Dear teachers, parents, and provincial representatives:
I've got some bad news - it turns out you're all to blame for the state of education.
To begin with our supposed leaders, the evidence that a new direction in public education is vital to its survival and relevancy has been obvious since at least the mid-1990s. Not so long ago, I bore witness to the ever growing gap between advanced and struggling students, the need to re-organize classes from age to ability, and the absolute redundancy of the last three years of high school. Between cutting funding for learning assistance to failing to meet the issues of education posed by the 21st century, both parties and their respective ministers past and present are worthy of a big F minus, if not the charge of criminal negligence. I say without caveat that there has been no meaningful leadership in this portfolio in my lifetime as a student, and I find it unlikely that there ever will be while the lot of you are paid to put the blame elsewhere.
Which brings us to teachers.
To be clear, the ideological imbecility of die-hard unionists and the union management is worthy of its own circle in Dante's Inferno; but more importantly, hear this: if you are a teacher who knows of another teacher that ought to be fired either for misconduct or for a lack of ability in teaching, you have failed your vocation and your union. As a self-regulating body of professionals, it is the duty of teachers to cull from their herd the weak links making children's futures dimmer and their own organization foolish. Furthermore, teachers have long known that the 19th century emphasis on academics is in direct contradiction to market conditions today; to keep their graduates from becoming over-educated baristas, teachers have a responsibility to advance a curriculum that encourages students to pursue education and careers where there is actually an opportunity to make money, regardless of what the ministry or the ideologues in union management say.
And just in case I haven't infuriated enough people with these words, I believe it's time to address parents and their role in letting down public education. It may hard to believe, but I was once a child, a public school student, and an observer of the parent, student, teacher relationship. What I have concluded is this: those children that are not taught to respect authority by their parents are ruining class for everyone else. Every parent instinctively knows which of their children need more discipline and stronger boundaries, and I guarantee you that failing to provide those at home at an early age is a guarantee to struggling in school, regardless of that child's ability and intelligence. Notes home about kids not paying attention in class or disrespecting teachers in the classroom should be met with consequences that children don't forget, not a shrug. And what's more, it's your votes for representatives with politically correct, meaningless policies from both the right and left that have gotten us into this mess.
Before you unleash your vitriol at me, let me make a suggestion: if we take public education back to the basics, we just might be able to save it. Bring up the GPA and experience requirements for new teachers while lowering the quota for new enrolment; flush out all the ideology from the classroom and have the final goal for students be that by 15 years old they can read, write, and do basic algebra. Make streaming a reality so that kids don't waste years of their lives on degrees that won't employ them anyways. And devolve the power of the ministry back to local school boards, who, in partnership with local businesses, community leaders, and post-secondary institutions, can better meet the challenges posed by their regional economy.
You see, we're all part of the problem. But that also means we can be part of the solution.
