Geoff Johnson was so vague, that as an Ontarian, I didn’t understand what he was talking about:  he seemed to assume that everyone had the background to comprehend what he was discussing.
He does however represent an emerging shift in people’s thinking in BC, from extreme left-wing to perhaps a little more right-leaning. 
When I was in BC, a few years ago, I could see the government disdain for small businesses, and endless paperwork that would produce nothing but long waits for eager young entrepreneurs.  That’s not what government is supposed to be all about.  As much as the people (government employees) who are on the public teat hate the above shift, it’s only going to increase.  Too many government employees have relentless demands for more and more and the public is beginning to see that the only ones who benefit from these increased salaries, benefits, pensions, less work, more time off are the public servants themselves.

BC teachers make significantly less than Alberta and Ontario but housing costs are through the roof.

BCTF in fighting for class size and composition rules. This benefits students.

BCTF received the vast majority of the votes cast for a strike. If this is not legit, Harper has no right to be PM. People cannot have it both ways. The present govt of BC did not receive a majority of the he electorate just more than other parties.

Churchill called democracy the worst system except for all of the others. The same can be said for free collective bargaining.

The point here that Geoff is trying to make, is that this process isn’t working for anyone’s benefit. Not for the teachers, not for the Ministry of Education, and certainly not for BC’s students.  Many of us here in this province have now had several generations of our families that have been affected by teacher’s strikes, some of which, have had their very futures altered because of them.  This has served nobody well, and we are all frustrated…with both sides.

What I would like to see is more choice for parents in the public education system.  We are paying millions of tax dollars into it every year..what are we getting out of it in return?  Kids who can’t spell or write, don’t know how to research topics effectively, and don’t even get me started on their abysmal math skills. Many more families are now putting 2nd mortgages on their home and sending their kids to private schools…in droves.  So if the public system isn’t working, we either need to change it so that it can work, or shut it down.  Stop wasting our tax dollars.  But here’s another option to consider.  What about publicly funded charter schools? At the very least, it’s another option for students, teachers, and taxpayers to consider.  Why not at least open discussion on this topic and see where it leads us?  Perhaps I am naïve, but after having both my husband and my children affected by job action in their own schooling history, and now with even more job action looming in our schools, both sides need to try a bit harder to get along, and put our students’ needs in front of their own.

Hi,

Sorry, me again.  Bev, just to comment on your first paragraph. I don’t have a very good understanding of the history between the BCTF and the Ministry of Education at all, so when I asked Geoff about it, here’s what he said:

“Go back to 1987 when teachers absolutely did not want to unionize and Van Der Zalm was advised that they never would - too weak, too disorganized he was told by his then advisors. He brought forward legislation, as had the Bennett govt before him which allowed, among other things, dismissal without cause. Teachers had no choice - they moved under the protective umbrella of the labour code and learned to fight.”

Unfortunately both sides are holding our students hostage, which is never a good thing.  Out here in BC, we just want our kids to learn, and not have politics invade our schools.  An impossible task, it seems, given this tumultuous history.

You are paying taxes for the world’s best education system. Highest post Secondary grads. Highest non Asian problem solving skills. You already have a 1/2 off private school system that is unpopular with the population.

It does not matter a tinker’s damn what you want. What matters is what the majority wants. What do you mean teachers did not want to unionize? That is a joke..

BCTF was formed long ago.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia_Teachers’_Federation

It’s All About IDEOLOGY In BC — Part ONE

Ideology is not just about politics and power and who wins in periodic elections.  It’s about “worldviews” and “mindsets”.  What gets “embedded” into the mind.  And this embedding goes on — not episodically as in elections — but continuously in and through our public schools. 

The teachers’ union, the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation, believes in “vanguardism”  — being at the forefront of methodical change.  The BCTF casts itself as a “social justice union”.  Each of the 60 plus locals has a social justice committee and this is where the activists, as arms of Headquarters agendas, do their reconnaissance, expansion and enforcement.  Sounds like war?  Well, it is equivalent.  “School Wars” is the title of a book that aptly describes the tone of our history of insurrection and turmoil on the education battle field. 

Collective bargaining in BC education is not just about bread-and-butter and working conditions issues.  It’s also about who is in charge of the minds of the young in BC.  For you see, professional development is a big issue in the demands at negotiations. 

This issue of PD is “telling” — because one just cannot get straight answers here.  Just how much PD is organized by the BCTF and how much by the employer?  Perhaps Geoff Johnson, being an insider, could give us a report? And, the content?  I’ve seen in listings where labor unions bring in prepared packets as take-aways.

The BCTF is not your ordinary militant teacher union as so many others are.  It does not belong to the Canadian Teachers’ Federation.  They belong to Education International (EI) — an activist left organization.

There are factions within the BCTF and it’s always the most militant faction that gets to dominate the executive.

BC historically has experienced “frontier characteristics” in its development.  It provided opportunity for pioneers of all sorts as well as for militant labor organizers. Hosts of communist unionists from Scotland and England started to dominate the resource industries. (1) In this climate, when the socialists (New Democratic Party) finally gained electoral power in 1972, the “radical Marxist” Jim MacFarlan, BCTF president, was there to assert influence. (2)

It is from those days — 4 decades ago — when the ideology of “worker control of the workplace” became embedded in BC politics.  This division remains strong to this day, especially in public education, with the “irresistible force” coming from the BCTF and the “immovable object” being the government of the day.  Governments of every stripe — socialist, liberal or conservative (Social Credit) — have struggled hard to maintain “management rights” against this barrage. (3)

I suspect that “management rights” is the reason for the Liberal government’s appeal of a recent court decision that interpreted that it was in violation of fair bargaining.  Twice the same judge made that interpretation. And that’s why we have courts of appeal.  It’s the interpretation that’s in question.  That’s my guess.  In other words, just who governs BC education anyway?

It’s not that BCTF sees itself as “above the law” in pursuing its ideological agenda for the minds and hearts of the young of this province. But it does display resourcefulness and cunning that’s astonishing. From the days of the 70s we still have some warriors still ensconced in BCTF HQ — pre-eminently Larry Kuehn, ex-president and now head of Research and Technology. This is one strategy he relayed to a labor researcher — “The key to our strategy was to restructure ourselves in a way which assumed that we had the right to bargain the whole range of things and then to try to take that into the bargaining arena ... the strategic view was that if we did that for a period of time and we have restructured the reality then the law would follow.” (4)

Vander Zalm took away COMPULSORY union membership. Within 3 months 95% had a signed up VOLUNTARILY.

It’s All About IDEOLOGY In BC — Part TWO

It’s not just in BC that this militancy and incursion into policy is being challenged.  Australia, which had a recent changeover of government from Labor to Conservative Coalition, is presently undergoing two Reviews:  a) Curriculum Review, and b) Teacher Training Review.  An issue in the election was whether there was undue political left influence on the curriculum.

While I’m hoping for a better interpretation from the courts about who rules BC education I am now even more worried and suspicious of what Geoff Johnson has disclosed — “the professional arm of the BCTF is champing at the bit to move alongside government with the careful implementation of some of the ideas in the government’s B.C. Education Plan”.  THIS DOES NOT BODE WELL.  There’s a lot about “critical thinking” and from what I see that’s mainly about who’s oppressing whom.

Just what is in store for our children and grandchildren in BC?  If the “transformation” is anything like the Common Core in the US we do have a lot to be worried about.  And, this post by Tara Houle and the mathematics cause she is involved with is just one example of parents being concerned about a “dumbing-down” of the curriculum.

On this topic of departures from standard math this debate has gone across Canada.  A Math professor, Robert Craigen, U of Manitoba, did examine some of the proposals for the BC Ed Plan, and I am aghast as his pronouncement —  “What possessed the Ministry to give the BCTF full control over design and content of the curriculum? I’ve seen some of their modules and sample course plans, lessons . . . If I lived there and had small children I’d be seriously thinking about leaving the province, for their sake.” (5)

And let me close by saying there has not been even ONE invitation by the BC Ministry of Education for the general public to know or be involved in this radical shift.

NO — I am not looking forward to the continuing ideological warfare in BC, whether it’s in the body politic or in the classrooms of BC.  CHOICE — Oh, Blessed Choice — When Will That Come To BC?

(1) Militant Minority: British Columbia Workers and the Rise of a New Left, Benjamin Isitt, 2011

(2) From Educational Government to the Government of Education: The Decline and Fall of the British Columbia Ministry of Education, 1972-1996, Thomas Fleming, http://library.queensu.ca/ojs/index.php/edu_hse-rhe/article/viewArticle/454/611

(3) Worlds Apart: British Columbia schools, politics, and labour relations, before and after 1972, Thomas Fleming http://www.bendallbooks.com/catalog/publications/worlds-apart-british-columbia-schools-politics-and-labour-relations-before-and-after-1972/

(4) Structuring Reality So That the Law Will Follow: British Columbia Teachers’ Quest for Collective Bargaining Rights, Sarah Slinn, 2011 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Structuring+reality+so+that+the+law+will+follow:+British+Columbia…-a0274699540

(5) Teaching Elementary Math: Why is Teaching the Basics Making a Resurgence? October 6, 2013 by Paul W. Bennett   https://educhatter.wordpress.com/2013/10/06/teaching-elementary-math-why-is-teaching-the-basics-making-a-resurgence/

So what Tunya. The ideology of the BCTF is the business of the members not you. I worked for OSSTF. They believe pretty much the same thing. It is a class struggle model.

Funny, I approached over 100 people at random, over the last two years in many places…..Chapters, grocery stores, coffee shops, community centres, swimming lessons, offices, libraries, medical offices, corporations I was visiting, elevators, etc.

I never just started spewing my beliefs. I brazenly (but politely) joined conversations that were already happening, and mentioned and then explained Charter Schools and Voucher systems.

What’s interesting, is that every single person I spoke with is on board and wanting this to happen NOW!

As far as I can see, I have 100% standing behind the idea to introduce Charter Schools and Voucher programs to Ontario.

What’s more interesting, is that within this group of around 100, give or take a few, (I didn’t keep track, wish I did), about 10-20% were teachers. All were on board, and all rolled their noses at unions. Two did say that unions are somewhat helpful, but still would like to have the option to belong, and would like their own kids in Charter or Private schools, if they could afford it.

Too repeat….........interesting….............

It’s very much our business, Doug.
 
Thanks again, Tunya for your excellent posts—kinda bone-chilling, but excellent.

No it is not your business Bev. BCTF is a private organization. Members only.

That id funny Monika because John Tory tried it for the PCs and it cost him the 2007 election and split his party while the other 2 parties were 100% against.

Vouchers have never passed a popular vote in the USA They only exist where the GOP Have imposed them against the popular will.

Their success rate indicates not worth the effort. Nobody can name a highly successful PISA nation that uses vouchers or charters in any serious way.

Doug, telling people that what teachers’ unions are up to is not the tax payers’ affair does not make it fact.  Your tactics resemble bullying.  I get so tired of government employees who tell us that what they’re up to is none of the tax payers’ business.  The BCTF is being challenged in court by the BC government, but it’s not the tax payers’ business?  This is an absurd statement.  Teachers’ unions are very powerful, and in many ways negatively affect how our children are being taught; so regardless of what you say, of course it’s our business!

John Tory did not succeed because he wanted to fund religious schools.

He did not want to fund Charter Schools, nor did he explain what they are all about.

If a Charter School were to open, teaching all the basic subjects according to the Ministry of Ed., but also included extra math instruction as per Singapore Math, and had extra help for kids, and entered all in math contests, and made sure that the child was able to attain mastery in a concept before moving to the next, I wonder how many parents would be for this.

What if all the teachers hired were math experts or at least capable of understanding arithmetic and the means by which to explain it, and what if the textbooks used were not on the Trillium List, and what if all the other subjects were up to snuff, and these kids had to abide by the homework policies that were more rigorous than those in public schools, but not crazy because teachers and parents were on the private board of this charter school, focusing on academic issues, rather than fundraising issues?

What if parents knew this was possible in Alberta and demanded it in B.C, in Ontario, in Quebec, etc.?

If these kids succeeded, and went on being successful in arithmetic and mathematics, while being able to read, and think, and comprehend, and were well looked after by like-minded teachers and parents, the school would stay open because parents would want to send their kids here, as it wouldn’t cost them anything but the commute (maybe uniforms and textbooks).

If most of these kids failed, then we could say the school did not do well, the project failed, and the school should close.

Far fetched you say? Why? If John Tory had presented himself as one for Charter Schools focused on academics, or perhaps special interests, and not the touchy point of religion, he probably would have been elected.

Instead, he pinned all religious and atheist and agnostic communities against each other, because let’s face it, math is math, literacy is literacy, languages are languages, but we can already get touchy about history and science, while Islam, Catholicism, Buddhism, Judaism, Taoism, Lutheranism, Protestantism, etc. are simply not a pragmatic way to divide society in hopes of providing excellence in education.

From my group of 100 +/- all want public School Choice. They just do!

And from this group they all want teachers to be able to decide if they want to be represented by a union - not many do, Doug, not many do.

A few quick clarifications for readers of this blog.  The PC plan in the J Tory election was to bring religious schools, who wanted to, under the public umbrella.  They would become schools under a public board’s jurisdiction, similar to the Edmonton Public Board’s model. Their teachers would have become members of the local union.

Charter schools are public schools with a particular pedagogical focus, open to all, that operate outside of a public board’s governance.  They are highly accountable, transparent, and have freedom in how they hire as teachers are not required to join the union. 

There is no “voucher system.”  A voucher is a program that gives parents ability to direct the funding of their children’s education to a private school of their choice.  The voucher value is capped at an amount usually far less than the public school per-pupil funding. 

For more on choice mechanisms see our Information for Parents, Teachers and the General public on our home page.

It’s All About IDEOLOGY In BC — Part THREE

I’ve sent this essay to more people than just this blog.  This is what I attached as background.

[ Disclosure: As a veteran of 40+ years in parent rights issues in education I wish to pass on to young parents some of my observations.  My eyes were opened wide when in my early involvement with BC party politics (NDP) I found that the teacher union had considerable influence with the Ministry of Education.  Also, suddenly, “new members” overwhelmed our Youth Wing when it was preparing a submission to government on widening choices in education and that proposal was defeated.  It became clear that the teacher union opposed choice and was generally unsympathetic to parents.  I soon left the socialist party for efforts where choice enjoys a positive reception and now have a libertarian point-of-view. Young parents tend to be very trusting of authorities. My intent is to — hopefully — update parents about the very political and power-hungry atmosphere in public education so that parent voice can still carry some influence in decision-making before it is too late. ]

So, to continue: But first I must say this to Tara and other young parents struggling to find common sense in education today.  Please don’t give up.  Easy to say, and parents don’t usually have an appetite for conflict and are too busy raising families.  The system’s first priority is its own survival but parents have their children’s survival as a priority.  And accountability from our overseers — the government and boards — is, unfortunately, tied up with compromises. That is why these Math Wars are important and parents cannot give up on this.

Furthermore, nothing can be more outrageous and meant to bully than for a unionist to say political interference in schools is none of parents’ business.  If ideology dominates teacher behavior — this is just not acceptable.

Now, to add more information about the volatile and precarious state of education affairs in BC.  Today, we heard that Phase One of job action is being planned. So, what else is new?  40 years in the wilderness is not just in the Bible!

In my earlier essays I mentioned how important Professional Development is — in the right hands.  But, in BC much is in the hands of the teacher union.  They say it is an “autonomy” issue.  Teachers are the drivers, not the driven.

I stated how PD seems to be a taboo topic — no-one seems to have correct answers.  In fact, there seems to be a lot of buck-passing, which just strengthens my suspicion that something sneaky is going on.  Perhaps PD HAS been passed to the BCTF on a silver platter.  I’ve asked, but any information provided is obsolete because our College of Teachers has been abolished, and it NEVER did get involved in PD — perhaps because the union was shown in investigation to have generally run the agenda. “Regrettably, it must be said that the disruption and dysfunction that has dominated the attention of the College Council, particularly since 2004, has put the core public interest, and the interest of students, at risk . . . “ (6)

It’s All About IDEOLOGY In BC — Part THREE (continued)

So, I will be looking further, to find out who is responsible for a) ensuring currency of teachers in their “professionalism” and b) VERY IMPORTANT, since a radical shift — a transformation — is being proposed in curriculum and practice — just how is “re-education” to take place.  This second part can’t be stressed too strongly because for unprepared teachers to try and bluff and bluster their way through this is to invite serious psychological and cognitive damage to kids.  Iatrogenic damage induced by the practitioners.  Won’t there be cause for legal remedies for negligence and malpractice?

That PD is a bargaining chip in current negotiations tells me how cheaply held is this important matter.  I heard the BCTF president at their recent AGM declare (from my notes) — “our commitment to Professional Development has never been greater, teacher-led Professional Development has never been more important . . . The Ministry of Education has created a new position — Superintendent of Professional Development — but that’s still not been filled.”

I can only interpret that Jim Iker was signaling strongly to his constituency that PD would be big-time. I’m sure I noted his seeming satisfaction that the Ministry had not yet filled this PD position.

In comparison to another well-functioning Teaching Council (Scotland) another report stated that BCCT “failed utterly . . . the blame for this failure rests squarely on the attitude of the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation, which rejected the professional aspect of the College’s mandate in favour of its own agenda, and put the interests of its members and its own ideology ahead of the public interest.”  The report goes on to conclude that there is little to expect by way of positive change, because of “their [BCTF] constant and costly recourse to the judicial system, their apparent failure to learn from experience, and their stubborn refusal to adopt anything but confrontational tactics.”

(6) A College Divided: Report of the Fact Finder on the BC College of Teachers, 2010, Donald J Avison http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/pubs/2010_factfinder_report_bcct.pdf
(7) The British Columbia College of Teachers: An Obituary, Alastair Glegg, Historical Studies in Education, Fall 2013

” the idea that the teachers union has an ideology is unacceptable” please…. what the teachers’ union believes and what it does is up to them not up to you.

What the teachers’ union believes and does may be up to them….........but if it affects children in any way shape or form, parents do have a right to know, and do have right to have a say.

The unions do not own the children of this school district, or those of the city, province, or country.

And this is NOT a Communist State.

We, the parents, should be in full control. We can adapt to rules and regulations, and take the advice of teachers - but not those of union strategists, or school boards, or the government, if we feel it is to the detriment of our children. We elect our government. It works FOR US!.

I love the idea of Charter Schools where the dialogue would be between students, parents, teachers, and the principal, and would NOT have us conform to union rules, school boards, or any other advisors who get the money that really should be invested in the teachers, classrooms, and kids.

It’s 2014. We can go backwards or forwards. To become a better civilization, we shouldn’t need unions as we should treat all people fairly and justly. To continue to see a need for unions means simply that we have failed to advanced as a better civilization.

1) you have zero right to a role in union policy.

2) YOU may love charter schools but if they are private they are unpopular with the public and if they are public they will be union.

3) you elect the MLAs and the trustees knock yourself out.

4) Unions are supported by the UN where we are members and by many court decisions in Canada including the Supreme Court.

5) You are either painfully naive or far too right wing to have a meaningful affect on public education.

I’ll reiterate what Tunya is saying:  parents, don’t ever give up!  These are our children whose future will be affected by what is not being taught properly in school.  This is not OK. 
Are our educational systems run like a communist state would run them?  Not yet; however it’s extremely left-wing, and parents and taxpayers are paying way too much for an absolutely lousy educational system in which they have no say.  Our say in what is being taught has been taken away from us, and some of us are fighting like the dickens to get it back.  It’s going to be a long fight though, especially with the media not reporting properly, so that many parents and taxpayers are completely in the dark.  This is why we desperately need blogs like this one…
Btw, did you see what Ontario’s Education Minister, Liz Sandals suggested recently when she finally admitted that children need some drill?  She told the parents to teach the multiplications at home!  Helloooo?  Why are we paying teachers close to six figures, if we have to come home from a much longer day at work and do the teachers job?  I’m surprised that Liz was allowed to get away with such an outrageous statement!  No wonder the taxpayers who are clued in have such a long battle ahead of us! 

Ideology — Whose Children Are They?

There is an immense power-play going on right now — a lot of jostling for which worldview will eventually dominate internationally.  A question arises — Why should there be ONE worldview that wins this contest anyway?

These are some of the words being used — mindset, worldview, transformation, paradigm shift, Zeitgeist. 

Education systems are seen as the method by which “transformation” will happen and that is why parents should be very aware of this background to experimentation and imposition of new styles of teaching/learning.  Psychological and conditioning techniques — theories of the past — are now brought forward in “training” children.  Yes, chimes, bells are being used.

Some of the criticisms of Common Core Curriculum in the US are worth exploring. Discovery Math is one mind-scrambling technique, amateurishly implemented, contributing to dumbing down of whole populations.  This is some of what is worrying parents about math these days.

The UN is heavily involved in “Capacity Development” for “new consciousness” and usually around the topic of “sustainability”.  There is no ONE place or book I can point to at this time that provides an easy starting-point. 

The main division is about individualism versus collectivism.  The Nanny State, Central Planning worldview,  is epitomized by what has just been legislated in Scotland — a state guardian assigned at birth for each child — the best place in the world to live is the sloganeering.  http://www.thenewamerican.com/world-news/europe/item/17748-citing-un-treaty-scotland-assigns-overseer-to-every-child

This collectivist worldview is being preached in our teacher training faculties.  Here is an incredible report from an ex teacher in Georgia, USA:

“I am a senior in age. I attended the University of Georgia in 2012/13 and am at Georgia Southern now. I enrolled to revalidate a 35 year old teachers certificate in History. No university charges – free tuition at 62. I was in a senior education class for future teachers at UGA. The two female professors were solid Marxists. We had a polite battle. I am a practicing political conservative. I sent the copies of the Marxist propaganda to the Senate. The professors used no texts, the subject matter was too radical.” (April 05, 2014)  Teacher training contrasted between then and now. 

That anecdote was relayed to the blog — Invisible Serfs Collar — where a lawyer is studiously laying out the evidence of the gathering forces to shift parent duties to central planners to produce compliant citizens for a new world direction.  VERY complex scenario.  And wouldn’t you know it, “complexity” just happens to be one of the code words frequently used in trying to persuade us to get on board.  World changes are too complex to understand — so trust us. 

Meanwhile, folks, hold on to your individuality, your sanity and your children.  And cherish what freedoms we still do have.

The above reads like a futuristic sci fi novel.  Thanks for sharing, Tunya!

Marxist profs? OMG that is only about half the profs in social sciences. The reason profs have tenure is to protect them from McCartyite Red Scare nonsense.

Canada has the best educated population in the world. Israel in 2nd place.

Check out @BadassTeachersA’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/BadassTeachersA/status/452849143803682816

Imposed Ideological Positions From Both Ends

Teacher unions here and internationally are most usually left-wing in political beliefs.  They even call themselves “social justice unions” as if that is their purpose — to herald, teach and agitate for equity and social justice. On top of the fact that individual teachers have considerable autonomy in choosing materials, their union helps arrange professional development programs and might produce materials and services about curriculum specialties.  Here is where curriculum could easily take on decided political slants.

On the other side of the table is the employer or the Ministry of Education.  Increasingly with 21st Century Learning programs being adopted — Common Core in the US, Personalized Learning in BC — belief systems are being injected through the approach called “cross-curriculum themes”.  Usually this means that even while subjects are quite distinct in their own right, it is becoming imposed that “themes” be embedded across the curriculum.  Themes like environmentalism and sustainability are highly encouraged across the board.
 
Furthermore, the zealous withdrawal from standardized testing by both camps whenever possible makes it hard to determine accountability — checking if education is really happening,  The trend seems to be just to pass students along through the grades — social promotion and self esteem being bywords. 

Here’s hoping we never get as far along as the US has with its Common Core project.  Even though nearly 40% of new students in colleges today need remediation in either math or English or both, with full adoption of Common Core standards and aligned curriculum the colleges will be forbidden from offering remediation.  The expectation being that when CC is fully implemented the K-12 program will be so unchallengeable and effective that remediation would be unnecessary.  No wonder CC is under considerable criticism.

There are far too many forces collaborating to downgrade excellence.  Thankfully some are daring to stand up against these self-serving trends. Of course, choice would allow at least some families to avoid this one-size-fits-all error-laden path.  But, again, for the sake of retaining their captive audience, the establishment opposes choice tooth and claw.

Conspiracy Theory stuff. Nobody is trying to dumb down education. Canada is #1 on Earth in education.

Doug, in reference to your second-last post:  ??????

Are teachers professionals or union workers?  There may be individual exceptions but in BC, teachers have been behaving like union workers.  This is a very poor model for education that is supposed to foster excellence instead of the mediocrity that unions reward.

Contrary to the comment that everyone loses in these wars for control over the minds of BC youth, teachers have been the only winners.  Their total reimbursement has been ratcheted up in good economic times and bad.  Look in their benefits package for well hidden fat that adds a third to the salaries.  Simultaneously with fattening wallets, they shed workload in the form of demanding smaller classes (these do NOT benefit students but teachers), cutting down on marking, report cards and other feedback to parents,  shirking supervision outside the classroom, and making extracurricular activities a bargaining chip. This is in addition to having a shorter working day, year and life than the average worker, able to retire at 55 with a full pension.  Some teachers will be paid pensions by the public for longer than they worked! 

How many people know that due to union bargaining to get more teachers hired, teachers spend only 4 hours a day in their classroom, with the rest of their day available to do all the things they claim they “have” to do evenings and weekends?  Six figure incomes after only 10 years (remember to add in those benefits packages) for 9 months work of short days should be sufficient, but it’s never enough for greedy guts union workers/clock watchers.

On top of teachers who are paid the same, no matter how indifferent their results is a vast administration that adds no value for the public’s money whatsoever, all required to be former teachers so it is a completely close minded system.  This army of superintendents and principals with multiple “assistants” supervise little as teachers are allowed to bar all supervision from their classrooms where they are pretty well a law unto themselves.  Idle administrative hands make the work of the devil, adding their ideological whims, always left wing to the curriculum with no evidence based approach.  No one in the system is penalized for an unacceptably high drop out rate or illiteracy rate despite the provable life ruining effects of not being taught to read or do basic match.  This is educational malpractice but cannot be pursued in any court unlike medical malpractice. 

Bottom line, employees through their unions own the BC education system and it is run for THEIR benefit, not students or their parents.  Staff cringe at school choice for parents as Dracula fears sunlight.  There is no reason for BC taxpayers to allow the employee stranglehold on education to continue as the education system is supposed to benefit students and society at large, not be merely an over-generous employer while letting employees indoctrinate students in socialism.  Left wing judges have been enabling their ideological brothers in education.  This toxic one-two punch needs to be countered by a parent/taxpayer rebellion.

Mr. Little: You appear to represent an interest solely in Unions and NOT the welfare or betterment of children.You have not offered any clarity or ideas for the improvement of the education system. Are you only interested in the pay cheque & tenure?  For shame and what little you provide for the stimulation of the minds of young people. 

As grandparents, we are shocked about the current curriculum in B.C. schools, and also the fact that children are not being taught to write in cursive. Changes are necessary & teachers need to see the broader picture. Very sad.

You are just so wrong about all of this. The slogan of the AFT ‘A unikn of professionals’ They are both Unionists and professionals. BCTF makes less than Alberta and Ontario benefits included. Teachers are underpaid compared with all professions with similar education. Tell parents small classes are bad. Then run.

Try spending more than 4 hours in class. Asian teachers spend far less.

Canada has the world’s best education results. No other nation on Earth has over 50% post secondary grads.

Support for public funding of private education is very low and you know it. If it was high it would happen.

You need to deal plainly with the fact that your ideas are very unpopular.

90% of public school parents are fully satisfied with the system.

I have been clear many X on what improves education.

* the mitigation or elimination of poverty

* very small classes

* ECE start serious public education as young as possible. Montessori said age 2. I agree.

* far more PD.

*nutrition programs after school and Summer school support mainly for poor students

* earlier intervention for struggling students

* in USA better pay for teachers.

* look around the world. All of the successful education nations have powerful left wing unions as partners

* the stronger the unions the better the students do. Verg clear in USA.

Doug!  No more koolaid!

On any other board they would call that trolling, flaming or baiting.

Olivia Chow just announced part of her plan is $3 million to upgrade and initiate after-school programs. Brilliant.

Education Industry Is The Most Moronic Ignorant Counterproductive Field Of Human Endeavor* by Tunya

Far from being an undertaking to bring enlightenment and reason forward to help us make better decisions in our personal and public lives, the education industry blithely produces stupidity and counterproductive, dysfunctional results far from the intended goals.  Simply put — public education is a wholesale scam — a rip-off and swindle. 

Look at the beneficiaries.  Are they the children who safely (more or less) pass 12 years of captivity with a certificate of graduation? NO!  The main beneficiaries are the dependents who rely on the system for their paychecks and (questionable) feelings of self-worth.  And figures will tell you that even as school enrolments go down, this assemblage of “workers” keeps constantly going up by staggering and obscene degrees.

And, how does this inverse, perverse and backward ratio happen and continue?  It’s because of negotiations.  It’s because of collective bargaining in labor-employer matters. It’s because of collaboration.  Secret sweetheart deals.  Scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. 

This opportunistic setting presents itself when government “public” services are unaccountable. It’s called milking the milk cow.  In Economics it’s called “rent-seeking”.

The researcher who has done the most on this topic of rent-seeking in public education is Caroline Hoxby in her paper “How Teachers’ Unions Affect Production”, 1996.

She starts off with two questions informing the study:

Why is it, she poses, that “student-level and school-level data often show little evidence of a relationship between student performance and school inputs, after controlling for the student’s background”? and

Why, where there is little competition, do “public schools tend to have more generous school inputs — including higher per-pupil spending, higher teacher salaries, and lower student-teacher ratios — but also tend to have worse student performance”?

Here are some remarks about her findings:

-  teachers’ unions increase school inputs but reduce productivity sufficiently to have a negative overall effect on student performance

- higher teacher salaries, and lower student-teacher ratios tend to have worse student performance

- [collective bargaining by teacher unions] raised inflation-adjusted per pupil spending, increased dropout rates, and ensured stagnant student performance

-  productivity has fallen almost 50 percent in relation to spending

- “Competition, in and of itself, reins in the most excessive of union demands.” (Hoxby, 2001)

* There is NO copyright on the title of this essay.  If you can start off with this title, or something similar, I think we can get somewhere by showing our frustration with this long-outdated-shelf-life model of education.  How about something like this — If the death rate increased with more doctors in the field how long would we stand for this?

Clearly from these comments above by “A Parent”, “A Grandmother” and by “Monika”, there indeed is room here for discussion for other options under our public schooling system (i.e. publicly funded charter schools).  Bev, Doretta and Tunya have provided excellent information as to why the time for change is now.  Taxpayers aren’t stupid, even though Mr. Little prefers to think that we are.  Parents will be putting their children into the schools which they deem are the best, even if it’s not in their neighbourhood.  We will do what it takes to get our kids into the better schools.  And if that isn’t good enough, then we will opt for either private schools or homeschooling.  How is this helping our public system get better?  It’s not.  Isn’t it our obligation to try and make our public systems better?  And if we can’t fix it, let’s just shut it down.  Why continue to waste our millions of taxpayers dollars, just so the 2 groups in charge, hence the BCTF and the MOE, continue to squabble and hold our children hostage? 

I, for one, would like to bring this discussion one step further to enact choice for the parents.  When the charter schools started up in Alberta, there were some neighbourhoods holding rallies and screaming that this process stop immediately as they didn’t want to see competition schools set up in their own neighbourhood.  Once these schools were established, though, there was a very harmonious interaction with all of the publicly funded schools.  Now there is a 3 or 4 year wait to get into these schools.  Parents are happy, the non-unionized staff are happy, which trickles down to satisfied students who are thriving in these environments.  Obviously there are many glitches within this system as well, but having the choice, and not having the staff and students weighed down by leftist ideologies wafting from the rafters would be a much needed improvement to our situation.

The last time I checked, we lived in a democracy, filled with choices.  Perhaps it is time that we started acting on that.

Yes is a democracy. The vast majority is totally satisfied with their own public education and enroll their kids in public education.  To them
private education smacks of elitism, division and extra costs.

Their attitude is ‘get over yourself. You are not that special. Get into the public school with the rest of us.’

Good luck changing their minds. They are by far the majority.

It took quite a while to read the back and forth in this heavy-weight title fight.  I agree with some of the points made by each side in this discussion, and am pleased to see that few, if any, personal attacks are occurring and people are mainly keeping to the issues.  This is a healthy debate. 

I have always disliked politics, because I felt that they were a waste of time (just have to watch five minutes of coverage of the BC legislature or House of Commons to see what I mean.)  That was when I was able to stick to my job and try to give my best efforts to my math students.  I was largely unaffected by outside forces.  However, the math education issue has me no longer able to sit on the sidelines because the carpet is being pulled our from under the feet of my beloved subject, math, and my chosen profession, teaching.  The debate about the union and government power struggle, differing ideologies and so on, is fine, but saving math education is the priority for me.  I am not naive and realize that politics do play a huge role in the Math Wars but political wars are often never-ending and don’t often deliver practical solutions. 

I know that something is very wrong with many of the changes that have recently occurred in, or are being proposed for, education.  I also know that it is most odd that these massive changes are being foisted on so many states and provinces simultaneously with little, if any, supporting scientific evidence.  Somewhere, some group(s) has/have gained the ear of the Ministries of Education, who have swallowed the group agenda, hook, line and sinker.  How could that happen?  Hearing that everything must change simply because the kids have changed and that we are in the 21st century is nonsense.  Kids did not suddenly made a quantum leap in what they know, just because they carry a cell phone with internet connection.  The internet did not suddenly make kids smarter.  They simply have access to an often questionable body of knowledge faster than previous generations ever had.  Just like owning an encyclopedia never made anyone smarter.  Because students can communicate faster, in a variety of ways, does not mean that they must learn completely different material, in a different manner.  Entering a new century does not instantly make everything that we taught kids in the past, and how we taught them, obsolete. 

From what I have seen, many more students today know far less than their predecessors and it all began with the increasing use of the ‘modern’ educational model.  Four decades of teaching experience tell me that the proposed changes in curriculum and philosophy will inflict serious harm on the education of students.  Playing politics with the futures of our kids is unconscionable.  A united force of parents has the power to alter the course of this Titanic.

Ultimately, Who Is Responsible For Your Child’s Education?

Reluctantly, we must admit, the answer is — you as parent are ultimately responsible for your child’s education.

There is NO School Act in the World that obliges a state to educate a child.  All that these public education systems provide, by law, is a space for your child to be in a school.  All that is obligatory is that this be a “safe” place. That is why daily attendance must be taken and passed on to the office.

Oh, and as a concession to the parents’ primary role, a government school must provide regular progress reports to parents for them to be able to monitor and supervise continuing action — to stay or leave or advocate for more services.  By the way, this legal obligation in BC’s School Act was seriously violated 2011-12 school year when job action by the teacher union caused a year’s absence of written reports. 

No one took the system to court.

What can parents expect from a teacher?  All that is obliged is that the curriculum be presented. Japan has already produced the world’s first non-human teaching robot. A variation of this robot is the flipped classroom.  The teacher prepares the lesson for computer consumption at home with a follow-up discussion the next day in school. 

Teachers are not held accountable for a child’s non-learning.  Firstly, standardized testing is shunned.  Secondly, a whole host of excuses along the line of — you can take a horse to water but you can’t make him drink — is offered up:  poverty, autism, dyslexia, underfunding, etc., etc.  Any excuse except teacher competence. Blame the victim.

The Bible says people should not presume to be teachers because they will be judged harsher than other occupations.  But, these are not biblical times.

Even though in this day and age — 2014 — we have never known so much about how to teach so that most children can basically achieve their grade level expectations, we still get excuses.  One is that the teacher union prevents poor teaching to be addressed.  Another is that it’s the lack of guts of the principal who fails to trigger the long, arduous process of dismissal. And so it goes.

Of course, the most frustrating excuse is that those who DO have the power to do something about this state of public education — the politicians, the legislators — say their hands are tied.  They’d rather “let sleeping dogs lie.”

Well, one country seems to be different from the rest.  Australia which recently saw a changeover of government from Labor to a Coalition conservative government has undertaken TWO Reviews:  1) into the National curriculum and 2) into Teacher Training. 

Amongst a host of concerns and issues to be probed the government says that they want to hear what parents want from the system. 

That is so refreshing and hopeful.  As I said earlier — it is the parents who are ultimately responsible to their children and society as a whole for the education of their children.  There will be 100s of other issues that will be swamping the commissioners — mostly coming from the producer side — but parents will be asked. 

I hope they commissioners ask the parents this supplementary question:  “In what ways can we make things easier for you?”

The most brilliant post on this page goes to “Len”. Thank you for such clear insight and observation. This is the basis for the discussion:continued good education. It is not teachers vs. parents etc. Everyone should share the same belief and administer it diligently. Unfortunately too much time has been wasted on salaries/holidays/welfare rather than what an education system is to provide. When choosing a profession, supposedly each individual knows what is in store in regards to compensation and hours required. There should be no surprises. It is a choice.  So, let us all get back to the problem of educating children so that they are able to become able producers in this world. Thank you to all who are involved in these discussions and for moderating yourselves.

Is This A Proposal Or A Coup?

“progressives are forever ready to mold and remold society at will and have no doubt about their ability to control events.”  - Albert Hirschman

As more jurisdictions are proposing and adopting “New Age” education transformations it is vital to find out where this is coming from.  What is the overall agenda?  We see that BC, Alberta and now Ontario have shiny manifestos all laid out, ready for the “roll out” of new curriculum — deeper learning and higher order competencies, inquiry and discovery learning, social emotional learning, etc.  It’s not a coincidence that similar procedures are happening in the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand. 

In an earlier comment Len wonders how this can be “foisted on so many states and provinces simultaneously. Somewhere, some groups(s) has/have gained the ear of the Ministries of Education, who have swallowed the group agenda, hook, line and sinker. “ 

While the general public has deliberately been kept out of the loop in this decision-making we do know some of the names of the gurus and change agents who’ve been chalking up air miles — Hargreaves, Fullan, Shirley . . . in our provinces.

Then maybe there are enforcers also chalking up air miles.

I am reminded of news stories of Al Gore’s visit to Toronto on Nov 21, 2013 praising Ontario’s coal banning initiative.  See the video http://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2013/11/21/al_gore_praises_kathleen_wynnes_plan_to_outlaw_coalburning_for_electricity.html

Coincidentally, the next day Kathleen Wynne, premier and ex-education Minister, announces “Ontario needs to move beyond focus on 3Rs . . . We need to find space to focus on higher-order skills like creativity, collaboration, community and critical thinking.”

It’s not too far-fetched to think Gore could be an enforcer for international transformation of government schools.  One-size-fits-all.  Progressive, constructivist pedagogies.  Social justice and socialism.  Gore does have ties to Fabianism, a 130 year old agency devoted to incrementally, gradually erode old ways to a utopian new social order.  The current Deputy General Secretary of the Fabian Society, Marcus Roberts, “worked on the Al Gore, John Kerry and Barack Obama US presidential campaigns.”

The motto of the society is — Educate, Agitate, Organize.  Their goal — world socialism.

Just a theory.  Others think the United Nations is playing a key role in global education transformation.

Conspiracy theories again. Cloud coocoo stuff.

http://www.bctf.ca/uploadedFiles/Public/BargainingContracts/TeacherSalaryRankings2013-14brief.pdf

The Evolution Of Teaching Math In The United States

I found this on an American site discussing Common Core anxieties http://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/threads/244668-School-me-on-Common-Core/page11

Of course it’s a bit of a joke but there is some foundation to this content.  What’s NOT on this timetable is the “Discovery Math” method, probably dating about 2000. I well remember on open house in one school and visiting the math room how overwhelmed I was by the paraphernalia in the room.  There was one huge construction which students were to enter to experience “volume”, thus “constructing” their reality.

*  Teaching Math in 1900
Chop down that tree and cut it into 1-foot blocks. Fill the woodbin next to the stove.

*  Teaching Math in 1950
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit?

*  Teaching Math in 1960
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or $80. What is his profit?

*  Teaching Math in 1970
A logger exchanges a set “L” of lumber for a set “M” of money. The cardinality of the set “M” is 100. Each element is worth one dollar. Make 100 dots representing the elements of the set “M”. The set “C”, the cost of production contains 20 fewer points than set “M”. Represent the set “C” as a subset of set “M” and answer the following question: What is the cardinality of the set “P” for profits?

* Teaching Math in 1980
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. Her cost of production is $80 and her profit is $20. Your assignment: Find and circle the number 20.

*  Teaching Math - Common Core Method
By cutting down beautiful forest trees, the enlightened logger makes $20. What do you think of his way of making a living? Topic for class participation after answering the following question: How do the forest birds and squirrels feel as the logger cuts down the trees? There are no wrong answers.

Unfortunately, some of the above just adds to the merry-go-round of all the fads and theories flying around, which, especially in Math are so ridiculous since Math should be a rather straightforward and precise discipline.

Please watch this short 4 minute video of an Arkansas parent opposing the Common Core and demonstrating how a simple “rigorous” math question is turned into a 108 step “discovery”, exploration and problem-solving personal experience!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZEGijN_8R0#t=23

Further up the post, the comment was made that those who like private schools are elitist. I choose to interpret that as “those who like private schools are rich”.

Having taught at a private elementary school where there were almost 200 kids, from Pre-School through to Grade 8. Tuition was $5000 per year for Pre-School to SK; and $9000 from Grade 1 to Grade 8; and all siblings admitted received at 50% discount (yes, you read correctly, FIFTY PERCENT) I can share something about the parents.

As I was teaching a specialized subject, I taught ALL the kids in that school, and spoke with ALL the parents, and it was a subject that involved much interaction after school as well as lunch and recess closer to production dates, I can tell you that you learn a lot about those you serve - parents and students alike. Maybe 3 sets of parents were elitist (read: wanted a private school education and were willing and able to spend more on education but chose this school; not rich). The rest were very average middle class, but also wanted a better education than the public system would provide.

These people had 9-5 jobs, or shift work, and worked really hard, and tried to pick up kids by the end of school, but some had to leave them in the school’s paid after school care program.

Here’s what some of them did for a living: airline administration with shift work; Roger’s cable technician; electrician but not self-employed; graphic designer who complained about struggling to stay afloat; IT technician; project managers who worked outrageous hours and were always late picking up their kids because they couldn’t get out of work; pharmaceutical sales; dental hygienist; engineer looking for work whose husband was on sick-leave; accounting department; DJ; retired grandparents with children in their care and took an extra job to afford tuition; insurance sales; chemist; start-up businesses; city employees; butcher; freelance writer; teachers; police officer; 2 doctors; 2 pharmacists…..........you’re getting the picture.

My point is that this school is growing and is filling up with kids of hard-working middle class parents, all of whom are fed up with the public system. All of them were struggling financially, and juggling time to pick up their kids and still work. Many had to sacrifice much, and you could tell by the uniforms that they couldn’t afford a spare.

This is not an elistist bunch; this is a group of people who would be overjoyed with Charter Schools and/or voucher programs. These are intelligent, well-read, hard working people who have seen through the “free education system” this province has to offer, and want more. They want a better system.

I dare say, that if there is one such school, there are other private schools with students enrolled whose parents are also NOT elitist, just doing the best they can, enduring personal sacrifice, for a better education than our free one currently offers.

HUNDREDS Of Worldviews Stripped To FIVE For Ecology Purposes

If someone tells you they have a firm worldview that consistently governs their behavior and beliefs do you believe him?

There are many tricky issues around the topic “worldview”.  Just see Amazon.com and Search for “worldview”.  Tons of books come up. And it’s interesting to read the reviews— many differing views.

Worldview is NOT a settled matter.

But now worldviews need to be grouped, classified, and measured.  And to make things simple five is better than 100s. In the cause of global ecology there will need to be instruments to psychometrically measure and pigeon-hole people.  Just as IQ tests were developed to help screen soldier recruits for war, tests are to be developed to advance the ecology movements and to deal with resisters. 

Here is the glossy cover of one such effort — worldviews and the transformation to sustainable societies http://dare.ubvu.vu.nl/bitstream/handle/1871/48104/cover.pdf?sequence=6

If the language seems inscrutable here is the paper on this topic http://www.ivm.vu.nl/en/Images/Exploring Worldviews_tcm53-355582.pdf

Still inscrutable?  Well here is the first sentence of the above article:

“A change of behaviors in a more sustainable direction is generally considered to be of vital importance for realizing the urgently needed transition to an ecological economy and society.”  (Annick Hedlund-de Witt)

I am fairly certain this paper was written with generous funds — public or private.  I am fairly certain, also, that this resulting paper is just another plea for more (probably massive) funds to start developing these instruments of measurement, selection, coercion and treating resisters. An Integrative Worldview Framework (IWF).

A lot of it reads like highly charged propaganda in the name of “how society should be organized.”

If one is following the epidemic of theories, experiments and proposals to “transform” society via global education — and said person is showing some deep foreboding and fear — then one could easily be labeled a conspiracy theorist.  But more people are starting to see some pattern to this foisting of massive changes on schools and society and starting to ask questions. Why are children told in schools they can change the world?  Why is sustainability being built into curriculum across subjects?

It takes decades to understand and deal with medical epidemics.  How long will it take before this man-made mind-change epidemic is fully understood before too much damage is done? 

Just to add a little fuel to Tunya’s fire…...

When UNESCO took the IB program under its wing, it decided to expand and include elementary schools…......my guess is because they wanted to start indoctrination of a particular world view early.

The Primary Years Program is structured into 6 transdisciplinary themes:
Who We Are
Where We Are in Time and Place
How We Express Ourselves
How the World Works
How We Organize Ourselves
Sharing the Planet

Subjects in and of themselves no longer exist. They are blended into these themes. So when the class is focusing on How the World Works, all the “old subjects” are reflected within this theme.

Example: How the World Works Theme (for six weeks): this would have the teacher create a unit that could be something like - Economic Systems around the Globe, and teach this unit over and over every year for this grade level 3. Now any writing done will reflect this theme (language); Any math will focus on money, weighing (barter systems); Any social studies will be direct in looking up countries and their economies; Any gym/PE will reflect this theme somehow, as will drama, music, and art (drawing of coins for instance); Any language (in Ontario, French) will be on this subject of economies; Any science will reflect this too.

And the main rule of IB is that the teacher is “the Guide on the Side and NOT the Sage on the Stage”. The teacher sets the tone, and assigns the summative task (the project that will need to be done, that will not really be graded, but will be ‘discussed in a reflection’ as to how well the unit was summarized. And this may be written, drawn, danced, reported, play-doh-ed, etc. whatever the child chooses, as the child is to reflect on the theme in any way they want, so as to remain interested in learning.)

If the pupil changes schools, and moves to another IB elementary school, and the following year, the teacher at the new school decided that Grade 4 will study WHO WE ARE, by way of global economic systems, this child is now getting to apply previous knowledge to this summative task, perhaps more aptly, perhaps more precisely, or creatively, but this kid will have huge gaps in their education at the foundational level.

The IB teacher is not allowed to lay a foundation of anything, just to provide access to materials that reflect a particular unit, which is based on one of those “holier than thou” Transdisciplinary Themes. Thoroughness will be up to the student. Nothing is taught, all is discovered.

Math, you ask - well if the child wants to learn about currencies, and/or GDP, or GNP, then they will look this up, and if mathematical concepts need be applied, they will figure these out on their own, because they will be motivated to learn about them.

Once I passed certification, and realized that “lesson plans” must be made around these transdisciplinary themes, and all subjects somehow adapted to fit, and I no longer taught, but allowed the children to “discover” based on suggested activities, I realized that this is indoctrination being insighted under the guise of education reform ‘for the good of all’. This is one way that it starts, as many IB schools, publicly funded, are springing up everywhere, and parents, fed-up with the current system, are clamoring to get their child accepted.

At the high school level, this kind of “education” might be accepted, as one would assume the foundation has already been laid, and some creative analysis and interpretation is fair game, especially for brighter students with a passion for learning. But this system is now prevalent at the elementary level. What I described above is for a grade 3 or 4 class.

PART 1 OF 2

PART 2 OF 2

And one more requirement of IB - NO ROTE LEARNING OR MEMORIZATION; no poems, no tables, no rules, unless designed by, or discovered by the children themselves.

Bit by bit, step by step, let the masses think they are advancing, when in reality they are being stupified into lack of knowledge, a lack of using that knowledge to make accurate analogies, and essentially allowing themselves, actually giving permission to be led around blindly like sheep thinking that they are “helping” the global good.

In reality, the “global good” is of no use to those who want power and control. “Global control” is what is really at stake….......in the ultimate act of diplomacy: “sending people to H—- in such a way that they enjoy the trip”!

When I’m told to “teach” this way, I have a choice. I don’t “have to do anything”. Is sacrifice involved? Absolutely! But I cannot compromise my beliefs, my values, my ideals for something, that based on my careful analysis makes very little sense. I quit. I was replaced. Another will fill my shoes and carry on doing what that system requires. Many believe in that system and find it better than the regular Ontario curriculum.

Choice empowers. Researched intelligent choice gives freedom. Too much choice may confuse, but that’s where educated research, knowledge, intelligence, due dilligence, etc. come into play, to help guide. The guidance must be informed and from within….........not dictated by those who want to use and manipulate for their own good.

But what I value most, is that (for now) I live in a place where I have some choice—- not as much as what I’d like, but better than nothing. I now CHOOSE to teach my kids at home.