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Education: Are we selling short?

by Klaus Rohrich

November 24, 2003

Canadians spend more money per capita on education than most other countries, yet our educational standards leave much to be desired, officially hovering just above mediocrity. I believe that one of the key reasons for this disparity is the fact that our educational system doesn’t care so much about education as they do about social engineering.

Our children know more about their rights than many lawyers do and less about their responsibilities than a neutered house cat. This state of affairs didn’t come about as the result of a spontaneous combustion and subsequent incineration of the basics. It is the result of a long process, during which our educators systemically dropped the ball when it came to educating our kids.

At some point the value of knowledge (which the cliché reminds us, is power) was abandoned in favour of self-esteem. Schools routinely passed students from grade to grade despite the fact that some of the students they were passing really hadn’t achieved a required level of proficiency in their field. It’s called social advancement. So now we are graduating kids who feel terrific about themselves, even though they aren’t great in subjects like math, science or even English.

Teachers have become so cowed by the mere possibility they may be accused of sexual assault, that they shun the possibility of any physical contact with any student. There used to be a time when a kid fell in the school yard during recess and it was perfectly okay for a teacher to pick the kid up, give him a hug and send him back to play. Today this just doesn’t happen any more. First of all, the schoolyard probably isn’t equipped with a playground because school boards fear liability law suits in case of injury. Second, no teacher would dare touch a student, much less hug one, for fear of being charged with sexual assault.

Then there’s the question of discipline. Schools seem to have lost that concept altogether. Students are no longer expected to respect or even be polite to their teachers. Instead the teachers have to tread carefully, ensuring that their actions don’t aggravate the students. In some school systems, the teachers fear for their physical safety, as gangsters and bullies run rampant, despite so-called "non-tolerance" policies. These policies dictate that if there is any assault of any kind, the assailant (and sometimes the victim) are suspended or expelled. Trouble is the definition of "assault". It ranges from the ultra serious, such as assault causing bodily harm, to the sublimely ridiculous, such as any kind of bodily contact.

What a terrific way to teach children that we are all powerless! A problem of discipline arises and the system throws up its hands in resignation and kicks the kid out. What does a child learn by being ostracized for its actions? In most cases, nothing, as being suspended means spending the day watching TV, or hanging out at the mall with other reprobates.

More and more educators, as well as parents, are charging that our school system is structured to favour the success of female students. This indictment is beginning to be plausible, as enrollment in most colleges and universities is heavily skewed towards females. Among the general population male/female enrollment in universities is calculated at 40%-60%. Among minorities, such as blacks, the disparity is as high as 25%-75%.

There appear to be very few alternatives to this witches brew we call the education system. In Ontario, Mike Harris took a step in the right direction by allowing tax breaks to parents who opted to send their children to private schools. Now that Dalton McGuinty has taken on the role of Premier of Ontario, this window of opportunity has been closed.

Under the current system, a child who doesn’t "fit in" is eventually bounced from the public school system upon reaching the age of 16. This is akin to throwing the kid into the garbage. Yes, there are public alternatives to kids who don’t fit in, but they are a dismal choice. These alternative schools generally contain an admixture of kids whose problems range from Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder ADHD) to Conduct Disorder (CD).

There are private schools that have shown tremendous success with students who do not function under the educational system. Robert Land Academy is one such school institution. It is a military-theme school for boys, that teaches its students to take responsibility for their actions. Its motto is "loyalty, courage, labour, commitment and honour" and its success rate is phenomenal. Problem is that tuition and fees at Robert Land and other schools like it can run up to $30,000 per year. The only way this amount can now be claimed in the parents’ tax returns is that if it is a medical necessity that the student attends a particular private school that provides "treatment" which public schools are unable to provide.

With educational standards declining and illiteracy on the increase for the first time in nearly a century, parents should be outraged that they are paying for a Cadillac Education System that’s running on a Lada engine. And there’s no better place to voice that outrage than during the next visit to the ballot box.