It's that time of year again.
The FSA (foundation skills assessment) test has once again reared its ugly head in our Grade 4 and Grade 7 classrooms. This will be my fourth time (twice for my son, once previously for my daughter) telling the board of education where to stick their test, and I once again will do so gladly.
This test has no basis in reality. It is little more than an unrealistic attempt to conform all students into a single, standardized style of learning, cramming every child in B.C. into a mold of the government's making, regardless of fit.
How Orwellian. (Have they decided on a colour for the Thought Police uniforms yet, I wonder?)
The school board has attempted to make it more difficult to opt out of the test by allowing only three acceptable exemptions: family emergency, lengthy illness or other extenuating circumstances.
So be it.
Being that education is of high priority in our home, I view the threat to my children's freedom to learn in whatever way works best for them a "family emergency."
I feel the bureaucracy inundating our education system to be a lengthy, possibly terminal illness.
I therefore exercise my right as a parent to refuse the administering of the FSA to my child for extenuating circumstances.
To wit, that I cannot in good conscience allow her valuable class time to be so utterly and completely wasted on a test that serves no purpose beyond encouraging conformity, promoting privatization and feeding data to the Fraser Institute, who in turn feed our children's FSA scores to the media.
No thank you. My children's minds are not for sale.
Toya Upshaw-Fader
Prince George
