot of smart kids coming out of our high schools — think Resurrection, think Waterloo Collegiate, think Cameron Heights. We're talking about the future engineers, the future tech founders for Communitech. But did you hear what the province is cooking up? They're talking about giving students in Grades 10, 11, and 12 credit on their final marks *just for showing up to class*. Seriously. The Education Minister, Paul Calandra, says teachers asked for this because attendance has dropped to around 40% in some places. Forty percent! That's almost half the kids not even making it through the doors. It’s hard to imagine that kind of empty space in the classrooms here.
This feels like a big shift, doesn't it? When I was going to Rangers games at The Aud — the old one, not the shiny new one, though that's fine too — we had to be at school to even *think* about doing anything else. My Oma would have had a fit if I’d skipped class to go down to Victoria Park. Now, the idea is to incentivize being there. I get the problem, but is this the solution? It feels like we're schmearing a bandage on a bigger issue instead of finding out *why* kids aren't showing up in the first place. Is it mental health? Is it the cost of living making kids need to work? The province says this is about "re-engaging" students, but what about the students who are already there, working hard, and showing up every day?
* **What This Means for Kitchener-Waterloo** * Our local school boards, like the Waterloo Region District School Board and the Waterloo Catholic District School Board, will have to figure out how to implement this. * It could change the dynamics in classrooms across Kitchener, Waterloo, and Cambridge. * We need to ask if this really addresses the core reasons for low attendance, especially in a region where youth employment in the tech sector or skilled trades is a real draw.
This isn't just a provincial issue; it's going to ripple right through our high schools here, from Forest Heights to Elmira District Secondary School. We need to make sure we're raising kids who are ready to build the next big thing, not just warm a seat.
Myra and the morning crew are talking about this right now — catch it live at mornings.live.