Perpetual labour strife in public schools and long surgical waiting lists tend to paint a gloomy picture for education and health in sa国际传媒, but the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development sees our province in brighter colours.
In a new 鈥渞egional well-being鈥� study in which the OECD measured eight topics, sa国际传媒 ranks at the top among Canadian provinces and territories in health and education. The Conference Board of sa国际传媒 backs that up by listing sa国际传媒鈥檚 education system as the best in the country.
So what鈥檚 all the fuss about crowded classrooms, limited resources for special-needs students and a general decline in the quality of education? Much ado about nothing?
Not necessarily. The rankings are just that 鈥� comparisons to other regions, not a measure of perfection. Just because we鈥檙e good doesn鈥檛 mean we can鈥檛 be better.
And we should be better.
The OECD study focuses on eight areas: health, safety, education, access to services, income, environment, jobs and civic engagement.
But the study paints with broad strokes. For example, access to services, in which sa国际传媒 got a perfect score of 10, was measured by what proportion of households (86.4 per cent) had broadband. High-speed access to the Internet is an increasingly important factor these days, but not a life-sustaining service.
The education ranking was determined by how much of the labour force had at least secondary education (91.2 per cent). It doesn鈥檛 take into consideration how many of those achieving secondary education reached that goal without having to endure the bitter wrangling between teachers and the provincial government every year. Precious few, these days.
And while sa国际传媒鈥檚 population is the best-educated, it鈥檚 No. 4 among 13 regions for jobs and income.
The health system was rated on the mortality rate (6.6 deaths per 1,000 people) and life expectancy (82.3 years). There鈥檚 nothing in there about how many people can鈥檛 find a family doctor, or how long a Vancouver Islander must wait for an appointment with a dermatologist.
Civic engagement, in which sa国际传媒 ranked eighth out of 13 regions, was determined by voter turnout. Statistics don鈥檛 reveal anything about a possible correlation between voter apathy and sa国际传媒鈥檚 kooky politics.
sa国际传媒 Tourism has branded the province as 鈥淪uper, Natural British Columbia,鈥� but sa国际传媒 got an eighth-place ranking for environment as well, based on the population鈥檚 exposure to air pollution. The province has an abundance of areas with fresh ocean breezes and bracing mountain air, but a huge chunk of the population lives on the traffic-afflicted Lower Mainland.
Safety, in which sa国际传媒 was ranked seventh out of 13 regions, was based on the murder rate. Perhaps it鈥檚 that Lower Mainland thing again.
sa国际传媒鈥檚 aggregate score of 7.99 puts us at the top of the well-being list for sa国际传媒, but it might be a blow to the collective ego to realize that it also puts us on par with Greater London, western Finland, Stockholm and the state of Utah. Not that there鈥檚 anything wrong with those places, but 鈥�
Never mind. Where we stand in comparison to others might be reason for a modest pat on the back (or a motivating boot lower down), but what really matters is not being better than someone else, but being better than we are.
We know this is a good place to live, and the OECD study verifies that. But it also reminds us we can be better.
So sa国际传媒 has a good education system. Imagine how much better it would be if teachers and government did a better job of getting along.
