Sign your kids up next year

 

I just helped my son with his first week’s review of his Oil and Gas 20 class. Colour me impressed.

When then-Minister of Education Jeremy Cockrill stood at a podium at the 2024 Saskatchewan Oil and Gas Show in Weyburn to announce a new Oil and Gas 20 and 30 online class for high school students, I was remarkably impressed, but a little skeptical.

That’s because I was afraid it might just be copy and pasted from something produced in Texas, or even Alberta. The concepts would be largely the same, but the local relevancy could be lacking.

I was also afraid that College of Education types with no real knowledge of oil and gas might be putting together the curriculum. How many teachers actually worked in the oilpatch, turning wrenches or swinging a hammer? How many got their coveralls covered in oil? Or even owned work boots?

With that in mind, I got together with Brian Crossman of Estevan service rig company Independent Well Servicing and Colan Trail with Saskatchewan oil producer Burgess Creek Exploration. We cooked up a 12 page suggested curriculum and sent it directly to the education minister last summer. This was unsolicited. No one asked for it. No one paid for it. But we figured if the Saskatchewan Ministry of Education was going to offer a class about our industry, we wanted it to reflect on the Saskatchewan experience. If we didn’t, who else would?

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So far, I’ve taken a look at the course outline for the 20 level class (Grade 11), and much of it closely corresponds with what we suggested. That’s not to say our fat heads made a difference, but rather that these things should have been self-evident to anyone creating such a course, assuming they didn’t hate oil and gas like much of society does. Anyone creating such a class should start off with the basics of oil creation and geology, for instance. And that was the first week’s subject matter.

The quiz had questions directly related to Saskatchewan, from the types of secondary recovery used in Saskatchewan to which period of time when Saskatchewan oil mostly formed. It even spoke of kerogens, which I personally never learned about until about 2013 or so. It was timely, accurate and relevant, and reflected up-to-date processes. And honestly, a couple of questions I had to think about, and I’ve been writing about this for 17 years.

And that’s a good thing. It means it’s challenging, not basket-weaving. And that’s what we should all want.

But more important for me is that my son, Spencer, comes home each day during his spare, rushes to his computer, cracks open the course, and works on it intently and purposefully. His plan is to be an electrician after he graduates this spring, and will likely work as such in the oilfield as well as other areas. I like that he’s asking questions, and interested, which definitely wasn’t the case for some other classes like history, which was not his thing. So far, this is his thing.

As for the hew and cry from those who were aghast that oil companies were involved with developing this curriculum – to hell with them. The oil companies’ expertise in what is clearly their industry was absolutely necessary, and so far, seems to be well done. Thank you to Teine Energy for taking the lead on this, and all other oil companies who are now participating. That includes Cenovus, Whitecap and Vermilion.

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• 0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
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• 0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office
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• 0032 IWS Summer hiring rock trailer music
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So as an early review, I think Oil and Gas 20 is exceptionally well done. I would love to see this offered as an in-class program in our oilpatch regions like Lloydminster, Kindersley, Swift Current, Shaunavon, Weyburn, Estevan, Carlyle and Carnduff. There likely isn’t the critical mass for that, and the multi-media portion would suffer. But also, I think we would fall into the trap of disinterested teachers who know nothing of the topic teaching a class they don’t want to do. So maybe it’s best to stay an online course through Saskatchewan Distance Learning Centre for now.

I am not sure how the job placement portion later in the year will work, but I wait with eager anticipation.

I’d love to see how Oil and Gas 30 pans out, but Spencer will have graduated before it is offered, and it will be too late.

All-in-all, the new Oil and Gas 20 and 30 classes are among the best things I’ve seen the Saskatchewan government do for the oilpatch. Thank you to the premier, ministers who have implemented it (Jeremy Cockrill and Everett Hindley), Saskatchewan Distance Learning Centre. and all in the ministry and oil companies who made it happen. And thank you for having the courage to do so, in spite of the braying criticism.

For parents in the oil patch whose kids might have an inkling to follow in their footsteps, I strongly urge you to sign them up for next year’s class. (Course info found here) This year the numbers were limited. Hopefully that will be expanded. Don’t miss out.

Our industry needed this affirmation. We matter. And our kids need a chance to learn about it.

Bravo.

 

Brian Zinchuk is editor and owner of Pipeline Online. He can be reached at brian.zinchuk@pipelinelineline.ca.

• 0088 WBPC_2025_30SEC_PROMO
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• 0087 Lori Carr Coal Expansion
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• 0086 Sask Gov Oil and Gas Incentive Programs
  0086 Sask Gov Oil and Gas Incentive Programs
• 0085 Turnbull snow removal call office
  0085 Turnbull snow removal call office
• 0084 EMP Metals Pipeline Online
  0084 EMP Metals Pipeline Online
• 0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
  0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
• 0076 Latus only
  0076 Latus only
• 0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
  0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
• 0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office
  0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office
• 0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
  0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
• 0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
  0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
• 0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
  0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
• 0032 IWS Summer hiring rock trailer music
• 0022 Grimes winter hiring
• 0021 OSY Rentals S8 Promo
• 0018 IWS Hiring Royal Summer
• 0013 Panther Drilling PO ad 03 top drive rigs
• 0011
• 0006 JK Junior
• 0002 gilliss casing services
  0002 gilliss casing services
• 9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX
  9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX
• 9001