HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2016-04-13, Page 22 Huron Expositor • Wednesday, April 13, 2016
Fewer babies equals less students
AMDSB
welcomes
hundreds of
international
students
Shaun Gregory
Huron Expositor
World War II ended,
which created a whirlwind
of population growth, the
birthrate ballooned in Can-
ada. This welcomed the
generation known as the
Baby Boom. As soon as the
baby boomers began to
graduate from the educa-
tion system, the Avon Mait-
land District School Board
started to notice a radical
decrease in their school
population. This shift has
resulted in empty class-
rooms seats across the
nation, to fill the void
they've opened their doors
globally.
In the olden days it was
more than common to
enter a standard dwelling
in Canada to witness a
whopping 8-10 siblings and
only a year or two separat-
ing each of them. Now, it's
odd for a family to have
three or more kids. Pin-
pointing this decline
AMDSB decided to launch
an international program in
2012 to welcome students
from far and wide.
"Canada would not grow
its population without
immigration right now. So
our schools (enrollment)
have been dropping every
year, two to three per cent,"
explained Steve Howe,
international education
administrator at AMDSB.
Huron East also faced a
decreasing number of stu-
dents, which culminated
from the closing of Seaforth
High School between 2001-
2002. The shortage has
been ongoing throughout
the country for almost two
decades said Howe.
"If it had gone another
year, they would have had
less than a 100 students,"
stated Howe to why the
board had its hands tied in
the closing of the school
that provided the commu-
nity with education for
years.
Something had to be
done with this steady
occurrence of students that
were missing in action. In
2012, AMDSB decided to
begin marketing what
Huron -Perth could offer
students from around the
world. In that year they
housed 29 international
students. The word has
spread like wild fire and by
2013 they had nearly tri-
pled their intake and were
saying hello to 88 new
scholars. The numbers are
still rising; 12 months later
150 have arrived and this
year they've managed to set
the bar at an impressive 230
students. With the top
country being Brazil, the
board has welcomed
students from Colombia,
Spain, France, Germany,
Korea, Switzerland and
Japan as well as a handful
of other countries in previ-
ous years. Additionally,
there are a group of stu-
dents from Mexico that
come for a couple weeks
each year. Howe said he
does not add those to the
totals since they are here
for such a short period of
time.
"It doesn't cure or stop
the declining problem, but
it offsets some of it," stated
Howe.
"If you put 230 students
in the school then they're
taking up seats that we
don't have Canadian kids
in anymore."
According to Howe, cur-
rent elementary levels have
somewhat leveled off and
he expects growth by 2020.
As for high schools he said
those numbers will drop,
but will level off further
down the road. And seeing
that Seaforth is primarily
an aging population, it's
becoming a task of its own
to produce larger numbers
in the town's school
system.
"For Seaforth people are
coming to retire and those
retirees just don't have
babies," Howe said in a
recent interview.
Just as we Canadians are
providing a learning expe-
rience for the interconti-
nental citizens, those trav-
elling thousands of miles
are providing us with an
education as well.
"Some of these interna-
tional students are like rock
stars," Howe stated.
"It's cross cultural learn-
ing on both sides they're
experiencing Canada
through the eyes of a Cana-
dian family and Canadian
schools. We are learning
from them."
All of these young peo-
ple have traveled for hours
upon hours alone to obtain
the know-how of exactly
what goes on in our North
American education. They
each arrived with a suitcase
or two full of clothes but all
of the remaining expenses
incurred while here are a
welcome boost to our local
economy.
"International students
pay tuition, the Govern-
ment of Ontario does not
provide tax dollars. Not
only do they pay to come
here, they pay host fami-
lies," explained Howe.
"It generates revenue for
the board, which tends to
get spent in Huron -Perth.
It's a win, win, which ever
way you look at it."
The principal at Seaforth
Public School, Anne Cope-
land said last month they
accepted 11 students from
Mexico for a week and a
half stay. Bunked with fam-
ilies that had children
attending SPS, they rode
the bus, went out for recess
and were able to venture
out on several excursions to
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Noticing the shortage of students' nation-wide, Avon Maitland
District School Board created a program to fill the void
destinations including Nia-
gara Falls and Toronto.
"When they first arrived,
lots of not sure, how do we
interact? What do we do?"
Copeland told the Exposi-
tor in her office April 7.
"Now they're just a big
group of friends?'
Later in the week, Cope-
land said two to three SPS
students will be put in a
group with a pair of
students from Mexico. The
group has been assigned a
French project to complete
in which they are expected
to create a special personal
cooking recipe.
"They are going to be
making enchiladas," Cope-
land said with enthusiasm.
"You've got three languages
right there. It's a neat trade-
off and incredible program.
I wish I was a kid."
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