May 12
29
Expel Them All: David Krayden
By David Krayden
“The state of California has no business subsidizing intellectual curiosity.” – Ronald Reagan
It was then-Governor Ronald Reagan who made the above comment in response to student unrest at his state during the turbulent 1960s. Would that he were alive and running Quebec instead of the feeble leadership that currently presides over that province and who helplessly and effetely watch the daily protests of students who are insulted that their already grossly subsidized tuition fees aren’t sufficiently underwritten by the Canadian taxpayers – and specifically those Canadian taxpayers who foot the bill for all of Quebec’s flabby welfare state through the federally enforced atrocity of equalization payments.
It is shameful enough to run a province at the rest of the country’s expense; but it is surely barefaced gall to protest that taxpayers aren’t being squeezed with enough force.
So Quebec Premier Charest has armed himself with Bill 78, a new law that will somehow “postpone” the Winter session for the 30 per cent of student no-shows, give the police greater powers of arrest and somehow combat the anarchy in the streets. But what good is a new law if one is loathe to enforce the existing laws?
If the students do not wish to attend classes, then I say expel the lot of them. Too severe? I think not. These shiftless expatriates of higher learning have tied up the police force and flagrantly disregarded Quebec law. It is truly time to bring down the curtain on this street theatre and close the show. They have essentially forfeited one year of schooling so they can sit out another one until they are prepared to come back to university, pay their tuition and attend their classes. If they are not amenable to that proposition, then they can attend a vocational school or just get a job.
Only in Canada would we be describing a student revolt over the cost of learning in terms of a “100 days” plateau. That description is usually reserved to characterize the initial three months or so of a new government. Not so in Canada, or particularly, au Quebec. Here in the belle province students would rather spend one-third of their year protesting the cost of classes instead of going to class.
The left would argue that post-secondary education is somehow essential to life – like breathing – and should therefore be viewed as yet another necessity in the increasingly long line of alleged human rights that everyone else has to pay for. But this is utter nonsense of course as a university degree is neither essential to livelihood nor anything close to a human right. It might well be argued that ownership of an automobile is even more integral to modern living and I am sure that the NDP will get around to labeling car ownership a vested human right (at least until green energy transport is available and free for all). But I don’t see the students out in the streets demanding that the sticker price of a Buick or Hyundai be reduced or else.
But we need not provide them with further avenues of mischief. Like the Occupy protests that collapsed all over public parks last year while municipal governments watched, waited and debated, the longer this stunt is allowed to continue, the greater the reward to those who have no respect for the law or, for that matter, the value of an education.
Getting expelled is a tough lesson to learn but it surely a necessary one for those occupying the streets of Montreal this week. In the final analysis it might even be a more valuable lesson than anything they have picked up in academia.
David Krayden is the executive director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Studies, http://www.policystudies.ca/.