You've raised a number of points, several of which I hinted at earlier, and I only wish I had a little more time.
The book, which I hope you do read, gets at that. This is a phenomenon. How we value specific work has resonated into the cuts we've made in our district school boards, and that includes removing most trades-related training at an early age.
The irony in all of that, I would argue, is that the chance of that type of work being outsourced to other places around the world—be it the way we fix our cars or build our buildings or construct our roads and infrastructure—is not going to happen.
I'm a teacher. I've been a life-long educator, and it's a noble profession. In fact, Lee Iacocca said that in a rational world, the best of us would be educators and the rest of us would have to settle for something less.
That's the importance I put on it, but it does require us to think differently again as educators, to shift the conversation from what we're so focused on—what I'm teaching, what my curriculum is—as opposed to what the purpose of education is. When we can shift that conversation away from what I'm teaching to what the students are learning, we would start to grapple with things like the timeliness of how we put people through apprenticeship.
My very last comment, Mr. Chair, is that we have been encumbered by the idea that education needs to be time-placed and place-based. You can only reach a certain point when you sit there for 8 weeks or 15 weeks or four years, as opposed to looking at what has been learned in that time.
The idea of a student being able to demonstrate that they've learned the outcomes in eight weeks as opposed to three years would be a novel outcome. We're financed on how many students are in those seats for how long. It's not in our interest to get them out the door any faster.
Again, it's complex, and I wish I had more time.
Let me conclude with this: all of you hold an honorary role in this country. I've a very political mother in Nova Scotia. It was certainly an honour for me to share the fact that I was coming to meet with some of you today. Your work is important.
Thank you very much.