American Reacts to Canada's Educational System

One BIG difference: Canada doesn't have "poor" schools and "rich" schools. The provincial government pays for the schools through taxes and distributes the money equally to the school districts (depending on size, number of students, etc.) so you can live in a poor district and still get the same quality education as other places in Canada.

Cegep exists because in Quebec, secondary school (your grades 7 to 12) is only 5 years. Cegep is like a mix between your senior year and prep school for University, where most Bachelor's degrees are 3 years.

Its helpful to understand that part of the reason that tuition rates are so low, is because University and College is subsidized by the government, so even Post-Secondary education is public education.

Cegep is honestly the best system. You are more specialised than in high school but not as specialised as university. For example, as a biologist, my cegep program was called natural sciences and I learned physics, math, chemistry, geology, biology, etc. This is all at first year university level. It allows for people to test different subjects before choosing what to do in university

Grew up in Montreal. The province of Quebec is almost a completely different country. Tyler, The reason for CEGEP is that our secondary (HS) schooling is crammed into fewer years, graduating in grade 11. Actually, taking off that last year in HS was specifically to bring cegep into the fold, which began in the 70s. CEGEP is free, just like primary and secondary, but it gives you the opportunity to prepare for university/college (post-secondary) in a sort of mock university setting, while giving you grounds to explore different fields in a more in-depth way, without the pressure of having yet to decide on a long-term commitment. Realistically, many kids don't know their direction yet, let alone careers, as there is so much more out there than what HS can possibly expose you to, so this way, you can try things out before deciding on a more rooted, more expensive commitment later in college or uni.

Its mandatory to be enrolled in public/private or homeschool at age 6. This means that while junior and senior kindergarten are available, you do not have to enroll your child. You can choose to keep them home until grade 1.

For myself, being from Ontario and going through the "old" system. I did Kindergarten, then grades 1-8 for primary school, grades 9-13 for high school (grade 13 was awesome because it was essentially 1st year university without the tuition), then I went for 3 years to University (paid for by the Canadian Army), and after that, 2 years to college (for my own interest). Now I am looking at going back to do a PHd in Music. All in all Canada's education system is excellent! After leaving university, I could not wait to go back! Cheers

Nova Scotia has the highest number of universities per capita than any province/territory. Even smaller communities like Wolfville and Antigonish are home to world-class institutions.

In Ontario, we used to have grade 13, also known as OAC (Ontario Academic Credit) it provided advanced level education to prepare students for university. It was phased out in 2003, making the Grade 9 class of 1998 the last group of students that could attend OAC. This also resulted in the "Double Cohort" in 2003, where Double the number of students graduated at the same time, making it very difficult for students to get into colleges or university. Most of the people I knew from high school ended up in foreign universities. The more you know!

In QUEBEC, GEGEP (lasting 2-3 years after 11th grade) is essentially free and leads either to the workplace (3 year technical programs) or to further studies at a university (2 year theoretical programs). In my experience, CEGEP acted as a filter and an inexpensive opportunity for young people to decide on their career. At 18-19 years old, it is often difficult to commit to a path without knowing enough about what will really be required of you. There were a lot of student changing programs or discipline during their CEGEP period (sometimes extending their time there by multiple years) after discovering that they didn't really like a field of study or weren't cut out for it. Making the same moves at a university would have been a more costly decision. I'm guessing this allows for more competent people in each field because they are more likely to end up where they're good at.

In Quebec we have no grade 12, we graduate high school after grade 11 and then have an intermediary step that is the CEGEP system, either a technical degree (like a college) or a pre-university program which prepares you and in transferable for your bachelors.

Yeah. There are TWO different education systems in this country. The Quebec one, and the rest of Canada's. In Quebec, you go to grade school from grade 1 to 6. Then high school is from secondary 1 to 5. So we graduate high school after grade 11, instead of grade 12. In secondary 3, you can choose to switch to a DEP program that gives you training in a bunch of blue collar, and secretarial or office professions, but also some pretty high paying jobs, like mine workers, alloy welders and heavy machinery mechanics... After high schools, we have two choices... They both happen at the CEGEP level, which serves two different purposes. The main one is to provide fully trained workers in various technical fields. From maritime surface officer, to airline pilot, to computer programmer, registered nurses and just about every technical degree you can think of... Those are 3 year programs and you get out with a diploma and usually, a pretty good job. The second path is pre-university. Think of it as grade 12 and the first year of university combined. You can choose between sciences, humanities or some other choices (I'M out of the loop by now)... The trade-off is that our University degrees are mostly 3 years. It comes out the same in the end. The BIG difference between Quebec and the rest of Canada is the tuition cost of those career degrees and university. - The DEP or High School level stuff is basically free, with a few hundred $ for some courses that need equipment (like a set of knives for chef school). - The CEGEP level is a few hundred $ a year. Plus your books and equipment. - University is about 2000$ per semester (Laval U.) in 2023. So basically 4000$ per year Canadian for locals. AND we get government-secured loans at low interest that only start being paid off AFTER you get all of school for good. Plus lots of easy to get bursaries that never have to be repaid, most of them for low income students. not just for high achievers. The province calls its own political system and society a PROVIDENCE STATE. So it's the most "socialized" Capitalism (in the best ways) in North America. Canada is ALL nice, but this place is special for the care it gives its citizens. With our taxes, bien entendus. BTW: University and trade school tuitions are pretty high (relatively, but NOTHING like the USA) in other provinces, and we pay extra if we are from out of province (but if you stay for three months in one, you get residency, their health card, and access to all of the provincial rates and services). The same free welding diploma in Quebec, is 10,000$ in BC. So it IS important to choose where you study, and maybe move there 3 months BEFORE applying for school, to get LOCAL resident fare. Most Canadians are NOT aware of these little facts. Just like most don't get that provincial health insurance cards are NOT all accepted in other provinces and that we need private health insurance when we travel within our own country. That 3 month residency period, is pretty important to understand. Especially if you are moving for 4 years and having to pay 2X the tuition by keeping your original residency... It's not like a passport, you just move back to your original province if you want to, and get that residency again within 3 months, it's NOT irreversible.

Kindergarten isn’t mandatory but most Canadian kids go. French is normally taught starting in grade 4. I went to school in 3 different provinces.

I went to Cegep de la Gaspesie et des iles. We had some fun extra courses, sailing, canoeing, winter camping.

In Manitoba and I assume other Provinces, we also have Immersion Schools where all classes are taught in a specific language. In Winnipeg, we have French, Ukrainian and Tagalog (Filipino) Immersion Schools (from Grades 1 - 12).

In Alberta when i graduated, a 2nd language was required, french was mandatory for a few early years (i remember 4-6), my high school offered french, japanese, spanish, and cree.

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just to clear up some stuff: where im from (suburban town an hour away from toronto) we just have preschool (optional), elementary schools (k-8) high schools (9-12) and a university. in larger cities there are middle schools (7-8) because there are more students in a place like toronto. the french part of the curriculum is required from grade 4-9, then it becomes optional for the rest of high school

As a BC resident, french is taught in elementary school starting at about grade 4, but the quality varies widely. I had a native french speaker as a teacher so we learned more, my kids didn’t have that benefit and their french lessons were very superficial. We do have immersion classes if french is important to you.

In Québec, the school system is : Pré-maternelle (4-5 yo) (not obligated) maternelle (5-6 yo) First year - sixth year of primary (6-12 yo) Secondary 1 - secondary 5 (12-17 yo) And after that you can choose beetween : DEP : Your learn only about your futur job (time can depend), Technic at Cegep: Your learn about your job + other classes (3 years) or Pre-university at cegep : many different classes that prepare you to university (2 years) University : like USA but 1 years less to do (because we start at 19 yo)