Re: Nathan Giede column, April 2 Citizen.
1- De-summerize. Finding enough time for 2 working parents to coordinate holidays with their kids and employers is hard enough as many employers limit summer holiday requests to a maximum of 2 weeks. The 2 month break at least gives both employers and employees, more flexibility in finding productive, common holiday scheduling.
2 - De-unionize. Many teachers, my wife included, came here in the 60's and 70's, lured by good pay scales, benefits and job security. Some of these educators advanced to administration positions scrutinizing, (and in some cases firing), their peers for deficient evaluations. Many interested parents took teaching assistant positions and a large majority of teachers advanced their qualifications by devoting all their summer breaks to summer classes and degree completion. My son, in contrast, recently gave up teaching university math because the rewards of teaching had been destroyed by the uncertainty of 4 month renewable, (with luck), contracts. I know of several young teachers grabbing spots in places like China teaching English as a second language rather than attempting the presently common "part time-volunteer might get you a job" technique.
3 -De-centralizing studies seems contradictory to the ideal of standardizing test results. Rural schools rarely achieve the marks of larger urban ones and there is little doubt that poorer families generally have poorer academic outcomes. This goes doubly for athletic outcomes where I've seen so many potential stars enrolled in only those programs their parents can afford not the ones they have a deep interest in.
4 -De-patronize and De-catergorize! Here I might agree with you in some cases. There are too many awards and a lack of good competition but, not all children respond positively to the same stimulus and a good mix of both is required.
Most of our recruited teachers in the 60's and 70's are still living, educating, and volunteering in this area even after retirement and are able to do so thanks to the unionized system and the benefits involved.
Alan Martin
Prince George
