Nothing to write home about
Standard-Freeholder (Cornwall)
Wed 07 Sep 2005
Page: 4

Section: Local
Byline: Joe Gunn
Column: Education and You

Source: Standard-Freeholder

The Ottawa-Carleton Catholic School Board announced this
week they were going to pursue, and wrestle to the ground, one of the hot-button
educational problems today -- literacy. This is to be a pro-active approach in
addressing student needs.

I treated the article originally as a press release on a slow news day, but
as I continued to scan the article, my mouth dropped. I read it again and then
read it a third time --no I wasn't imagining things.

The object was to set a target for all its schools, enabling 75 per cent of
their students to reach the provincial level by 2008 -- an educational target to
make sure that three out of every four students could read.

My God! Anything short of 100 per cent is unacceptable -- what are schools
for if not to teach people to read and write.

Any educator whose sole purpose is to make sure that 75 per cent of their
students meet literacy requirements should be looking for another line of work!

I've written lately of the McGuinty government's dumbing down of the system.
Now we expect only three out four people to comprehend! Superintendent Lucy
Miller says it's a back-to-basics approach to make sure our students are
successful (well, at least 75 per cent of them).

This is a back to the stone age focus as far as this scribbler is concerned.

Parents, please start reading to your kids, if your not already doing it.
It's obvious they are not going to get the help they require at school when the
bar has been set at 75 per cent.

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On a more positive note, the McGuinty government recently announced more
funding for the Co-op diploma apprenticeship program.

This great program allows Ontario colleges to work closer with the Ontario
government to create career spaces in the skilled trades enabling employers to
hire motivated apprentices who have a college education.

The program has given students more options for their post-secondary
education while ensuring a more skilful workforce, and speeds up their
provincial certification qualifications. The government deserves an 'A' for its
attitude towards technical proficiency.

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And the argument continues as teacher unions fight for reduced class sizes to
help the students (at least that's their argument), the C. D. Howe Institute has
just released a report, containing information collected over the past 30 years,
suggesting there is absolutely no solid base to confirm smaller class sizes
helps to improve academic achievement for elementary and secondary students in
Canada schools.

The report further suggests the millions of dollars spent monthly across the
country to lower class sizes could be spent more wisely in teacher training and
development. Naturally the teacher unions are irked by a report, they claim is
out of touch with reality, stating instead the reduced class size is an
effective way to maximize the education process for children (take literacy, for
instance.)

This report comes on the heels of the Ontario government putting tens of
millions of dollars into the system to reduce class size by hiring more teachers
(union members.) Did I mention teaching in Ontario is a closed shop.

---

As the cost of education continues to skyrocket completely out of control,
the separate school funding issue is bound to become, once again, a topic for
discussion.

Question? Why are we supporting two similar parallel systems?(It's actually
four). The Catholic answer, of course, is that they teach family values, God,
mutual respect, and actually allow prayer in school. They want religion to play
an integral part in their children's education.

Although the United Nations questions the validity of Catholic education in
public schools, it's the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms that prevails.
Get used to it!

Edition: Final
Story Type: Column
Length: 622
words