.� NORTH SHORE REGIONAL COLLEGE SUPPLEMENTARY BRIEF March 9th, 1967 Prepared by the Coordinating Committee. llThe North Shore Regional College Study" prepared in 1965 by Hardwick and Baker establishes the need for a comprehensive conununity college on the north shore of Burrard Inlet by 1968. Let us compare the needs of the North Shore and those of the ,ivancouver Island: 1 area as set forth in the respective support­ ing reports. 1. Total population of the two areas is similar -­ approximately 120,000. 2. School populations are similar -- approximately 30,000. J. The number of Grade XII students in the North Shore is, at 1,637 in 1965-66, about 10 per cent more than. the number in the Vancouver Island area. 4. The predicted enrolments of the two proposed colleges if they were in existence in. 1967-68 are about equal at 800 pupils. The predicted enrolments for 1967 are higher for the North Shore. 5. The financial feasibility of the two colleges is comparable. The tax base for the Vancouver Island area is, 11 over 400 million dollars", and for the North Shore is, "in excess of 377 million dollars11 • It should be noted that the cost of providing the - 2 - same progrannne will be lower on the North Shore because of the more compact area served. There is clear evidence that the need for a college, the number of students it will serve j and its probable growth is every bit as great on the North Shore as it is on the Vancouver Island area. The opening enrolment in the North Shore College will be over twice that of the opening enrolment in Selkirk College. The geographical area to be served by the North Shore College is not as large as that to be served by the Vancouver Island College or the Prince George College. It is substantial and extends from Deep Cove to Squamish and the Sechelt Peninsula. However, geographic size is a relatively insignificant criteria as witn.ess development of the Vancouver City College, run by the Vancouver School Board and serving a much smaller area -- the City of Vancouver. A start on planning is especially urgent on the North Shore because suitable sites are scarce and are rapidly being developed for other purposes. Continuing the current delay will cost both the Province of British Columbia and the local taxpayer dearly, not only because extra money will be required for that purchase but also because the best sites may be irrevocably lost. The n.ew secondary school curriculum design.ad by the Department of Education is a great step forward -- in theory. Despite a social economic grouping which results in a particularly high - 3 p,ropensity towards university-oriented students, the North Shore School Boards have been successful in getting over 40 pe:r cent of students onto the fou:r streams other than the academic-technical stream. Experience with pupils in these othe:r streams is proving :rewarding. Pupils of various abilities and aptitudes have programmes, just as demanding as the academic-technical, but p:rog:rammes in which they a:re succeeding because they are interested, and because they They have been feel they a:re getting somewhere and can go on. encouraged to believe that all five streams lead to opportunities for further training and education and to employment. We believe that while some will go directly to employment, an ever-increasing p:ropo:r­ tion will :require further education. Unless oppo:rtun.ities a:re provided, we will have broken faith with these youn.g people. The new cu:r:riculum was designed on the assumption that community colleges would exist, and will fail, as did the old =•General P:rog:ramme:', if they do not exist. On the academic side, there are 300 students in G:rade XIII on the North Shore. students who, if G:rade XIII did not exist, would almost all add to the load on the universities. The G:rade XIII programme has many faults, particularly in its close tie to the adolescent environment of the public school. It does not provide the scope, challenge, or social environment for best development of its age group of student. We understand that university restrictions becoming effective in September of 1967 will make it impossible for Grade XIII students to be admitted with full credit to the second year of the Faculties of Science. A community college would permit � � - 4 this local and economical programme to be improved to overcome these faults and would reduce the pressure on the universities. A North Shore Community College opened in September, 1969, would enrol 500 students, nearly all of whom would otherwise be demanding university entrance. Placing and passing the plebiscite: 1. would enable adequate, efficient planning with resulting benefits to all; 2. will involve no expenditure of large sums of money for two years because the earliest possible opening is now September, 19699 .3. will be evidence of faith to pupils on the non-academic streams and should allow the new curriculum to succeed on the North Shore; 4. may enable the Grade XIII programme to continue until it is absorbed into the community college; 5. may avoid the irretrievable loss of the best sites. We know of no educationally valid argument to support any further delay in getting on with the job.