I am a high school teacher. I teach a number of subjects including work experience and run our school's secondary school apprenticeship program. I enjoy placing students in work places throughout the community and talking to employers as part of this work. During these discussions I hear about the needs the employers have for employees and how my students are doing to meet the requirements of the work place. Time and time again I hear them say that they need students who have basic skills that include good math skills, problem solving skills and the skills to manage time well. As much as teachers can, we try to teach these skills. However, the Ministry of Education reduced the graduation requirements significantly some years ago. This has allowed too many students to graduate without some of those basic skills. The government happily announces that graduation rates are excellent. Well, if you set the standards low enough, everyone can pass. But are we as a society and is our economy served well by a weakened education system?
Ms. Clark's government has focussed the province's economic future on developing LNG plants. This industry requires many trades people and many others who have excellent technical skills to do the work of building LNG plants and to then run them to the high standards necessary so that producing and selling LNG will be a reliable and consistently available commodity. Without well educated potential trades and technical workers, who is going to build these plants? Temporary foreign workers? We know how poorly that program has been run. Businesses owners I talk to are desperate for trades people and skilled technical workers. These jobs cannot be done with a minimal education.
Perhaps, rather than discussing how the government can't afford to improve educational funding, Peter Fassbender and Christy Clark should be discussing how it can't afford NOT to improve education. These workers are not going to magically appear. BC is in dire need of English-speaking, highly trained and educated young people. We need to improve our education system now. Our very economy depends on it.
Anne Saar
Prince George
