Eliminating Oac: A Negative Change

Eliminating OAC: A Negative Change

The Ontario Academic Credit, more commonly known as OAC, used to be the final year in high school. It was also called grade thirteen and was eliminated after the 2002-2003 school year. Premier Mike Harris abolished grade thirteen as a cost-cutting measure to help finance the many tax-cuts.№ Clearly, the future generations were not a priority in this decision because by eliminating grade thirteen, students are now less prepared for university, a significant step to take from high school. Additional pressure and a heavier workload have been placed on students today and in the years to come. Less time is spent in the planning and selection of career paths and future endeavors. The deletion of the OAC high school year was a decision that was ruinous and poorly executed. Unfortunately, this change will forever have a negative effect on the teenage students of Ontario.

If the OAC year was still in effect, students would be graduating at the ages of eighteen or nineteen; currently, the age at which a student is expected to graduate is seventeen or eighteen. The maturity level between these age groups is considerably different because there are students who are not psychologically ready at this age to make career path decisions. The majority of students will require the extra-time to mentally prepare themselves for the next step in their lives. Also, with the extra year of OAC, it gives students time to better develop work and study habits for university. Grade thirteen gives them the opportunity to better decide on a specific career path and select the university best suited for it. The elimination of grade thirteen hinders the indecisive student (i.e. the student who has no idea of what to do after high school) and thus