June 17th, 2009 - From the editorial team at the Calgary Herald
by Dominion InstituteViews for this post: 1,036
Canada’s history should be basic learning
Calgary Herald June 17, 2009
Reasonable people might disagree how history should be taught, but they should be able to agree on this:If half the younger generation doesn’t know Sir John A. Macdonald was Canada’s first prime minister, it isn’t taught well under any paradigm.
Yet that, unfortunately, was what the Dominion Institute found two years ago in a study of what Canadians between 18 and 24 knew about their country’s history. This week, the Institute released a further study, grading the effectiveness of provincial teaching. It was just as disappointing in its conclusions.






Jack Mitchell is a poet and writer living in Toronto, author of two novels for young adults and a Canadian epic poem. His work has appeared in Geist, the National Post, and the LRC. He is a graduate of McGill University and of Stanford University.