Our youth don’t have the luxury of waiting for post-secondary to develop STEM competencies

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It’s fine for political leaders to project general visions of Canadian excellence in a future that’s suddenly shorn of American friendship and protection. But national excellence, prosperity and security will depend on the size of our talent pool, especially in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. The pool could be vast, but it isn’t.

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A May 2024 Leger poll commissioned by the think-tank SecondStreet.org found that 55 per cent of Canadians believe public education has gone in the “wrong direction” in the last 20 years — up from 51 per cent in 2023 and 32 per cent in 2020. The teaching of math is one commonly stated concern.

Evidence bears out these parents’ perceptions. Due,