Everyone is so fixated on equity of university admissions that the objective of this decision by the university is being missed. It is not primarily about equity in admissions. It is about reforming the composition of the teaching workforce in order to have a workforce more suitable to the population.
There is a significant difference between the school of education thinking:
a) It seems unfair that more people from minority groups don't get admission to our program, so let's make our admissions more fair.
b) The industry would be better served by teachers who have more experience with and are representative of a variety of groups, so let's adjust our program composition to improve workforce composition.
The university is focused on workforce composition and industry need. To repeat what they state on their website:
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The goal of the policy, which has been in development since 2012, is to ensure that graduates of the U of M education program help to create a more diverse teaching force in the province
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it’s an attempt to change the makeup of the Manitoba teaching force so that it better reflects the students and families served by teachers
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Also, the ability to empathise with diverse children and families is crucial in teaching. A teacher preparation program which emphasises future teachers working with, getting to know, sharing ideas with, understanding and being friends with peers from more diverse experiences is going to produce teachers who are more empathetic to the variety of children and families that they will need to work with in the community. This is a better teacher preparation program.