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Like most of us, I have been shocked and appalled by news of the unprovoked attacks by Russian forces on civilians in Ukraine. Even more so when I hear of the plight of those already vulnerable people who are doubly disadvantaged by the colour of their skin.

Too much news-watching can be bad for one's health and tends to give rise to feelings of helplessness and defeatism. But even small gestures, especially by large groups of people, can be quite powerful.

Although I don't have friends or family stuck in Ukraine, my heart goes out to those who do.

The yuppies of Ottawa's university neighbourhoods - The Glebe, Old Ottawa South, Old Ottawa East and Sandy Hill - are all up in arms about the subdividing of single-family homes into multiple dwelling units to serve as rooming houses for students. What gives? These NIMBY whiners were young and poor once themselves. Students undeniably need affordable housing. Is discrimination on the basis of studenthood (or other occupational status) the last bastion of acceptable human rights discrimination in this country?

Discrimination against students is nothing new, of course. I remember looking for a place in London, Ontario, in the mid-1970s and walking past all kinds of prim little notices that read "Students need not apply". The prejudice against students is based, in my opinion, not on any notion that students may default on their rent, but on the erroneous perception that they all want to party 24 hours a day, or at least the 12 hours between 8 PM and 8 AM. Was that EVER true of a majority of students? At any rate, that simply does not gibe with what I see of today's students.

When pre- and early Baby Boomers went off to university in the 1960s, they expected to be (and often were) part of a high-flying career path and high-earning elite once they graduated. But during those post-Sputnik years, it seemed nearly ALL kids who were in elementary or secondary school at the time, regardless of whether it was the best choice for them, aspired to go to university. Or at least, their parents (a majority of whom had not themselves had that opportunity) wanted them to go. I remember my grade eight teacher saying something like this: Virtually ALL the A-stream kids, MOST of the B-stream kids and about HALF the C-stream kids want to go on to university. It's not going to happen!

But to a great extent, he was wrong. Instead, grade and marking inflation took over. Standards were lowered. Streaming and acceleration and province-wide matriculation examinations were abolished. Students were automatically shunted from grade to grade and graduated from high school, regardless of whether they were literate, numerate or had met the expected standards. And almost everyone could find a way into an undergraduate university program of some sort, if willing to pay the fees.

So the baccalaureat became the new high school diploma, a kind of lowest common denominator, as middle and late Baby Boomers and subsequent generations flooded the market. Moreover, tuition fees and housing fees have all risen much faster than the rate of inflation over the past few decades. What's a poor student to do?

Well, get a part-time job, for one thing. Today's students are often working for a lot of the time they're not in class, giving them very little time for wild parties!

A couple of brief asides: First of all, I KNOW things weren't perfect in my young day. Streaming and IQ tests and province-wide exams - all ways of labelling and categorizing children and overencouraging competition and stress at what seemed like a shockingly young age - did have their limitations. But that's a topic for another time. Secondly, I have no doubt that young people today have just as wide an array of talents and intellectual levels as they ever did and many do manage to achieve remarkable things. It's just that this self-esteem business of saying that ALL children have done well, when that's clearly not the case, does nobody any favours. The kids who really are struggling do not get identified early on and given the extra help that they need. The kids who excel are not able to enjoy and understand their achievements or what further ones they may be capable of, when everyone else is being lauded too. And the ones who are somewhere in the middle, as always, get ignored so that they don't achieve their full potential either.

In my ideal vision, there would be many educational possibilities at many stages of our lives. University, at any level, is not for everyone. But for those who HAVE chosen it, for goodness' sake let's give them a break!