A Carleton graduate student has launched a petition calling for the removal of a provincially-mandated limit on the number of credits a student can take for a high school diploma.
Gurdeep Singh Jagpal, a graduate legal studies student, started an online petition to raise awareness of a 34-credit limitation on high school students implemented by the Ontario government in 2013. The petition is currently calling for 100 signatures and, as of publication, has 21.
According to Jagpal, this limitation presents challenges for students who want to take a fifth year of high school, often called a victory lap.
He said he took a victory lap after graduating high school and found it very beneficial.
“Having that extra year allowed me to slow things down, to figure out what I really was interested in,” Jagpal said. “And it allowed me to boost my average up so I could get into university.”
Heather Irwin, the spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of Education, said in an email that a main reasons why students return for a fifth year is uncertainty about what path to take after post-secondary.
She added a vast majority of Ontario students finish high school in four years, provided they have the approprirate planning and support.
“A well-planned four-year secondary program is an effective use of both students’ time and education resources,” Irwin said.
But Jagpal said that it is unfair for students not to get the chance at a fifth year in high school.
“It’s not fair that other students will not have the opportunity that I did because it’s really important to have the chance to be able to develop,” he added. “Some students may be ready in four years, some might take longer . . . Everybody works on their own timeframe.”
Jagpal said adult high schools that accommodate victory lap students are not as good as regular high schools because there are not very many in school boards, and they offer a limited selection in courses.
Irwin said students who want to take more than 34 credits are still able to do so, but the ministry funds school boards at a reduced rate for any extra credits.
“Thirty credits are required to graduate, so this allows for an additional four credits before funding to school boards decreases,” Irwin said.
“At no point are students being charged for taking additional credits, nor are they prevented from returning to take further credits after their fourth year of secondary school,” she added.
According to the ministry’s website, the 34-credit threshold was implemented to “encourage students to graduate and move on to the next stage in their lives after four years,” citing that over 20,000 students returned for a fifth year of high school after graduating.
According to the ministry, the province saves around $22 million a year through this initiative.
Students are still able to take more than 34 credits, but school boards receive reduced funding for those credits, according to the minstry website, meaning that funding must be found in other ways.
Natalya Watson, a first-year University of Toronto Mississauga chemistry student, said she experienced trouble with registering in her former high school for victory lap credits in 2014.
Watson said she was told by the school that they did not have the funding for part-time students, so she was re-directed to taking night school.
She said she was glad she took a victory lap in night school, as it allowed her to work and save money alongside going to class.
“I wanted to have everything in place before I went to university,” she added. “I’ve just grown as an adult without having the pressures of university . . . I’ve learned to be my own person.”
Jagpal said he is currently working to bring more attention to the issue of his petition through social media, and through speaking to university students in their classes.
“Students are the best investments,” Jagpal said. “They are our future, and they’re the ones that are going to make the biggest difference if we give them the tools to succeed. You want to give them the best possible outcome so they can.”
– Infographic by Shanice Pereira
