Textbooks economical with words about co-ops
Jack Quarter, Daniel Schugurensky, Erica McCollum And Laurie Mook
A recent study conducted through the Social Economy Centre at the University of Toronto raises questions about the narrow focus of business and economics textbooks in Ontario’s high schools. The research by professor Daniel Schugurensky and MA student Erica McCollum of OISE/University of Toronto, examined the contents of 22 business textbooks containing 11,375 pages currently used in Ontario high schools. In general, these textbooks had very little about non-profits and co-operatives. When all of the materials referring to co-operatives were totalled, they amounted to 35 pages, or 0.3 per cent of the 11,375 pages in the 22 books. For non-profits, this amounted to 107 pages, or 0.9 per cent of the total pages. In other words, there is not a lot about these types of organizations within the business texts used in Ontario high schools.