Education? Ask a Teacher…

Sometimes you wonder whether politicians do live in a bubble. After all, how else could the Tory party have come to the mind-boggling policy that they should take half a billion dollars out of the public education system and transfer it to faith based schools? Critics have called this position a cheap vote buying tactic, and I’m inclined to agree.

We often forget how revolutionary public education is. Growing up in a world where it is your right to get a proper education often means that its status seems less than extraordinary, and yet a little over a century ago there was no expectation that you should ever need to learn much at all, except that which was best suited to where you were born in life. My Grandfather, for example, stopped attending school when he was 12 or 13 and then immediately began work in a factory – he never expected any better. In contrast, only two generations away, I have received a basic schooling in every subject; have attended university; and the option of pursuing further education remains open to me.

My Grandfather grew up in an England that was firmly entrenched with the idea of class, whereas I have grown up with the belief that I accomplish almost anything if I work hard enough at it. More importantly Ontario’s education system has been an inclusive one, and I have had the opportunity while growing up to meet people from all manner of cultures and religious backgrounds. It has given me an opportunity to question others and myself about my beliefs and is responsible for creating the most tolerant and diverse community I believe we have ever seen. (I am always reluctant to use the word “ever” to describe something, but I challenge anyone to find a culture in history where so many people come together and mix as freely as Toronto does in the 21st century)

The Conservative plan to divide Ontarian’s children up along religious lines is so appallingly bad it truly makes one wonder how the Tories came up with it. Most Ontarians don’t want it either. In fact, there is a growing feeling that the separate Catholic School Board should also be brought to an end – a view that the Green Party and I subscribe to. Because no matter what the challenges our education system faces – and they certainly were not along religious lines – tackling them means actually engaging those who work within the education system, not thrusting bad policies on them for the purposes of a few votes.

Our schools need funding, and they need a government that wants to listen to what teachers have to say. We have had over a decade and a half of governments tampering with the schools without ever once really asking what works. In the last Conservative government, our teachers were vilified; while under the current Liberal government, we have yet to see the kind of leadership needed to appropriately prepare our children for the future. Though not everyone knows it yet, the Green Party is fighting to make Ontario’s education system better for everyone, for the students, for the teachers, and for Ontario. Because our public education system is our blueprint for the future – building a better future means building a better education system.