Often times, the purpose or practicalities of a cause can get lost in the hype. Today, the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) held their “Day of Action” to protest what they believe to be unfair tuition fee increases in Ontario. Whereas there are certainly arguments to be made for lowering–or even the elimination of–tuition fees, it is far from a consensus belief held by students, or the rest of society. Regardless of whether they are right or wrong, there is a disturbing lack of information surrounding their campaigns, with more of a focus on protests and rallies than working towards actual change.

Rallies are a good way of drawing attention to issues, but in order for them to be effective, the people first need to know what the issues are. The meaningless charts and statistics in the UTSU fliers are meant to make it look like the students are getting ripped off, but very few people are aware of the actual budgetary situations faced by both the government and the universities. Education funding is not a simple issue, and student politicians do everybody a disservice when they try and pretend that it is. Critical thinking is not just about science and pseudo-science, but also applies to your day-to-day life. The next time somebody hands you a flier and tells you to join their cause, take a moment to ask them why they think their cause is important; if they aren’t able to give you a satisfactory answer, then maybe you should take their claims with a grain of salt. The burden of proof is on them to convince you of their position. The worst that can happen is that you become more informed.