FROLITICKS

The Ontario government under Premier Ford recently announced budgetary cut-backs to the province’s primary and secondary public schools, including an increase in class sizes over the next four years. There will be fewer teachers for students and the continuation of some specialized classes and after-school programs will be jeopardized.  The cut-backs will particularly affect inner-city kids who have a need for special programs such as English-as-a-second language for immigrant children and additional assistance for disadvantaged and lower income families.

I came up through the Ontario education system which once prided itself on being one of the best in Canada and among industrialized countries, readily available and accessible to kids in both urban and rural settings. Provincial oversight and funding of education ensured that children would have equal access to quality public education wherever they lived.  Teachers became well trained, paid and respected under the system, and rightly so.  After all, the ultimate result was a highly trained and educated labour force which served as a major attraction for national and foreign investment in the province, resulting in a higher standard of living for all.

However, over the years there has been some valid criticism of the product flowing out of primary and secondary schools. Post-secondary institutions are complaining of receiving high school students who are not well prepared for university or college, often lacking the critical thinking and communication capabilities normally required at the post-secondary level.  Unfortunately, what they see is an assembly-line approach to education, based too often solely on the use of testing to measure outcomes.  These higher institutions are frequently required to introduce remedial programs to improve writing and analytic skills of new entrants.

Instead of instilling young people with attributes related to imagination, creativity, comprehension and discovery, schools appear to be more interested in meeting provincial testing standards in order to ensure their future funding. Often such performance standards are based on the percentage of kids graduating with a high school diploma, whether or not this piece of paper is a true testament to their actual capabilities.  Of course, this issue is one which exists elsewhere in Canada and in the U.S.  Instead of undermining the public education system because of short-term budgetary considerations, maybe it’s time to step back and examine just what values and qualities will help our children to live full, successful and meaningful lives in the long-term.