Small Choices Feed The Appetite For Greater Choices

Of course, freedom-loving people strain at the harness of limited choices, especially in education where raw, self-interested politics by producers and policy-makers constrain people’s choices.

While I start to read and digest this latest 20-page report from CDHowe Institute on BC’s open enrolment I don’t think I’m deviating off topic too much by adding another angle to BC’s education dynamics regarding the choice question.  The news lately has been the accelerated growth in private schools resulting from the last teacher strike.  While some call this a “spike” the teacher union president, Jim Iker, dismisses this as a temporary “blip”.  I pose the premise that a fundamental mind shift is happening in the citizenry.

This is one of my essays from yesterday’s posts to media:

CULTURAL SHIFT IN BC EDUCATION — STRIKE DIVIDEND

The larger than usual migration of students to private schools is not the only shift resulting from this latest BC teacher strike.

Tutoring companies had more customers and because of their positive experience some families are returning even after regular school sessions have resumed.

Another shift is the attitude of parents who were paid $40 day for their primary-aged children during the Sept strike period.  They felt validated by the government as those responsible for their children’s education and care and appreciated the token payout for the inconvenience when their chosen schools became unavailable.

However, the biggest windfall is the cultural shift noted by a blogger from within the education industry itself.  I, as a parent/grandparent, am grateful that someone has applied such insight to a shift I had noticed was happening during the strike and which was evident via watching the conversations on social media.

Now, while I applaud this shift, the writer — a long time educator (35 years) — Jim Nelson, wrote this as strictly a “tongue-in-cheek” piece.  He had noticed a growing assertiveness amongst some parents, which he aptly labels “educational libertarianism”.  Libertarianism defined by Wikipedia states: Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and freedom of choice, emphasizing political freedom, voluntary association and the primacy of individual judgment.

In an elegant 25-paragraph blog post http://jimnelson806.com/2014/12/11/not-your-parents-anti-education-crowd/ Jim observed some of the following views held by these “libertarian” parents:

-  the system seeks to bring up their children for them and is unresponsive to parent’s wishes
-  education should be offered like any other competitive service
-  [they] see public education as shady and power hungry, in the same way Eisenhower saw the military industrial complex
-  The fact that it’s difficult to “fire” poor teachers is unacceptable to them
-  Decrying standardized testing is teachers fighting against the accountability with which everyone else has to deal.

Furthermore, in closing, Jim says he shares some of the concerns expressed and clinches his observations with the delightful forecast that this “new, stronger, educational libertarianism” is not going away.

There are so few cultural critics who record cultural shifts from within the education field.  Here is one worth paying attention to. This development bodes well for the upcoming discussions about the curriculum changes the Ministry is trying to impose in the name of 21st Century Learning!

Interesting Tunya.  Thanks for sharing.

Because of the savy many parents in B. C. now have, I wish the B.C. ministry of education the best of luck in trying to implement their so-called 21st Century learning/brain washing!  Let’s hope that enough parents are wise enough to push back against this non-academic indoctrination, which has no place in publicly-funded schools, period!

I adore educational libertarian value systems.

Parents have been the missing link in education reform.  Decisions are made by those who show up.  That means meetings, committees, and more meetings.  Democracy is a messy thing.  Until parents assume their role as stipulated in the education act and by regulation 612 (Ontario) there is a gap in the system - and vacuums will be filled by other agendas.

Griping on a blog such as this has a reform value of 2.
Speaking to your trustee on a regular basis has a reform value of 3.  Sending letters to the editor to the local paper on education issues has a reform value of 7.

Joining your school council and being part of the executive depending on your level of astuteness has a potential of reform value of 9. 

What BC has is engaged and enraged parents who are now paying attention.  The successful edu dynamic is predicated on informed and effective parents at the table.  But that means * you*  (vociferous posters and critics) need to get out the door and to the heavy lifting in a democratic system.

When informed effective parent leaders come to the table —- the system shifts.

Please stop blaming the parents, Mirka—the employees should be doing their job, and again, with all the money they are getting from taxpayers, there’s simply no excuse.

Dear Bev,

The customers/clients have a role - and they need to step up.
I am not blaming parents——I would simply like them to join the conversation in a venue that actually has impact.

If I do not get satisfaction at the local store I do not wait for the employees to fix it…..... I offer an informed perspective to management to sort themselves out with timelines and real concequences.

Clients/customers and management need to get their stuff together.  Teachers have - they are called unions- organized and effective. 

Bev and company can you please come to the table?  We need the parents there to serve the children we see every day.  We need you - education is a three legged stool.

Democracy is not for fools.

This venue does have impact, Mirka. 

The only way parents will get what they want is when school choice comes to Ontario.  Right now this hugely expensive public monopoly is completely unresponsive.  This is why, Mirka when you compare our public education to business where consumers have a choice to buy or not buy a product, the comparison is invalid.

Do you know what I would simply like?  I’d simply like to see people employed in our educational system to be doing their jobs.  If they were, we’d not only all be happy, but also we wouldn’t need this blog to inform parents and hard-working taxpayers what’s really going on.

Mirka, indeed the system is so entrenched that only strong action from the parents may start changing something.

Why don’t parents take strong action?
I can only speak about my reasons

* Both my husband and I have been working and I continue to work full time in professional occupations. In GTA this means we have been juggling 8 hours of work + overtime + 2 hours commuting + continuing to learn to remain competitive and employable in our professions with raising a child.
We did not have the second child because we couldn’t handle it all reasonably well.
Each working hour I would spend trying to change a system that I’m paying for would mean an hour I am not devoting to my own child or I am not working and earning money.

* Parents don’t know how bad it is from the beginning, especially if they are immigrants. The public system presents a very good and soothing image and it takes a while to realize that it’s just that: an image with very little substance. By the time parents realize how little their child has learned their the first priority is to help their own child.

Democracy? Well I’m already paying the taxes that pay for the public education system which - according to the social contract - should provide a solid education to my child.

Excuse me, I’m not a customer. A customer can choose which company to do business with. I have next to no choice in what education my son receives in the public system.

europe,

We need you at the table- if you can make time.  You would be formidable and effective.

Democracy is not about taxes it is about the informed voice at the table.

Leadership is about taking care of a larger cadre than just your immediate family. 

Leaders have stepped up throughout our history some recognized and lauded some just plugging away in their own humble fashion.

Get to an edu table ‘Europe’  you could make a real difference in real time.  Please think about joining the warriors and limiting the moaning and hand clenching.

Dear Bev,

You write: ” when you compare our public education to business where consumers have a choice to buy or not buy a product, the comparison is invalid. “

Clearly a Southern Ontario bias.  I have lived in more than twenty locations in Canada.  I assure you than in many communities consumers make it work without choice as there is only one store to serve them.

This sort of work is hard - it is personal- you need to look someone in the eye and demand better.  This takes personal courage.  Happens all the time, thank goodness for the everyday heroes.

Our everyday heroes, from the private sector aren’t doing very well, as the public sector keeps voting in the Liberals.  They have promised not to change arbitration, along with offering more of taxpayers’ money for the psu’s. 

Why do you assume that I haven’t be proactive anywhere but on this blog?

I’d be grateful if teachers would step up to the plate and say that our children are failing because of bad teaching methods, and curricula.  This would fare much better with the public than striking for higher wages, fewer students, more pd days, more prep time, better benefits.

You don’t seem to understand the pressure many private sector workers are under nowadays.  I’ve seen the same Europe describes with my son, who’s an engineer—long hours, hard work, lots of pressure.

Again, I would like to see the teachers band together and demand quality curricula instead of more money, better benefits, and so on.  This would take a tremendous burden off of the private sector workers—especially the ones who have children in school.

Bev,

Teachers demand better each and every day.  We need you at the table to be an agent of change.  Stop sniping from the sidelines.

We would also appreciate if you understood:

1. Who writes the curriculum and the classroom teachers’ perspective on the farce.

2. There is a dearth of data to support your assertion of bad teaching methods and the sky is falling scenario you typically describe

Bev, I expect you are very good people and I wish you well.
Proactive or destructive?

Mirka,

I suppose you are familiar with the 4 math petitions circulating across Canada now…all parent led.  Over 22,000 signatures strong, yet still you gripe about having not enough parental input to affect change.  REALLY?!?  That is such a naïve statement…I had to add my 2 cents to this discussion.

I have been on parent councils now for over 5 years.  I have initiated a provincial math initiative in BC and have made tremendous progress.  I have met with the head bureaucrats responsible for the new BCEd plan at our Education Ministry.  There have been several news articles, op-eds, tv appearances, many radio interviews, and numerous presentations, and an approved math resolution that our provincial parent organization is now lobbying all of our education partners here in BC.  And I will be on another District wide meeting regarding math instruction later on this year.  Many parents I know are school trustees, yet they say they are powerless to enact significant change to the curriculum.

The point of this “rant”, is that despite my best intentions, there has been no change of direction on behalf of our Education Ministry or the BCEd plan.  It’s full steam ahead.  And let’s look at Alberta shall we?  Dr. Tran-Davies has over 17,000 signatures on her math petition, and she is now taking on the entire Inspiring Ed document.  She met with the Minister of Education last week.  After allowing them 45 minutes of his time, where he was obviously much interested in other matters of the day, he declared he had to go and that was it.  I hope she made some impact, but we all know the reality of what these bureaucrats want.  They all have an agenda to sell, and regardless of the evidence presented, or the parental pushback they receive, they will continue down this path until implementation is complete.  Perhaps change won’t come until after a full blown failure occurs with this stupid, stupid curriculum, and when our graduates can no longer read, write or count to 10, they might reconsider, as have other nations such as the UK and Australia.

Mirka there are a lot of things I will tolerate.  But sitting there in your comfy chair and criticizing hardworking, involved parents for not doing more for their children’s education, is not one of them.  It’s not our duty, nor our job to make the public system better, even though most parents I know, certainly do try.  Don’t sit on the sidelines and start pointing fingers at those who don’t; that solves nothing.  Instead, write your MLA and DEMAND better for our children.  Parents have enuf on their plate, driving kids to Kumon and/or to fundraisers for their kids’ school activities.  Time for everyone else to help this process as well.

Tara,

You are a remarkable everyday hero.  Welcome to the incremental fight that needs each generation of parents to step up.

Someone like you who has been a lead on this math initiative is not naive enough to believe this is someone else’s fight.

I have been at it for almost thirty years, as have my friends, and Malkin and her little band…...

Glad to hear you are here and ready to roar!  Who is the enemy?  Who writes curriculum? Who sells textbooks at an enormous profit with little progress?  Who is NEVER accountable for staffing teaching positions with coaches and not academics even though there is a plethora of academics?  Who promotes the coaches and ignores the academics? 

I wish I had comfy chair as you suggest and the lack of ethics to simply accept the silly.  What would I do with my spare time? 

Mira,

There are those here who have been in this fight as long as you, grandparents and those whose kids have long graduated, who paved the way for parents like me.  These individuals are some of my best allies. 

Blaming parents will not earn you any support for whatever cause you are promoting, nor will it bode well with parents who are reading these comments and read of your criticism against them for not doing more.  Let me repeat…as a publicly run system, it is NOT our job to “fix” it, especially when some of us, when making suggestions about making the system better, are ridiculed, or worse, threatened with legal action for questioning various teaching strategies.  That’s the reality parents face today when trying to make the system better.

I don’t know what you are doing to help parents navigate the system, but I sure know what Doretta, Malkin, Tom, Tunya, Bev and Nancy do for parents like me.  Best you take a lesson from your counterparts here and encourage, rather than criticize parents trying to make the system better for our kids.

Mirka writes “Parents have been the missing link in education reform.  Decisions are made by those who show up.  That means meetings, committees, and more meetings.  Democracy is a messy thing.  Until parents assume their role as stipulated in the education act and by regulation 612 (Ontario) there is a gap in the system - and vacuums will be filled by other agendas.”

The assumption from Mirka being of course that parents here have never attended a meeting or held a leadership role within their school.

I caution those outside of Ontario not to be fooled by the rewriting of the history of parents, their advocacy and school councils as somewhat selectively described by Mirka.  Having been on the receiving end of Reg. 612 and the companion Reg. 613 (educators and administrations often forget that companion piece which laid out clearly the role the principal played in whether or not parents could actually flex their education reform advocacy wings…or not), what parents could or could not achieve was based on how school council were rejected by many, including teacher unions, school boards and People for Education fearing that educated and organized parents that fully understood their statutory roles within their school communities might displace school boards.

The other threat to parents and school councils were parents themselves to fell hook, line and sinker for the paths laid for them by their boards and or school administrations that lead right back to the bake sale. Parents who tried to free school councils were soundly silenced. Just ask any one on the Ontario Parent Council of that time.

Mirka also suggests that when informed parents do show up and come to the table the system shifts. This is especially so when the system recognizes those like-minded parents that ask few questions and who generally support the status-quo. If Regs. 612/613 had been enforced, followed-up on parents wouldn’t have turned away from councils in droves because the myth of effectiveness and change were just that.

When the teachers unions have clauses written in to their constitutions intended to keep councils ineffective, well Mirka, what intelligent parent would continue to push the river?

The scold from the educator continues with “Teachers demand better each and every day.  We need you at the table to be an agent of change.  Stop sniping from the sidelines.”

How about instead of asking parents to be the agents of change (can’t fall for that again now can they?), you lead the teachers to fight back against unsound and unproven practices.

Katie,

Love regulation 613 have used it since its inception.  You write,

“How about instead of asking parents to be the agents of change (can’t fall for that again now can they?), you lead the teachers to fight back against unsound and unproven practices.”

Katie,  I do, in school meetings, in department meetings, in professional development scenarios, in staff rooms, and in email.  I do it with fellow parents, colleagues, administration, and ministry staff.  I was simply pointing out that there is a role for parents in the system as agents of change in real time and that effective educators would appreciate their good company

Sorry - forgot to celebrate this given Katie’s assumptions - and it is critical to the thread of this conversation.

The school councils that I have participated in did not *do* bake sales.  What we did:

~change the administration paradigm at the board in terms of principal transfers.  We fought for consistent leadership.  We did this by crunching board wide data and embedding it with current education research on why principals matter.

~we lead the cry for a regional parent voice independent of the trustees.  We got it. Then we drove important parent empowerment policy locally.  To be frank—that worked very well until that cadre of parents moved on as their children graduated.  Once those parents moved on the system slowly geared down to their ‘normal’.  That is why I am so passionate in encouraging parents with a real stake in the system (children) to engage the machine. 

~we supported an brilliant/effective woman’s campaign to be a trustee - she won replacing a well known trustee of many decades.  In local politics this is a rate accomplishment.  Our new trustee did enormous good. Until her own children were out of the system.  BUT she worked hard to ensure that the next candidate was a person who would continue the work.  A thing to celebrate and to learn from.

~ we had representation on board wide committees on a variety of issues.  It was real representation with real impact and results. 

~ I and a fellow parent agitator were invited to a regional Principal Council session for candidates working on their qualifications for leadership .  WE were not invited for our fabulous bake sales or our sunny disposition.  We were invited by the session leader who is now a retired director of education , at that time an effective superintendedt…. his rationalle for inviting us and giving us 2 hours to speak to next wave of administrators was :  “Let them have it!  Tell them what makes a good principal.  Tell them what parents need from an academic leader “

Of course there is much more but at some point this sort of stuff stops being helpful and instructive and starts to appear to be self serving.  The intent on this end is the former.

The take away is that this conversation in education is exhausting simply because it is endless.  Good effective people move on, retire, even die.  To keep the thing going in the direction it needs to is about capacity building.  Every good team working on important issues thinks about what is next when they move on.

I have enormous respect for Malkin and her work.  She has blind spots but so does everyone (me too).  Her commitment to helping children is exemplary.

My contributions to this particular thread was simply to encourage parents to fight for what needs to be fought for.  It could be that I am a dinosaur in terms of the information age…..but I believe that if you are fighting for a cause you show up at meetings, and then more meetings, you connect to your community, you talk to your neighbors.  I worry that we confuse posting anonymous comments with action.

Kudos for your hard work, Mirka.