Have you ever thought about what Canada would be like if the French had won the battle at the Plains of Abraham in 1759? The nation's culture and identity would be far more resistant to American influence, because we would all be speaking French. As it stands, we speak the language of the Americans and thus it seems that we are following more in their footsteps every day. First Alberta began negotiating private health care and now we are contemplating private post-secondary education.

As early as next fall, a degree-granting branch of the private, for-profit University of Phoenix could be established in Calgary, followed by a branch in Edmonton a year or two later. Last fall, Alberta Learning gave the American university conditional approval for a Calgary location. The problems this poses are numerous.

Two-tier education will lead to the same results as two-tier health care: benefits for the wealthy, deprivation for the average. The goal of a for-profit system is to generate wealth for the owner, not to provide the highest quality service. If providing quality helps to make the owner richer, he or she may incorporate that into their operation, but only that condition. An institution of learning that does not hold learning as the highest priority seems pointless and wasteful, and yet our province is increasingly embracing the paradoxical idea.

Mark Cameron, regional vice-president of U of P, has said "I think anything that provides the citizenry with options and choice is a good thing." A branch of the U.S.-based DeVry Institute of Technology already offers three degree programs in Calgary, and funding for many arts programs at the University of Alberta is decreasing each year as tuition increases. As more private institutions offer only programs that make their owners wealthy, it appears that other programs may suffer and be marginalized. This doesn't seem like "options and choice."

Cameron also said "Consumers make their own selection. Though there may be a lot of (schools) that want to come in and do it, only the fittest will survive. And those that provide value will survive." This attitude is a pointed example of the learning-as-business philosophy that is eroding Alberta's university, causing serious imbalance between faculties and essentially determining what kinds of knowledge are available to students.

Education is not business. Gaining knowledge is not about making individual people more wealthy, be they students or institute-owners. Knowledge is about improving the human race and the world. Some things just can't be measured in dollars, no matter how hard business people and politicians try.

Thanks to Americans, more and more of the world believes the only value is sale value. But "value" is not a term to apply to education. If I want value I go to a thrift store or a flea market. I do not want my successors to have to learn in garage sale schools. Students are not consumers. Education is not a product. Market exchange rules trade, not learning.

The language used by Cameron reveals an increasingly prevalent attitude towards education. Those who love knowledge do not dollarize it, do not valuate it. The United States has a history of cultural imperialism, from the space race and Vietnam to the gulf War, free trade, Elian Gonzalez, and, increasingly, their schools in our cities. Who will name the amount of money the University of Phoenix will be required to dispense to have Albertan authorities overlook any peculiarities in its curricula?

In order for us to remain Canadian, it is essential that our schools remain Canadian.