Unpublished letter submitted to the Toronto Star
Re: Dangerous mixed signals, July 18, 2018.
As a retired educator (teacher/principal) for more than 37 years in Ontario I thought I had seen it all but alas I was mistaken. Doug Ford’s rejection of the sex-ed curriculum (and the entire curriculum document) to replace it with a twenty-year old one, reflects he and his party’s Neandertalic attitude towards the world and in this case educators and education.
On the basis of a miniscule minority of parents who believe in antiquated ideas about sex-ed he has trashed (literally) for simply ideological reasons an excellent up-to-date curriculum document that has been vetted with parents, experts, educators and the public at large for more than two years and implemented as best practice. The curriculum in Ontario already makes provisions for dissenting minorities while having a document that serves the vast majority of students appropriately. Whining right-wing minorities now rule the day. Sexual education curriculum was developed because parents did not talk to their kids about this sensitive subject. Stick your heads in the sand and everything will be fine. The situation is absolutely ludicrous. The same approach will be taken with a variety of other issues including Hydro One, abortion. LGBTQ issues, immigration and privatizing healthcare to race, minimum wage and gender issues. Ford, like Trump, has a simplistic, limited business understanding that brings a wrecking ball to every problem. It is a disaster.
The really scary part is that in our first-past-the-post electoral system a tiny minority of people in Ontario voted for Doug Ford or abstained. The British electoral system is premised on people not voting so that upper class aristocrats can be elected. Most voters (and non-voters) made their decision often with little more than vague promises and often in absentia including teachers, police officers, government officials, doctors, nurses and education leaders. They and many others said that this is the kind of government they wanted with virtually no information to go on. What a deluded, irresponsible Luddite perspective.
Doug Ford’s election has reaffirmed my longstanding belief that teachers must demand full professional status (like doctor’s and lawyers) rather than labour associations that gives them independent, professional control over education. They need this designation to assert their expertise over curriculum decisions and preserve them from the constantly revolving door of ideas of various governments that regularly reverse or change quality practices. Respect for teachers will increase and decision making will be removed from the vagaries of government. Governments would have input but not control just like parents. Education would be delivered from minority control by a few angry parents or politicians who are dissatisfied with sex-ed or any other curriculum program or approach. Saying teachers will have ‘flexibility’ doesn’t cut it. The only way to stop this destabilizing and destructive pattern is to make teachers fully professional and make education independent of the province. Teachers are the experts and like doctors and lawyers should make the decisions. Only this kind of power would stop Ford or any other government from reversing factually-based, quality education.
It is time for a people’s revolution. Down with Fordism, Trumpism, Ludditism and all other narrow and misguided forms of regressive, extremist, religious or political beliefs that would hold humanity hostage from sensible progress. Down with the antiquated first past-the-post system that wastes votes and allows this to happen. Apathy will get us despotism.