sounds like the highlights of Ontario’s “new” curriculum coupled with character development.

Have you ever noticed that the protesters at events like ght G8 and Olympics are usually those “impressionable” university students? Perhaps lobbying and protesting constitutes the final exam of lessons by left-leaning profs.?

A child of mine took Political Science at the time of the last provincial election. The whole course was pulled left as the prof. sang the praises of the NDP and MMP.  Several exam questions based on those lectures too.

Our student managed to email us the exam questions which I sent to Michael Coren(as he had done one of his talkshow programs on politics in the classroom.

It is perfectly legal to be a communist and to lead protests against the police. This article mixes free speech with classroom behavour in which both sides of arguments need to be related by profs pushing their own views, where is the news?

Youth Radicalizers Don’t Want Parents Involved!

I’ve been on many platforms with Communists, Marxists, Seed Planters, what have you, but in all cases we are all clearly labeled and talking to adults.

I’ve been in classrooms talking politics during federal and provincial elections and again we are all clearly identified. 

What I am adamantly opposed to is indoctrination, persuasion or preaching to students in the K-12 years without clear guidelines being followed.  For example, if Gore’s movie, An Inconvenient Truth, is to be shown in class, I want some balanced discussion and a presentation of the 9 errors, found by a UK Judge, which must accompany showings in England. http://education-advisory.org/Involved/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/indoctrination-laws-and-guidelines-for-schools.pdf

This case of a communist teaching in Princeton indicates to me that students will know his ideology upfront and deal with it accordingly, as they would with other political or religious professors. However, I do agree with Malkin Dare that “elementary and secondary grades should be declared an ideology-free zone”.

What is the reality in our classrooms and teacher training institutions?

I feel that by stealth – perhaps naivety—teachers are conveying political messages in classrooms.

For example, we had a recent case in BC that went national.  The issue was teachers wearing black armbands while administering standardized tests to Grades 4 and 7.  See: Black armbands a charter right: BC teachers: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/02/26/bc-teachers-black-armband-fsa-protest.html?ref=rss#socialcomments

There are 310 comments to the above CBC story and the best, I think, is the one that came in yesterday from Andrew from Richmond:

“From the current standards of the British Columbia College of Teachers: Educators do not abuse or exploit students or minors for personal, sexual, ideological, material or other advantage. http://www.bcct.ca/Standards/StandardsDevelopment.aspx

Report them to the College.”

Yes, I consider it unprofessional if there is this political slant in classrooms.  Parents should be involved to the extent that they can detect and object to political messages being given to children in schools.

Teacher training is another issue.  I find considerable training literature still dealing with consciousness raising and the use of Freire’s book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed.  A recent story about a UBC new program says “social justice and diversity” are to become “dominant themes in all education courses”.  Considerable concern has been raised.

An Accord signed by all Education Deans in Canada causes me further concern. On top of all the usual things (responsiveness, diversity, inclusion, etc)  they want new teachers to take away after completing training is the ability “to assume a social and political leadership role” in their communities.  http://www.csse.ca/ACDE/TeacherAccord.pdf

Parents should not hesitate to pass on their concerns to proper authorities.  For example, I have communicated my concerns to UBC about their search for a new Dean (The old Dean disparaged phonics, evidence based practice and good-practice, etc.) and about some of their programming. And, as a result of Andrew’s comment above I will shortly lodge a complaint with the BC College of Teachers about the Black Armband teachers who I feel are exploiting students for ideological advantage.

Parents, grandparents, citizens need to stand up.  We have been usurped out of the education picture for too long.

Very interesting comments, and good for you Tunya:  we have to take responsibility as parents and taxpayers and protect our children from some of these teachers’ antics.
I well remember, when Premier Harris was in power, how the highschool teachers were behaving.  I happened to be sitting on the Parent Council at the time.  Teachers were regularly telling the students how bad the current government was, and of course kids were coming home and telling their parents that they were stupid if they didn’t agree with the teachers…
Every time there was a Parent Council meeting I had to ask the principal to please tell his teachers to cease and desist—they were supposed to be teaching the curricula, and not spewing their political bend.
There was also an anti Harris petition in the school which teachers were asking children to sign.  I had to ask for the petition to be removed as well.
During that time, the teachers also turned their backs on the children and walked out in an illegal strike.
I think that if the teachers would behave like professionals, I might consider their side of things; however their lack of professionalism speaks volumes to me.

The teachers went on strike to protect the education system from Hrris who wanted to slash one billion dollars from the system and offered his deputy-minister a bonus if she cut enough. Who had the interest of the kids at heart, the teachers or Harris? The polls at the time said the teachers.

The three main education Deans in BC wrote to the Minister of Education to tell her that standardized testing is bad for kids and bad for the system.

Let’s be clear shall we? It was the TDSB that cried the loudest and the longest about Harris redistributing those education dollars to all boards so that the TDSB might get its house in order. It didn’t do that.

The school council I was on stayed on the side of the students during that illegal strike - we took neither the government side or the union side. Our community respected us for doing that.

Holding students hostage is never for the good of the students. It’s always about adults.

I agree with Bev. Politics did ripple into the classroom at that time. Remember those faux
information sessions that were actually stacked with union members and their parent puppets?

Oh, and not all teachers went out on strike,many did not, some even continued teaching out of their homes and along with parents put those kids first.

Yes, lets be very clear, Mike Harris, the worst disaster that ever befell public education in Ontario, first removed one billion from the education budget BEFORE he began redestribution of money away from ALL urban boards towards rural boards.

The entire comunity by 60-40% in the polls of the time sided with the teachers. They agreed, removing $1 billion from the total is a bad idea and declaring war on the teachers is always a bad idea.

Not all teachers went out? Of course, only about 98% went on strike. A few scabs tried to have it both ways. These lowlifes are always around. They will be shunned when the strike is over. It will be thrown in their face for the rest of their careers.

I had the privledge of reading out the names of the 14 teachers in Toronto who did not support the action. Each name was punctuated by a chorus of boo’s. Very unpopular people.

The fact that your tone is one of pride with that last post is really quite sickening Doug Little.

I’m only sorry that Harris didn’t go farther. He had the good sense to level the playing field. That it didn’t sit well with the dysfunctional TDSB, a board which used and abused that education dollar as Rosen’s audit proved is just what it deserved.

Even the union on the manufacturing shop floor rolls their eyes at the mere mention of the teacher unions.

It’s a very good thing that you don’t have any clout any more with educators Doug.

That you would glorify holding students hostage and celebrate with cake the 10 year anniversary of that is truly pathetic and more school choice couldn’t come soon enough or fast enough.

The public sides with those educators who broke ranks because they and their parents at that time were the ones who truly cared about the students.

The teacher unions have been on a slide ever since.

Yeah right.—That’s why Harris got elected with a second majority.  As for the facts on spending, they didn’t cut money out of education.  Spending went up province-wide.  Notasheep is correct it was TDSB that got cut back.  The Catholic boards got way more money.

Oh and those teachers who didn’t support an illegal, wildcat strike?  They got treated terribly by some of their peers—as your language indicates.

1) I am very proud of fighting back against Harris and his agenda that we are still attempting to recover from.

2) Harris gave his ADM a fat bonus for removing $1 billion overall from education. Rozanski pointed out that after that sad period we were $2 billion behind where we should have been. Kids really suffered and continue to suffer today because of that regime.

3) The newsletter is very helpful in keeping a hand in Chuck. I know you would love it.

There will not be more school choice in Ontario Chuck, ask John Tory why. It will begin to receed in the USA now that Ravitch’s book is picking it to pieces.

Where did you ever get the idea that the public sides with a tiny group of scabs?

Somebody needs to tell the teachers’ unions they are on a slide. They just signed a new set of 4 year agreements at 3% per year. They are doing OK.

To Murisaki, read Rosanski, down $2 billion. Thats a lot of kids hurting thanks to Harris.

What do teachers expect who don’t support majority decisions? Gratitude? They got treated the way scabs always get treated. Nobody wants to associate with them.

we already know you’re proud of your fights and bullies Doug. We’ve seen the photos of you celebrating with cake(did union dues go to pay for that cake?) the 10 year anniversary of holding Ontario’s kids hostage.

The school choice crowd is just getting started. Just ask the TDSB trustee in whose jurisdiction a new Waldorf school is taking shape.

Your negative spin will not stop the choice train any more. If anything your offerings here are just building a will that’s far greater than you’d ever accept.

Not when the union exec. are so disconnected with their membership. A quick trip to the Mended discussion board is a small sampling of that.

And we wonder why kids bully kids. Reading Doug’s last post should answer any questions about that.

I still comeback to the fact that from one side of his mouth Doug Little says that choice poses no threat to the public system, yet from the other side of his mouth is spinning wildly on education blogs.

Putting parents in charge of their education choice MUST be very powerful otherwise all of the spinning wouldn’t be necessary.

I share the sentiments of others here who are very glad that newer teachers aren’t as hungry for the kind of union spin that Little likes to move.

Doug, how soon you forget how the Harris government implemented their education policies, and how the teachers’ union, quickly saw the writing the wall, and knew that it was a matter of looking after their best interests, and a causality was the best interests of children. It is where, standardization of curriculum, the implementation of accounting practices where the lowest benchmarks are used to implement standard costs of schools regardless of location, and as a result, the resources of the schools decrease as teachers salaries, and other administration costs soar. Where now the resources, represents only a small share of the relative costs, and it is the resources and the lack of them depending on location, has created a system of inequities in the background, of non-accountability, lack of transparency, and discrimination policies that prevents students from achieving, unless they meet the narrowed criteria set up by the teacher unions, the boards, the education departments and the education ministries.
Parents on the whole, are upset including the less educated ones that the public education system is not longer held accountable and where parents no longer have the power to change things, or even have influence over education policies.
At presently, parents who have children entering into grade 10 in the new school year , are being told by the schools to signed papers indicating agreement as to course selection, in a process where there is little consultation between parents and their children, and if parents refuse to sign, the school has the right to do what they think is best. Meanwhile underneath this horrid practice, is the poor selection of course offerings, the lack of resources dependent on the schools, the use of accounting practices that is more in keeping in controlling costs by limiting resources, and of course the teachers unions who are more than willing to negotiate contacts, by stating what they will or will not do inside the classroom for their students.
It makes me very angry, and since I heard the latest edict from my daughter’s school, that children who have learning problems, and those that are on pathway 2,3,4, and 5 are require to take basic math and english courses, and are NOT allow to take academic courses. My daughter who has a 86 % in regular grade 9 math, is apparently not allow to take academic math, because of her label, her identification of her learning disabilities, and certainly not on her grades in math. This is a policy based on discriminatory practice, so high school teachers who teaches in academic and advance courses, will have far less work in dealing with students who have mild to moderate learning disabilities, and have accommodations that impact courses where accommodations are not allowed. The same courses, that are formulated at the very top of the education system, and where the teachers unions have the majority say in the selection of curriculum, and other education policies that is directly involves a child’s education.
Here is a link, one of the many papers published since the Harris regime, and how the only losers are the children and the parents.
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:8CTdny-zvcYJ:www.irpp.org/po/archive/jul98/gbedard.pdf+The+Ontario+Harris+Regime+on+Education&hl=en&gl=ca&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgMOuX3LjiQTGcZr4MUj7VxOdpgf__nm2kU4Uk2ZHqFl9BmKXEHWhcL6Efq_c8Q0OrO7-Mi1-sVlO7FwTG12Z9zhUMkplHUu3zqI9KE0jcYcQ0DSoE07jz0mGr979DhRwkmxtFp&sig=AHIEtbTZWx_Elyb9r800ZY0sa9e_zQWJ6A

Nancy, it totally depends what type of decision the parents want to make but there are such things as professional issues. BTW parents are far from unanimous about what they want so how does one know which ones to listen to when they are all over the map. I was told by many people who were at the table that parents told the government that they did not want powerful school councils.

It is interesting Mr Sheep that what I say is spin but what you say are facts. LOL.

Democracy settles the issue of leadership and membership Chuck, would you have teacher govern themselves some other way or just listen to a few right wing malcontents who either lose or don’t participate in teacher unions. Woody Allen said “50% of life is showing up.”

Yes Chuck the union paid for the cake and the booze that night. Yes we were celebrating the struggle against the hrris bully tactics and were eventually vindicated as the Harris/Eves regime was vanquished. The John Tory party proposed to fund non RC religious schools which outraged the population and maintained the milquetoast McGuinty government.

Choice INSIDE of public education is always an interesting issue in Ontario, some is good others not so much. Choice outside the public system is a complete not starter in Ontario. Hudak knows that and will not raise it as an issue or he knows he cannot win. Ontarians have spoken on that issue for all time. I have seen the polling. 15% support choice outside PS. It splits the Tory coalition in half and draws almost no Liberal or NDP support. Politicians know these are loser issues. Keep dreaming.

What we really need is a MASSIVE new investment in public education so that we have even a chance to be internationally competitive. It is not just the old Liberal-Socialist alliance that believes that anymore. Big Business is the new ally. They know we will be crushed by international competition if we don’t rapidly develop the human capital to do the job. Go tell them phonics and DI are the answer. Let me know when they stop laughing.

Keep on laughing, big business is not a solution. The march toward privatization in our public education system is slowly coming, and when that happens it will be the demise of teachers unions, along with any quality programs for children. Take a good look on the trade agreements, and the clause to bid on contracts at public services at all levels. Global businesses have their eyes on education, water, hydro, and health services, and their best interests lie with their share holders, and certainly not with the children.
Parents are all over the map, because of the in depth knowledge needed to understand and navigate the education system. I was on the phone to the education ministry, voicing my displeasure at the setup and the processes regarding selection of courses for grade 10. At the time, I also voiced my displeasure at the education site, where one needs a high level of skills, to read and understand the language. It took me over 30 minutes to locate the correct telephone number, and manage to select the correct number, based on indirect information. It was really a guess based on my deductive reasoning skills, rather than reading anything in black and white. The new minister, whose PHD is in education administration, decided it was time for a new make-over for the site, where the upgrade was in language and design, rendering it extremely unfriendly for users, and as such limited access, according to the user’s abilities and skills. In my opinion, it was a waste of money, and it should have been spent on improving the search engines, which are at present still useless in finding selective information.
I was also on the phone with the local school, asking for confirmation of what I had learned today. Apparently, just after 1 minute pass 3:30, I was told by the secretary, she has to go and catch someone as the teachers were leaving. My response, I told her my daughter would not be attending tomorrow morning,  unless I am contacted by today, to confirm the information I had learned today. I added, if I do not received a phone call, than I will assume, the setup for course selection is what I have learned, and my daughter will not participate in what I clearly see as practice of discrimination. Guess what, no telephone call and the ministry do not blame me one iota.
Educators often make the processes difficult to understand, and with private businesses, it will only get worse.

Nancy, I’m not sure it will get worse…
I shopped for schools for my children while living both in Tokyo and Singapore.  Some were private businesses.  I must say that all the schools I visited were excellent, and it was only a matter of choosing which one parents thought would be best for their children, and their personal goals for their children.
There’s nothing like competition to get people delivering a good product.
When we returned to Canada, I was deeply disappointed in the school system.  My kids got through it amid strikes, curricila not being taught, bullying, etc., and both went on to university; however there are things which they lost along the way which it’ll take years to get back—no fluency in another language; no grammar—the list is endless.
From my personal experience, I’d say not to be skittish about privatization…

With reference to the illegal strike while Premier Harris was in power, I deeply admire the two per cent of teachers who took a stand and refused to participate. 
I remember being shocked at seeing some of them needing police escorts to cross the teachers’ illegal picket lines.
It takes a person of moral intetrity to stand up for what they believe in, and they taught, by example, an invaluable lesson to our children.

Oh I am well aware of the trade agreements and the attempts to privatize but the idea that the private market does anything at all better than the public sector took a bruising during the Wall St induced melt down. Bill Gates, the Waltons of Walmart and Eli Broad are doing what they can to wreck the system but I think they are nearly done. Gates has already given up on the small charter schools and wants to influence the public school teachers.

The scabs Bev is talking about are usually shunned by their collegues from that point on. I know from first hand experience that almost nobody talks to the 14 names I read out to the union meeting. Some left teaching soon after.

Bev, I am not against private schools, or charter schools. What I am against is the corporate take over of our public schools. It is a threat, and a growing one. On Wiki, ” EdisonLearning Inc., formerly known as Edison Schools Inc., is a for-profit education management organization for public schools in the United States and the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1992 as The Edison Project, largely the brainchild of Chris Whittle. The initial expansion of Edison included the involvement of Tom Ingram (campaign manager and chief of staff to Lamar Alexander), Benno C. Schmidt, Jr., John Chubb (political scientist from the Hoover and Brookings Institute), and Chester E. Finn, Jr. (assistant secretary of education to former presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush). Originally founded around the idea of school vouchers, Edison primarily contracts with school districts on the basis of performance partnerships, alliances, and charter school establishment.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edison_Schools

PBS on Edison schools and their concept of charter schools, plus the pros and cons.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/edison/interviews/

Edison learning site for England
http://www.edisonschools.co.uk/
There is an international link at the bottom right corner, which will take you to the U.S. site.

In my eyes, I prefer the kind of charter school, where it was formed by a group of people who shared a common vision. Not a charter school, where profits come first, and their start-up costs and funding comes from the taxpayers.  That is privatization.

Doug, the Bill Gates have just begun. They became lobbyists, and Bill Gates is known as the lone maverick. They are still around, but are trying to get a firm hold from the top and work they way down to the bottom.
http://boycottnovell.com/2010/01/08/lobbyists-escape-the-law/

Even school boards feel it is necessary to hire lobbyists to represent them at state level.
http://www.allbusiness.com/government/government-bodies-offices-regional-local/13524302-1.html

I have relatives in Texas who send their children to the school available to them through the company there father works for. The company not only has its own school but also day care and college prep. school.

I would welcome such ventures in Canada and think it will be only a matter of time that companies start educating their own in order to get those grads who can read and do simple math.

Nancy and Bev - when parents get talking together it’s very potent because it’s empowering. That too much scare the hell of out unions because when parent start talking they start comparing. It’s only natural.

Both your posts and other here to me are most important because it often blows the experts right out of the water.

Yes right Mr Sheep, we should get our education ideas from the USA.

PISA results Canada #2 USA #36. Hmmm

Eyes rolling.