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Eliminating OAC: A Negative Change
The Ontario Academic Credit, more commonly known as OAC, used to be the final year in high school. It was also called grade thirteen and was eliminated after the 2002-2003 school year. Premier Mike Harris abolished grade thirteen as a cost-cutting measure to help finance the many tax-cuts.â„- Clearly, the future generations were not a priority in this decision because by eliminating grade thirteen, students are now less prepared for university, a significant step to take from high school. Additional pressure and a heavier workload have been placed on students today and in the years to come. Less time is spent in the planning and selection of career paths and future endeavors. The deletion of the OAC high school year was a decision that was ruinous and poorly executed. Unfortunately, this change will forever have a negative effect on the teenage students of Ontario.
If the OAC year was still in effect, students would be graduating at the ages of eighteen or nineteen; currently, the age at which a student is expected to graduate is seventeen or eighteen. The maturity level between these age groups is considerably different because there are students who are not psychologically ready at this age to make career path decisions. The majority of students will require the extra-time to mentally prepare themselves for the next step in their lives. Also, with the extra year of OAC, it gives students time to better develop work and study habits for university. Grade thirteen gives them the opportunity to better decide on a specific career path and select the university best suited for it. The elimination of grade thirteen hinders the indecisive student (i.e. the student who has no idea of what to do after high school) and thus the task of selecting a university becomes more difficult. It is more beneficial for students to be more prepared and ready for their next step rather than being rushed to make a decision that will affect them for a lifetime. The OAC year gives an opportunity to teenage students to mature enough so that they are able to make a wiser decision for the future.
As a result of removing grade thirteen, the curriculum has been compacted in order to fit it into four years, and as a result, the more difficult subjects, such as mathematics, are even more difficult than before.І Added pressure is placed on students because there is more to learn in a shorter length of time, whereas, if grade thirteen still existed, the curriculum would be better proportioned to the needs of the student. Similar to now, a student was required to have earned thirty high school credits; prior to the abolishment of grade thirteen, six of these credits had to be at OAC level. A grade eleven or twelve student was able to take an OAC level course, which would create a lighter workload for them in the upcoming years. Currently, in grade twelve, to qualify for university, a student must have six university level courses – all of which must be completed in the duration of one school year. This squeezes the curriculum into four extremely stressful years. Not all students are able to handle this workload. Some return for a fifth year of high school to boost their average, try to make a final choice for their careers, or even to receive the necessary number of credits to graduate. The downfall is that some, unfortunately, choose to drop out. According to a study done in 2005, the high school dropout rate in Ontario