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What's with all the anxiety in today's youth?

There are some Canadian high schools with AP courses (including a few in Toronto). Yes, American students have to take either the SAT or the ACT (or both) to attend university in any country, not just in the United States, which means that American students wishing to attend a Canadian university has to take either or both standardized tests. Likewise, Canadian students have to take the SAT or the ACT (or both) to go to an American university.
 
Of the working age population (25-64): 52% of Canadians have completed college or university, 26% have a bachelor's degree or higher.

In the 25-34 age cohort, 58% have completed college or university and 32% have a bachelor's degree or higher.
 
Johnny Au said:
There are some Canadian high schools with AP courses (including a few in Toronto). Yes, American students have to take either the SAT or the ACT (or both) to attend university in any country, not just in the United States, which means that American students wishing to attend a Canadian university has to take either or both standardized tests. Likewise, Canadian students have to take the SAT or the ACT (or both) to go to an American university.
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I had no idea that AP courses existed in Canada -- I always thought of it as an American thing. I know the former Grade 13 in Ontario and later OAC had been likened/compared to AP courses before.

Because I received post-secondary education in both Canada and the US, I still somewhat vaguely recall the standardized testing I took before going stateside, though it was quite a number of years ago. At the time I had basically little to no experience with standardized testing growing up in Ontario (EQAO had been just getting started at the time and I remember in high school not many took it seriously, as if I recall it didn't really affect grades much) and so American-style very high stakes testing was really new to me. I remember, while waiting in line at the test center, a girl next to me turning to me and mentioning that she'd started preparing a year ago for this, and I remember thinking in my mind back then "a year? wow, Americans sure are competitive." I definitely enjoyed the years I experienced in university in the States though.

I do agree with the folks earlier in the thread that there are some stresses associated with going to university for kids these days for a number of reasons (eg. preparing to get into a good school beforehand, being pressured to go since "everyone needs to go" these days, and then facing increasing tuition and accumulating student debt while you're there, plus even sometimes difficulty in getting a job afterward forcing kids to move back in with mom and dad).
 
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One thing that's noticeable too is how much later kids are able to be independent (probably because of the rising costs of things like education and housing, delayed time to first job, and the job market prospects for many recent college/university graduates) than previous generations. Moving out at 18 and being fully independent (not needing any money from mom and dad) used to be a thing but is like a pipe dream now for many.
 
Nearly all independent schools in the GTA offer AP courses (and did even when OAC existed). Those which don't are IB schools.
 
Canada is the 5th largest source of international students in the US, while on the flip side, the US is the 6th largest of internationals in Canada.

It appears to be thus not too rare to encounter people from either country on each others' campuses, but of course it's often hard to tell by accents or anything, so off the bat, local people might just not assume they're "international".

In both countries, students from China make up about a third of all the international students, and those from India about a tenth, with other countries in the single digit percentages. Canadian and American students both make up a bit over 3% of each others' international students.

http://www.iie.org/Research-and-Pub...nal-Students/Leading-Places-of-Origin/2012-14

http://www.cbie.ca/about-ie/facts-and-figures/
 
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As an academic, I have to say a lot of students really don't want to be students either don't want to be there or have an attitude that a university education is a product and since they pay they pay tuition, they're owed a certain grade. There's also the problem that many people think that underemployment, unemployment and skills mismatch are the fault of the universities giving out "useless" degrees instead of "training people for jobs."

Obviously if you want to be a professional of some sort, you'll need a degree, and there's of course nothing wrong with going if you think it's good for your personal enrichment and development. But this idea that one should be in university because they're between the ages of 18 and 21 or that it's what they "should" do is problematic.

Grade inflation in high schools has gotten so ridiculous that now about half of Ontario high school grads have an 80+ average, compared to about 5% in the 1960s.
 
King of Kensington said:
Grade inflation in high schools has gotten so ridiculous that now about half of Ontario high school grads have an 80+ average, compared to about 5% in the 1960s.
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Oh, I didn't know that. I barely remember what averages were like for classes in either university or high school in Ontario when I was in school. I do remember, however, being surprised that percentage grades in most universities/colleges in the US were somewhat higher than their counterparts in Ontario (if not Canada?) since 60% is typically a fail in the US, while I remember at least in Ontario it was a 50%.
 
A common explanation for grade inflation in the US was that professors in the 60s did it to avoid their students failing out of school and being drafted in the Vietnam war. However, that explanation wouldn't work for Canadian grade inflation.
 
Johnny Au said:
I still live at home with my parents. I can't afford to live on my own.
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I remember when I was in university in Ottawa 1991-1995 and in the summers off my parents would ask me why I'm coming home, why don't I find a summer job and live in Ottawa. It's not that they hated the kids, but to my parents having an able bodied 20-something man in the house was ridiculous. I shared this opinion myself, and within 3 days of getting my first job after graduation (paid $26K) I moved out to a basement apartment on the Danforth. I could hardly afford the rent of $700 a month, and when my job required a car it nearly broke me, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Perhaps it's different for young women or cultural groups where the young adults are treated as children no matter their age, but to me, as a man, one with a strong sense of competitiveness and desire for independence, I saw it as my duty and right to get out and make it on my own. So at a young age I looked for ways out, including going to RMC to join the military, emigrating to other countries where the cost of living may be less, etc, etc.

I never considered that I couldn't afford it, in my mind, I couldn't afford not to.
 
Admiral Beez said:
I remember when I was in university in Ottawa 1991-1995 and in the summers off my parents would ask me why I'm coming home, why don't I find a summer job and live in Ottawa. It's not that they hated the kids, but to my parents having an able bodied 20-something man in the house was ridiculous. I shared this opinion myself, and within 3 days of getting my first job after graduation (paid $26K) I moved out to a basement apartment on the Danforth. I could hardly afford the rent of $700 a month, and when my job required a car it nearly broke me, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Perhaps it's different for young women or cultural groups where the young adults are treated as children no matter their age, but to me, as a man, one with a strong sense of competitiveness and desire for independence, I saw it as my duty and right to get out and make it on my own. So at a young age I looked for ways out, including going to RMC to join the military, emigrating to other countries where the cost of living may be less, etc, etc.

I never considered that I couldn't afford it, in my mind, I couldn't afford not to.
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THIS is a cultural thing. Some of the anxiety (at least with 20somethings) might come from first generation Canadians who LONG for independence, but still need to respect their parents' wishes to live at home until they marry (or find a job in another city). Going away to school is NOT the same thing (and in some cultures/families, commuting is expected. Not for me. My parents wanted me to go away to school to get the campus/"away" experience). As for summer jobs, my parents probably would have wanted me to work in Toronto - even if they weren't HK immigrants. Working in the city in the summer allows for networking, which would lead to better opportunities after graduation. I wasn't allowed to lounge around. It was either work or school.
 
prosperegal said:
THIS is a cultural thing. Some of the anxiety (at least with 20somethings) might come from first generation Canadians who LONG for independence, but still need to respect their parents' wishes to live at home until they marry
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Funny thing we mention first generation Canadians and their parents' wishes to live at home. However, looking at my own immigration story I have to recognize that no one would emigrate if the above was the norm. If your own parents respected their parents' wishes they would have never emigrated to Canada, leaving the family back in the home country. My own parents moved us from the UK in 1976, with the uncles going to Australia and the USA, and I would guess my parents and their siblings had little thought to sticking around to satisfy some wishes from the extended family (though I doubt my grand parents ever made such a request). But that's more a cultural thing I admit, my dad laughs that inheritance in English families is your eye and hair colour, and the work ethic to seize opportunities to make your own life.
 
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