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Is this a bad thing?

It depends, I think, on your vision of Canadian society and education’s place in it. For example, you may feel, as many parents who have their children in private schools do, that there should be a religious component to education.

Yet the separation of church and state is a pillar of Canadian law. That separation is there to act as a cohesive force in Canadian society. So, too, is the public education system a cohesive force. As a taxpayer who believes in that separation of church and state, and who believes in those cohesive forces, I don’t want my tax dollars going to schools that either exclude on the basis of religion, believe the classroom is a place for religious instruction, or that cherry-pick the students they want in their schools. If you do believe that, fine. Pay for it yourself.

(Nor should those parents be exempt from paying public school taxes. Under universality, you don’t get to pick what taxes you pay. Seniors, for example, continue to pay school taxes long after their children have graduated.)

As for those independent elite schools — those would-be Etons with their school ties and flannel pants — that they receive any government funds is obscene. The defining characteristic and greatest attribute of Canadian society is its sense of social welfare, and the belief, however deluded it may be, in egalitarianism. It’s a civilizing force in Canada. Just ask an American.

But that, too, can be a matter of perception. Parents have every right to see their children’s education reflect those beliefs, or not. If they see an elite school as an instrument of social status, or that public schools are lacking while independent schools can offer the finest education money can buy, again, fine. Let those parents reflect the independence they crave.

Let them pay for their children’s education. Just don’t ask the rest of us to, too.

pmcmartin@postmedia.com