In Northern classrooms some students thrive, others struggle.
While high school graduation rates in the NWT remains well below the national average, students in Yellowknife are doing fine.
Only 9.4 per cent of the city's residents ages 25 to 64 years old have not attained a high school diploma, which is better than the national average 11.5 per cent, according to a report based on 2016 census data from Statistics Canada.
But when you drill down a bit deeper, it is clear that there's a big divide between non-Indigenous and Indigenous citizens.
According to the report, nearly 75 per cent of non-Indigenous NWT residents has a post-secondary education, compared to 39 per cent of Indigenous persons.
In 2006, 43 per cent of Indigenous adults didn't have a degree or diploma, so things have improved, but it's clear that many schools have been failing their Indigenous students and it is a terrible thing that educational attainment remains a function of ethnicity in the territory.
Asking educators to erase a traumatic colonial legacy and cycles of poverty is a tall order. We're not blaming the teachers or the schools. There are quality educational institutions in this city – where many indigenous students attend -- staffed by dedicated teachers and where a number of government initiatives are making great strides.
After stops and starts junior kindergarten was rolled out in Yellowknife last year and has been well-received. Children and parents across the city have been benefiting from free access to a quality early childhood programming.
Then there are the many incentives the territorial government offers its citizens and employees who want to pursue higher education.
The government pays for its employees to attend universities, colleges and technical institutions, many of whom still get their salaries while in school.
It also offers conditional loans to citizens who want to further their educations down south. They must be paid back should the student to decide to leave the North but if they stay those loans amount to a free education. The GNWT has budgeted $45 million for student grants and loans this year.
There's Education Minister Caroline Cochrane's daring proposal to turn Aurora College into a polytechnic university, which could mean an exciting future for higher education in the North but only time will tell if her vision comes to fruition.
There are many reasons we need to improve educational outcomes in the city and territory.
First of all, education pays, especially in the North.
According to a 2015 Statistics Canada report comparing median annual earnings and levels of educational attainment, all a woman needs to do up here is earn her high school diploma if she wants to rake in $75,322 a year, which is way above the national median of $43,254.
For men the figures stood at $87,721 and $55,774.
It is true that the data is skewed because Northern workers are often paid high wages to compensate for the higher cost of living and these Northern allowances are especially common among government workers who make up a higher proportion of employed people in the North.
But there are the many other reasons to promote education that go beyond mere financial gain. Education has been proven to empower women, improve health and nutrition, create stability and reduce corruption.
The bottom line is we need to provide all children with quality education options. We need to produce better academic results for everybody, as these will improve the community and reduce the widening gap between people that are doing well and those that are not.
And eventually, the cycle of poverty will break. One lesson at a time.