Education in Hamilton Ontario

All three levels of government in The Mega City-State of Hamilton Ontario are involved with education, which is seen as both a social service and a business prerequisite.

Ideally, education prepares people for employment either by practical training specific to a job, or by generalist training and self-direction malleable to a variety of jobs. These approaches should not be considered synonyms or equivalents of manual and intellectual labour. Supposedly manual labouring secretaries need only to take a course or two on their own initiative in medical, legal or trade terminology and practices to switch jobs; while supposedly intellectual labouring doctors would require years of retraining to switch specialties.

Other broad classifications applied to jobs which are sometimes useful are the labels unskilled and skilled. The first is really a misnomer, and might be referred to as quickly acquired skilled job, and would encompas such occupations as cashier, assembly line worker, ditch digger, tree planter and telemarketer. Skilled jobs, or skilled labour, refers to slowly acquired manual skills like those used by barbers, automechanics, secretaries, glaziers, electricians and electronics technicians.

Paraprofessional and professional used to be meaningful terms when people actually struck out on their own and set up their own shingle as self-employed owner-operators, like lawyers, accountants, architects, engineers, physicians and dentists. They may employ paralegals, drafting technicians, nursing assistants or dental hygienists to conduct some or all of the back-room work, plus non-professionals like secretaries, accounting clerks and receptionists for the front-office work. These days, most so-called professionals are ordinary employees and use the term to disparage other workers rather than describe a true occupational distinction.

The nation recognises four tiers of education, in order of the age of its students: early childhood, primary, secondary and tertiary education, and each will be dealt with in reverse order and -- in the case of the latter -- split into academic and practical functions.

Universities

These are clearly the prestige institutions of learning and potentially the ones most valuable to employers; certainly these three accredited universities are the most expensive educational institutions in the province. They are regulated by the federal government, but with the exception of "Yoohoo" are left largely to their own devices.

MacAdam University is the first and oldest university -- and formal post-secondary institution of any kind -- in the city-state. Alexander "Sandy" MacAdam, a thrifty Scot who left his life-partner Kirk to become a successful road building contractor and tire retailer, privately founded the institution bearing his name in the 1880s. After his death, it was supported directly by the Baptist Church. It relocated to Westdale, Hamilton Province, in the 1930s, and has since grown into a secular institution willing to accept government and business funds. It has faculties of humanities, sciences, engineering, commerce and social sciences, and is affiliated with the MacAdam Theological College, the last organisational vestige of of Baptist origins. In short, Mac is a "red brick" university in other real world and NationStates nations, but this is as close to the Ivy League as one gets in Hamilton Ontario.

The University of Hamilton Ontario was next, founded in the 1950s as a wholly government-operated institution from the very beginning and incorporating disparate elements which existed long before the university proper. Its constituent units retain a great deal of autonomy and students identify with their specific school rather than the university as a whole. Yoohoo, as it is derisively and collectively known, has six professional and semi-professional schools:

• School of Law, with precursors in The Law Society of Hamilton Ontario which still provides all the instructors
• School of Education, with precursors in the Hamilton Normal School, Hamilton Teachers College and satellite campus of foreign Isaac University
• School of Health Sciences, with precursors in the nursing programmes of the various city-state hospitals and The Medical Society's physician apprenticeships
• School of Public Administration, the academic underpinning of government itself
• School of Military Arts, the core of professional soldiering in the nation
• School of Arts and Sciences, a pale imitation of Mac's core programmes.

Dominion University is the ensign of the universities, having received its charter only in the 1980s. It was founded by and is still operated by evangelical Protestant Christians. While its curriculum is outwardly similar to those of its two older and more prestigious counterparts -- as it must be to keep its accreditation -- the worldview from which these issues is taught is highly Calvinistic. Those on the outside hope it will morph into a more mainstream institution as MacAdam University did, but those on the inside not only hope otherwise and are doing everything in their power to prevent that possibility.

Colleges

There are six accredited colleges in the nation, all established with the last half-century. Two of them offer a wide variety of narrow specialists courses at the same institution, while the remaining four offer no pretence at a broader education. Again, the federal government is responsible for setting the standards, but except for the first one, does not operate colleges itself.

The largest by far and most diverse is the South Hamilton Institute of Technology, which would be called a polytechnic in other RL or NS countries. This certainly would help its initialism. It covers all sorts of technicians, paraprofessionals, clerks, personal care workers and the like, plus since the 1970s the overall responsibility for the education and apprenticeships of building trades students. It media studies stream operates HIT-AM, and its graduates run most of the television and radio stations in the nation.

The Collège des Grandes Laques operates on a much reduced but similar scale the South Hamilton Institute of Technology, and is located in Hamilton City. As the name suggests, it is a French-speaking college supported mainly by the local francophone and francophile communities, but accepting outside support as well. It named after an incident in early national history where the propitious existence of lacquer or enamel was key to solving intercommunal diplomacy and trade issues.

Among the four single-purpose colleges, Mega City-State Business College is the most expensive but claims to offer a better program in half the time than MacAdam University's Faculty of Commerce. The Winona Agricultural College prepares its students as agronomists, foresters, silviculturists, grain farmers, fruit growers and dairy operators. The College of Gaming and Hospitality teaches youths and adults how to serve in the local gambling, hotelier and "comfort" industries. The Central Clown College, which no longer spells its names with a "K" after an unfortunate incident, actually has the most well-known and per capita best-earning graduates.

Secondary schools

High school begins at grade 9 and ends at grade 12. High school is seen as a broad-based and flexible institution which provides many people with the only formal education they will ever have, others with a sufficient foundation for employment and economic independence, and others with a thirst for knowledge with little practical advantage. They all have their place in the secondary schools of the mega city-state.

Most students at secondary schools are there voluntarily, in the sense that being aged 16 they have the legal right to cease attending school at any time. Some quickly come to realise that this also means that schools can eject or refuse admission to students based on behavioural or academic concerns, while hard cases are typically slower in this realisation.

Secondary schools are organised by the provinces and overseen by the latter's Secondary Education Departments and paid for by the general revenues rather than a specific school tax. Instruction here is channelled into basic, remedial, applied, general and academic streams, based on demonstrated student ability on standardised tests and recommendation from teachers or other education department employees.

Most provinces have experimented with charter or magnet secondary schools, even some of the less populous places. Popular themes are business, arts, languages and sports high schools; but Jerseyville boasts the Ancaster Province Agricultural School and Westdale the Hamilton Province Computer Science School.

There are two ways to get an honourable discharge from high school as it were: Junior and Senior Matriculation. Any time after students have completed the course requirements for grade 10, they may take a comprehensive exam to matriculate. This, combined with satisfactory practical tests and admission requirements, is enough to enroll in an apprenticeship or college programme.

After the completion of grade 12, students may take an additional comprehensive exam, based on their stream and school curriculum, for Senior Matriculation. This, combined with satisfactory practical tests and admission requirements, is enough to enroll into a university programme. At the discretion of the university, students may submit practical tests, demonstrated ability to do course work or successful completion of a probationary academic programme in lieu of matriculation of any kind. This is especially true of older, brighter and foreign students who may lack credentials but possess potential.

Primary schools

The provinces' Primary Education Departments fund, regulate and administer this level of education. It is responsible for inculcating basic literacy, numeracy and citizenship among its students, and most importantly fostering a sense of community identity for all students regardless of academic, mental or physical ability.

Since education is compulsory between the ages of 6 and 16, scarcely any student with an IQ of at least 90 does not complete grade 8 if not grade 9 or 10 before being eligible to leave school. Combined with the existence of Junior Matriculation, students who might otherwise be rowdy troublemakers interfering with the education of the rest of the class are kept in check by having a nearly goal to work with than if they were compelled to attend until age 18.

While there are no true charter schools as there are in their more senior counterparts, some provinces have elected to create middle schools covering the last two or three years of primary education. These have unofficial themes and cannot demand entrance requirements beyond the normal ones. Nevertheless, theme middle schools do have salutary effects -- especially in provinces and municipalities where the residents are highly educated, value education highly, are especially active in their children's education or some combination of the three.

Nursery schools

Nursery schools are designed for students aged 3 to 6. They cover the types of education contained in RL junior and senior kindergartens, plus group day care with an education programme. The twin goals of nursery schools are to allow parents to return to work sooner after giving birth to children -- a fact openly acknowledged here but often dodged in RL -- and to socialise children in preparation for their more formal education.

Nursery education is offered, if at all, by the individual municipalities based on perceived value and cost-effective delivery. For political reasons of social conservatism, early childhood education, compulsory or state-subsidised day care and nursery schools are not offered at all in Ancaster Province. Flamborough and Glanbrook fare a little better, with their largest settlements of Waterdown and Mount Hope, respectively, getting the service. It is universally available in Dundas and Hamilton Provinces. Stoney Creek Province tries to apply it universally, but some unincorporated areas do not yet have nursery schools.

All provinces which offer nursery school operate at least some of them in schools, fostering an education-positive environment for young children and demystifying the school experience somewhat. Nursery school students are not just marking time, though; they are setting the learning foundations, especially in so-called soft skills which uncouth adults so often lack.

The ability to take direction, control oneself, cooperate and postpone gratification of needs to a more appropriate time are skills many adults would do well to emulate the children. Familiarisation with the alphabet, numbers, addition and subtraction, colours, simple geometry, game rules and reasoning cannot help but to aid nursery school students in their future academic careers.