When critics attack diversity enrolment targets

Addressing a lack of diversity in Canada’s teachers requires institutions to consider revising the admissions processes for their Bachelor of Education programs, write Melanie Janzen and Jerome Cranston for University Affairs. Janzen and Cranston discuss the backlash they encountered after helping establish a new admissions policy for the B.Ed. program at the University of Manitoba, noting that criticism often centers on the question of whether a program with diversity targets will still enroll “the best and brightest.” Janzen and Cranston contend that these arguments reveal a misunderstanding of how schools judge merit when admitting applicants. They conclude that “what has become important in this debate is the challenge for all us to confront our biases, the prejudices we hold towards others, and the privilege from which we benefit and which simultaneously disadvantages others.” University Affairs