SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT

Convocation At Last!

Today is my daughter’s convocation.  It is a proud day for most parents and no less for our family as well.  Readers who know me know it was my daughter’s elementary school education experiences that brought me to the education reform movement many years ago. 

She wasn’t learning to read very well in the primary grades and yes, I got the same treatment and heard the same clichés as parents still do from their public schools twenty years later. A fateful letter to Malkin Dare and OQE at the time opened my eyes to the possibility that things could certainly be better in our school system.  I learned about “school-proofing”, direct instruction, systematic explicit phonics and more.  I vowed I would not stand by and let another child suffer setbacks to learning.  One of the most heart-wrenching moments in her learning was when she confided to me that she wished someone had taught her how to do fractions properly in the first place so that she wouldn’t have had so much trouble in math.   This, after we sent her to a girls-only high school.  She won the award for most improved student in grade 10.  I cried that awards night.

Last night I attended the Donner Canadian Foundation Lecture.  The guest speaker was Tiger Mother, Amy Chua.  What an eye-opener!  Dr. Chua spoke eloquently about her book and how she had been absolutely misrepresented in the press.  Her book was meant to be a memoir and not a parenting manual—although she says in China she is looked upon as a “cuddly” mother, not a tiger!  She gave us the real story about her family and her struggle to ensure her daughters lived up to high expectations, avoided materialistic pop culture, achieved honest goals, and true self-esteem.  She says that there exist too many false dichotomies such as drill and knowledge vs. creativity.  Why can’t there be both?  Creative minds must have a solid foundation of skills and knowledge.  The full talk will be broadcast on CBC Radio.  

I think most of us who support SQE would not disagree too much.  And yes, I’ll probably cry when my daughter gets her diploma today as well.

[Footnote—Lest readers think that all of us at SQE are “drill and kill” tiger-mother monsters who don’t value or nurture creativity, my daughter is graduating from Ontario College of Art & Design University.  She is an illustrator and award-winning graphic designer.  So there.]