June 29, 2018
EDITORIAL – Public education serves families and society
WEST SHORE VOICE NEWS EDITORIAL, by Mary P Brooke
It’s parents who send their children to school for an education. School boards and the provincial government are there to provide education as a service to families and community. Teachers are the facilitators, principals and vice principals are the stewards, and senior administrators are the managers. The facilities themselves are the crucible.
If you have any doubt about that, ask why some families choose private schooling for their children where it is clearly the parents who are paying the piper. Or why — even in the public system — some schools and their students fare better in the higher-income neighbourhoods.
Decades ago I had the good fortune to be educated in one of the best neighbourhoods in one of the best public system schools in Canada. At the time, I asked one of the high school teachers why he chose to teach in an entitled neighbourhood where the parents and the students clearly already had the world in the palm of their hands. His answer was simple but profound, the words of a devoted educator: “This is where I get to the influence the future of the country and society.” We were already learning about public transit being preferred over the construction of more highways, and how there was economic disparity across the country. Ideas still being addressed in this decade.
Parents are not in the classroom all day long. Often their primary contact all day is gathering up their kids to arrive at school, sometimes in the flurry of a hurry, and dealing with the costs and schedules of before/after school care. Parents receive their children back at the end of every school day having been impacted by a myriad of social and curriculum exposures and experiences.
Schools are institutions to which we have delegated the shaping of our youth in a rapidly changing world. Parents in particular — but everyone in the community — would do well to brush up on current and local education system issues ahead of the October 20 municipal/school board election.
Issues that deserve voter attention are many, including curriculum content and delivery, the method and effectiveness of in-school counselling services, the approach to career guidance, supports for special learning needs, provision of English language support to International Students, the spectrum of French studies (core and immersion) in the system, plus the strategies and mechanics for providing food services, classroom security, and emergency preparedness.
Where do the schools interface successfully with the world beyond their walls? Vulnerability to mental health issues is as prevalent in the SD62 community as anywhere else. Transfer rates from high schools in the west shore to post-secondary are lower for west shore youth than the provincial average, likely in part due to financial impacts.
Voting based on careful consideration of these and other education issues (like funding) is an important civic duty for us all. Longevity as a trustee is one thing. Compare that with fresh new ideas by any non-incumbent candidates that may surface in the fall campaign. As in many things in life, balance is a great approach to stable achievement.
As Premier John Horgan often says: “Education is the great equalizer”. Let’s make sure we have the best trustees in place for the next four-year term in all school districts, to deliver on that great promise of a modern, productive and healthy civil society in BC.
This article was first published on page 2 in the June 29, 2018 Canada Day Weekend Issue of West Shore Voice News
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