My High School Reunion
June 1, 2010
WATSON SCOTT SWAIL, President & CEO, Educational Policy Institute
My head hurts. For a number of reasons. Four days in my hometown of Winnipeg at the 50th Anniversary of Vincent Massey Collegiate in the Fort Garry area of the city. Over 1,200 of us--500 of whom came from out of town (including from New Zealand and other geographically desirable locations)--converged to celebrate our youth (isn't that what it is?). It happened to be my class' 30th anniversary (yes, that would be 1980).
It was a ton of fun, of course. Except for the rain. And did it rain. It rained so much that they talked about opening up the famous Winnipeg Floodway. I'm still wet.
I thought about the composition of my class and others at the reunion. My older brothers were there--one lives in Calgary; the other lives outside of Chicago. Like me, the latter now lives the ex-patriot life. Of my class, several lived out of Winnipeg, and many in the US. A lot of Vancouverites and "TO" types. But also Chicago, Minneapolis, and other US locations.
Historically, this has been called the "Brain Drain" by academics and politicos. However, Ben Wildavsky, author of The Great Brain Race, who also appeared in the EPI Book Club last week, calls this the Brain Train. As Wildavsky said, countries need to stop putting up protectionist borders (can you say NAFTA?) and understand that there is a great synergy that raises the floor of education rather than lowering the ceiling. But we are stuck in this mode that we think it is bad to send students away and bring others in. This isn't hockey; it isn't all or nothing. All can win.
Does it matter that Winnipeg, or Guelph, or Saskatoon, or even Moncton lose people to the US or other parts of Canada? Yes. It does. But only if those cities fail to produce their own talent and attract the talent needed to form decent and prudent societies. That's the real issue. Can they produce homegrown (will they "run" back to Saskatoon?).
I spoke with some of my friends who either live or have lived in small communities in Manitoba and other places. Those communities are shrinking. The agricultural communities of the early 20th century are dissolving into microscopic communities of the new millennium. I think Winnipeg could deal with losing me (for sure), and perhaps my brothers. But can Thompson, Carberry, or Neepawa deal with losing their doctors and nurses (lawyers? Sure....).
This is the ultimate dilemma for higher education and for local and provincial governments. Keeping society alive and kicking (yes, an '80s reference) while we continue to move toward cityscapes. Many US states and some Canadian provinces have played with the concept of tax breaks and other vehicles to get doctors, nurses, and teahers to move to small communities, usually in northern areas. These programs work--for a while. My experience is that these programs end up defaulting at some point because the professionals can make enough money else where to pay for the fines associated with their scholarship or tax break.
I don't know the solution. But I do know that this continues to be a critical issue in many Canadian communities. We need to work further on this. But not now. My head hurts.
DR. WATSON SCOTT SWAIL is the founding president and CEO of the Educational Policy Institute, with offices in Canada, the US, and Australia. Dr. Swail is well known for his research on educational opportunity and post-secondary access and success. Before establishing EPI, he served as Vice President for The Council for Opportunity in Education in Washington, DC, founding director of the Pell Institute for the Study of Educational Opportunity, Senior Research Scientist at SRI International, and Associate Director of Policy Analysis at The College Board in Washington, DC. He is a former classroom teacher and received his bachelor's degree from the University of Manitoba, master's degree from Old Dominion University, and doctorate in education policy from The George Washington University.
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