It is a virtue that we as Canadians are always trying to improve ourselves and improve our education system. It is necessary to stay globally competitive today. However it is a mistake to think we can take a strategy from another country and apply it in Canada without taking into consideration the culture.

The Scandinavian countries have more of an outdoor emphasis in their kindergarten programs because their culture emphasizes nature and being outdoors more than ours does. The Japanese focus on group work in math because their culture focuses on the group more than the individual. It is necessary to take the good points of other countries’ education systems and apply it within Canadian culture.

For example, we have taken group work from Japan and applied it in Canada by using peer evaluations to make sure everyone in the group does their work. We have taken the idea of learning about nature from Scandinavia and instituted outdoor education in elementary school.

Canadians are pioneers. Canadians are accepting of differences. Canadians have a high value on educating everyone. This is our culture. As we apply successful strategies in education from other countries, we must figure out how to make them Canadian. We must make them our own.