Unpopular thought!
As i was mixing the herbs in the spaguetti sauce for the sprout i was thinking about the last post and really, what we really need to do is to abolish all private schools! Really! Then we can have the kids of the decision makers, business owners, doctors, lawyers, dentists, builders, architects etc. mixing with janitors, teachers, city officials, recreation coordinators, nurses, etc. and then maybe we can get some real dialogue going on the improvement of the school system and developing directions for our society. The issue of pluralism and multiculturalism is an economic issue and a class issue. At the moment people are opting for private schools as the public school system is terrible in some neighbourhoods and also for some social engineering and peer group development - circulation of elite is the concept used in sociology. The public school system is terrible as the big decision makers and business people send their kids to private schools (I need to find data on this!) and there is only budget cuts for the public school system. There are no real debates or dialogue on the society we want and how we are going to infuse those elements into the school system and impart these values to our kids.
So lets all join in on the social experiment of improving society, and not just having some opt out for something better for their own and leaving the rest to fend for themselves! Then lets change the boundaries for all schools to ensure a greater mix of income. With that we will then get a really intersteresting parent teacher council meetings and i wager way better standards. We will also see some who will send their kids to schools abroad. At the moment, I can generally say, that we have a degree of mediocrity in the public school system and my most interesting Canadian and some US friends went to Jewish private schools, secular private schools, alternative private schools or were home schooled, not all of course but many. I have no friends from the schools i went to - public French canadian technical high school and French public working class catholic public grade school. Most of my friends do not have kids so i cannot say what they chose, the few that do chose really interesting mixed class mixed race public schools.
Right now, if one looks at who is showing up in first year university classes, see their level of illiteracy and their lack of understanding of global issues then we will sadly see what we are currently mass producing! Yikes! What do we need to do and how will they take care of our furute!
hey. lots of “thinking” from someone who’s supposed to be focusing on dealing with herself. You were looking for advice before - how ’bout including blogging on the list of verboten activities.
Comment by mike — September 26, 2007 @ 5:19 pm
I know! It is just such a dam good way to not deal with oneself ain’int! But then again this school one is bugging the daylights out of me!
Comment by Administrator — September 26, 2007 @ 11:36 pm
Perhaps you are distracting yourself from your prime focus but I am enjoying your reflections on schooling and multiculturalism. There is a backlash against the latter that is frightening. The school election debate in Ontario is also a real eye-opener. I think that a move to fund private schools, religious or secular, will further undermine a public school system that has been seriously underfunded for decades. And you’re spot on with your observation of geographic districting creating have and have not schools with dramatically different outcomes for their students.
Comment by Beijing York — September 28, 2007 @ 2:35 pm
ah yes! i do have the attention span of a newt!
Comment by Administrator — September 28, 2007 @ 2:39 pm