I read this a couple of days ago on a Chinese business website:
Education /
In Depth: China’s preschoolers are stilling cramming for first grade
Despite the government’s repeated efforts to cut pupils’ academic workload, Yang Yang is still spending nearly all of his summer in class.
Every weekday, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:25 p.m., he studies reading, writing, math, crafts and physical education. Saturdays bring an extra English primer. He is six years old.
The Chinese, Koreans, and other Asian parents take education very seriously. Maybe too seriously but they realize that in our modern world, their children must do well in school. It is so competitive.
At the end of their school day, as they walked by my house, I would ask the middle school and high school students if they learnt anything at school today. Most often, they say no. At other times they say "a little". That scares me because I believe that they are telling the truth.
I ask if they have any homework. The answer is always no.
Passing everyone so no one feels bad about themselves, having schools where kids have trouble reading and do miserably in math is not how Ontario is going to succeed.
This so called Conservative Government is the total opposite of Conservative under this current leader and therein lies the problem. Crooked as a dogs hind leg defines this greedy opportunist who is undermining our democracy at every opportunity.
I must confess that I voted for him in the past election and the one prior to that the reason is I cannot vote Liberal because that is the party that has destroyed Canada as we know it. Mr Ford is and has been doing the same since he was elected. Look at the state of Ontario today health care is down the toilet purposely caused by this man. Our schools are now run by left wing nutters who are hell bent on not teaching our children anything other than dei and how to become transgender in very manipulative and disgusting ways. No small surprise when you consider how our Universities are turning these people into marxist idiots.
Fortunately we have some very good MPP,s in our rural ridings and this is the best choice for Canada or at least rural Canada to survive, the problem lies with Ottawa, Toronto and other cities overrun with 3rd world ignorant immigrants who desire to destroy this once great nation. Foreign-born nationals should never be allowed to hold seats in Provincial or Federal seats and the proof of that is easy to see without any doubt we are inviting traitors to destroy our way of life and that is what is happening today.
Everyone needs to take a good hard look at the W.E.F. the World Economic Forum which is nothing but a rich elitist group of despots who desire to beggar the ordinary man and make us all virtual slaves for the almighty buck. These virtuosos are sitting as our government today amongst them are Trudeau, Carney, Joley, & very many others who since joining have become multi-millionaires certainly not because of their brilliant minds.
Everyone needs to take a long hard look at what is taking place in European countries today dont look at mainstream paid for Lieberal news you will get more truth from Utube than you ever will with these lying fools. Almost every country is suffering from the immigrants from Muslim led countries and most of those countries are now deporting them for very good reason this is coming to Canada under Carney that pretentious WEF fool we have elected the biggest tax dodger in history to run our country. Does anyone think that he has the best interest in mind for your children?
Peter; I don't have a set of statistics to go by but,in general, I agree with much of what you say. In the Trudeau years,enormous harm has been done to Canada. Open-door immigration has been nothing short of criminal. A picture of our legislators is not a 'picture of Canada'. The end result of this is obvious. Very few families who have built this country will even think of running for election; they can see that their voices will be drowned out by both foreign and special interest groups. Also, in the last few years Canada's name has been degraded by the fictional stories that have been cooked up over the Residential Schools (All about money). Currently we are being overpowered by a neighbour to the South that has lost its way. We have many problems to solve and it is up to those of us who have built Canada to step up and speak up and show the way.
On the contrary, the Trump administration is working to correct the damage done by the Biden "Democrat" administration. There were enough sane Americans to vote in Trump and the Republicans, and Trump has the highest approval figures of any Republican president. America is back!
As for Canada, after disgracefully voting in clown Trudeau three times, Canadian voters then voted in WEF Carney. Are there any sane Canadians left in this failing country?
Specifically, what is the plan and how is this Education Minister going to address, implement, and measure corrections to declining literacy and numeracy rates? How does teaching gender ideology (while treating parents as a problem to be overcome) aid in this plan? Without this plan, why would any responsible Ontario parent continue to send a child to public indoctrination centers? Isn't declining enrollment figures a clear sign of Ministerial ineptness addressing these very real and justified parental concerns?
As a retired teacher whose entire career in different provinces was always casual or short term contract, I have seen tremendous change over the decades most notably a complete capturing of education by second and third wave feminism. Oh, for reasons, to be sure. But in effect, education itself has become totally feminized. Well, so what?
Gender ideology is just one more step into the world where not only are men and women considered interchangeable in all things, but discriminatory hiring favouring women and POC have made an indelible impression throughout the education spectrum. Just go into any elementary school to see what this capture looks like in action, staring with the dearth of male teachers (starting with the question why would any male want to be around children, hmm?). Carole Hooven points out the longitudinal effect of these 'progressive' policies... namely, that progressive teaching culture favors girls’ learning styles—while boys, wired differently by biology, are stigmatized and alienated as are male elementary school teachers always under suspicion. This is now showing up in widening voting patterns based on sex and results in significant decreases of historical and mutually beneficial interactions between the sexes, not just in loss of dating or the trend towards virginity into one's 30s and beyond, but least of which is a population death spiral. Go figure. Masculinity is toxic, donchaknow, and what better place to learn that than in schools (zero tolerance for 'bullying' but infinite tolerance for later violence if committed by a 'vulnerable' minority members).
The idea that male and female bodies are different only above the neck is an example of just how divorced from reality captured and progressive education has become. To overcome reality requires mandated contrary belief be taught and enforced and this belief is what we see in action. Teaching belief in gender as a substitute for sex is just an extension of this same reality-denying approach (which is why no one can adequately define 'gender' is). OISE and other captured teacher colleges first teach the teachers how to best indoctrinate such reality-denying beliefs, how to revise shared history to support the Just So story, how to push particular Just So narratives, and then we watch these graduates set the ideological curriculum to create activists called 'students' and call these methods as 'best practices'. Lost in all of this social engineering are two very important goals: respecting what's true and learning how to find it. Social division and discord and dysfunction is guaranteed. We call this 'education'.
For the various Ministries of Education to correct for all of this is a very tall order, especially when so many Canadians think doing so is 'extreme right wing' activity. We've been told extreme right wing activity is the greatest threat to Canada! Very bad. Immoral people. Cast them out. Believing in that label when applied to those who are attempting to change course is central to the problem of altering the teaching of gender identity. I do not think any politician will commit political suicide countering this reality-denying belief as long as the electorate thinks the belief is a virtue. This is why Canada is, in so many ways, a broken and unserious country and I see no evidence to suggest any part of it will or even can change course back to respecting and incorporating reality, least of all back into the classroom! The teachers who try will be both persecuted and prosecuted up to and including committing hate crime! I've seen it. This is the environment of what schools have become. The flag pole outside the schools gives all of us fair warning about what we are about to encounter within the building.
So the Ministry's failure to uphold even the most basic educational objectives of reading for comprehension and being able to manipulate numbers as representatives of measured reality, is not and should not be a surprise to anyone. When reality itself is under ideological attack and we as a civil society go along calling this indoctrinating undertaking 'education', we've lost the plot entirely. And the state of the country merely a reflection of that.
I agree. Just listen to union reps espouse this narrative belief and organize, staff, and often help fund activist events in favour of it. I grow particularly concerned with the rise in popularity of a Islamist/Maoist approach that is very much anti-liberal and anti-western. Students become the tools used and are the shield behind which these True Believers operate with impunity. After all, they also believe they know better. It's a very destructive assumption not just to the profession but to the students themselves. They are often the weapon used against teachers who dare to disagree.
I taught high school and college students for thirty years. In that time,teachers,for the most part, were respectful of the parents wishes and school boards were responsive to parent's concerns.
Now,it seems to me, the boards and many teachers think they know better than the parents and are taking over the parental role. Politicians are not classroom teachers (thank god) and board members ,too often, are there to promote their own anti-social agendas---what they think is best for other people's kids. The Ontario Minister of Ed. is inviting the kind of extreme counter reaction we are seeing in other jurisdictions.
In the wake of the death of George Floyd in police custody in the US and the Kamloops Indian Band in BC announcing that 215 kids had been murdered and secretly buried at an Indian Residential school, far left activists were able to shift the majority of the public from ambivolence to being firmly behind leftist ideologies and agendas. People simply believed, without looking for evidence, that thousands of innocent, unarmed Blacks were being killed by the police every year in the US and that Indian Residential schools were genocidal concentrataion camps. The fact that both of these claims are absolutely groundless meant nothing. Doug Ford made the crass political decision, which got him re-elected twice, to simply go along with the lurch to the left. Like most politicians, he looks to see which way the wind is blowing and goes with it. But the tide is turning- people are starting to realize they've been duped and the rekoning is well underway in the US. As usual, we are lagging behind here but our day too will come. Keep up the pressure!
Parents are generally accepted as being the first educators of their child. This also relates to the education of that child beyond early childhood. It was the British School Act of 1944 that set in motion the development of public, government funded schools as back-up for families who could not afford expensive private schools. It also provided validation for families undertaking home education. For various institutional and political reasons, this critical role of parents has been sidelined to make it seem as if the state is totally responsible for children’s education.
The British School Act of 1944 states: “It shall be the duty of the parent of every child of compulsory school age to cause him to receive efficient full-time education suitable to his age, ability, and aptitude, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise.”
It is thus disappointing to see Bill 33 — claiming to support children and students in education — to ignore the parental role. The word “parents” is used only once in the 18-page Bill 33 document. And even here it is in relation to school boards being reminded of their duties to act in an “appropriate manner” to . . . the engagement of parents and other entities that may have an interest in the activities of a board”.
This PAFE open letter to the Education Minister of Ontario illustrates a ‘hostile’ experience that some parents endure in trying to pursue educational remedies from their school boards. This same unhelpful experience has been borne by parents on numerous occasions in BC.
My opinion — as a longtime advocate for parent involvement, school choice and home education, now a great-grandparent — is that this bill should be sent back for reconsideration and a rewrite. Perhaps a bill “Supporting Parents, Children and Students in Education” ? A correction to present attitudes by our public education systems regarding parents is deeply needed!
I fully support Woke Watch and PAFE. I think Calandra is largely an ally to our cause. While I agree with all the content of this letter, I find the tone a little harsh - given Calandra IS mostly on our side.
I read this a couple of days ago on a Chinese business website:
Education /
In Depth: China’s preschoolers are stilling cramming for first grade
Despite the government’s repeated efforts to cut pupils’ academic workload, Yang Yang is still spending nearly all of his summer in class.
Every weekday, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:25 p.m., he studies reading, writing, math, crafts and physical education. Saturdays bring an extra English primer. He is six years old.
The Chinese, Koreans, and other Asian parents take education very seriously. Maybe too seriously but they realize that in our modern world, their children must do well in school. It is so competitive.
At the end of their school day, as they walked by my house, I would ask the middle school and high school students if they learnt anything at school today. Most often, they say no. At other times they say "a little". That scares me because I believe that they are telling the truth.
I ask if they have any homework. The answer is always no.
Passing everyone so no one feels bad about themselves, having schools where kids have trouble reading and do miserably in math is not how Ontario is going to succeed.
This so called Conservative Government is the total opposite of Conservative under this current leader and therein lies the problem. Crooked as a dogs hind leg defines this greedy opportunist who is undermining our democracy at every opportunity.
I must confess that I voted for him in the past election and the one prior to that the reason is I cannot vote Liberal because that is the party that has destroyed Canada as we know it. Mr Ford is and has been doing the same since he was elected. Look at the state of Ontario today health care is down the toilet purposely caused by this man. Our schools are now run by left wing nutters who are hell bent on not teaching our children anything other than dei and how to become transgender in very manipulative and disgusting ways. No small surprise when you consider how our Universities are turning these people into marxist idiots.
Fortunately we have some very good MPP,s in our rural ridings and this is the best choice for Canada or at least rural Canada to survive, the problem lies with Ottawa, Toronto and other cities overrun with 3rd world ignorant immigrants who desire to destroy this once great nation. Foreign-born nationals should never be allowed to hold seats in Provincial or Federal seats and the proof of that is easy to see without any doubt we are inviting traitors to destroy our way of life and that is what is happening today.
Everyone needs to take a good hard look at the W.E.F. the World Economic Forum which is nothing but a rich elitist group of despots who desire to beggar the ordinary man and make us all virtual slaves for the almighty buck. These virtuosos are sitting as our government today amongst them are Trudeau, Carney, Joley, & very many others who since joining have become multi-millionaires certainly not because of their brilliant minds.
Everyone needs to take a long hard look at what is taking place in European countries today dont look at mainstream paid for Lieberal news you will get more truth from Utube than you ever will with these lying fools. Almost every country is suffering from the immigrants from Muslim led countries and most of those countries are now deporting them for very good reason this is coming to Canada under Carney that pretentious WEF fool we have elected the biggest tax dodger in history to run our country. Does anyone think that he has the best interest in mind for your children?
Peter; I don't have a set of statistics to go by but,in general, I agree with much of what you say. In the Trudeau years,enormous harm has been done to Canada. Open-door immigration has been nothing short of criminal. A picture of our legislators is not a 'picture of Canada'. The end result of this is obvious. Very few families who have built this country will even think of running for election; they can see that their voices will be drowned out by both foreign and special interest groups. Also, in the last few years Canada's name has been degraded by the fictional stories that have been cooked up over the Residential Schools (All about money). Currently we are being overpowered by a neighbour to the South that has lost its way. We have many problems to solve and it is up to those of us who have built Canada to step up and speak up and show the way.
"a neighbour to the South that has lost its way"
On the contrary, the Trump administration is working to correct the damage done by the Biden "Democrat" administration. There were enough sane Americans to vote in Trump and the Republicans, and Trump has the highest approval figures of any Republican president. America is back!
As for Canada, after disgracefully voting in clown Trudeau three times, Canadian voters then voted in WEF Carney. Are there any sane Canadians left in this failing country?
Specifically, what is the plan and how is this Education Minister going to address, implement, and measure corrections to declining literacy and numeracy rates? How does teaching gender ideology (while treating parents as a problem to be overcome) aid in this plan? Without this plan, why would any responsible Ontario parent continue to send a child to public indoctrination centers? Isn't declining enrollment figures a clear sign of Ministerial ineptness addressing these very real and justified parental concerns?
As a retired teacher whose entire career in different provinces was always casual or short term contract, I have seen tremendous change over the decades most notably a complete capturing of education by second and third wave feminism. Oh, for reasons, to be sure. But in effect, education itself has become totally feminized. Well, so what?
Gender ideology is just one more step into the world where not only are men and women considered interchangeable in all things, but discriminatory hiring favouring women and POC have made an indelible impression throughout the education spectrum. Just go into any elementary school to see what this capture looks like in action, staring with the dearth of male teachers (starting with the question why would any male want to be around children, hmm?). Carole Hooven points out the longitudinal effect of these 'progressive' policies... namely, that progressive teaching culture favors girls’ learning styles—while boys, wired differently by biology, are stigmatized and alienated as are male elementary school teachers always under suspicion. This is now showing up in widening voting patterns based on sex and results in significant decreases of historical and mutually beneficial interactions between the sexes, not just in loss of dating or the trend towards virginity into one's 30s and beyond, but least of which is a population death spiral. Go figure. Masculinity is toxic, donchaknow, and what better place to learn that than in schools (zero tolerance for 'bullying' but infinite tolerance for later violence if committed by a 'vulnerable' minority members).
The idea that male and female bodies are different only above the neck is an example of just how divorced from reality captured and progressive education has become. To overcome reality requires mandated contrary belief be taught and enforced and this belief is what we see in action. Teaching belief in gender as a substitute for sex is just an extension of this same reality-denying approach (which is why no one can adequately define 'gender' is). OISE and other captured teacher colleges first teach the teachers how to best indoctrinate such reality-denying beliefs, how to revise shared history to support the Just So story, how to push particular Just So narratives, and then we watch these graduates set the ideological curriculum to create activists called 'students' and call these methods as 'best practices'. Lost in all of this social engineering are two very important goals: respecting what's true and learning how to find it. Social division and discord and dysfunction is guaranteed. We call this 'education'.
For the various Ministries of Education to correct for all of this is a very tall order, especially when so many Canadians think doing so is 'extreme right wing' activity. We've been told extreme right wing activity is the greatest threat to Canada! Very bad. Immoral people. Cast them out. Believing in that label when applied to those who are attempting to change course is central to the problem of altering the teaching of gender identity. I do not think any politician will commit political suicide countering this reality-denying belief as long as the electorate thinks the belief is a virtue. This is why Canada is, in so many ways, a broken and unserious country and I see no evidence to suggest any part of it will or even can change course back to respecting and incorporating reality, least of all back into the classroom! The teachers who try will be both persecuted and prosecuted up to and including committing hate crime! I've seen it. This is the environment of what schools have become. The flag pole outside the schools gives all of us fair warning about what we are about to encounter within the building.
So the Ministry's failure to uphold even the most basic educational objectives of reading for comprehension and being able to manipulate numbers as representatives of measured reality, is not and should not be a surprise to anyone. When reality itself is under ideological attack and we as a civil society go along calling this indoctrinating undertaking 'education', we've lost the plot entirely. And the state of the country merely a reflection of that.
A profound comment. I would only add that malicious teachers' unions play a large part in this evil plan.
I agree. Just listen to union reps espouse this narrative belief and organize, staff, and often help fund activist events in favour of it. I grow particularly concerned with the rise in popularity of a Islamist/Maoist approach that is very much anti-liberal and anti-western. Students become the tools used and are the shield behind which these True Believers operate with impunity. After all, they also believe they know better. It's a very destructive assumption not just to the profession but to the students themselves. They are often the weapon used against teachers who dare to disagree.
I taught high school and college students for thirty years. In that time,teachers,for the most part, were respectful of the parents wishes and school boards were responsive to parent's concerns.
Now,it seems to me, the boards and many teachers think they know better than the parents and are taking over the parental role. Politicians are not classroom teachers (thank god) and board members ,too often, are there to promote their own anti-social agendas---what they think is best for other people's kids. The Ontario Minister of Ed. is inviting the kind of extreme counter reaction we are seeing in other jurisdictions.
What has happened can be termed 'taking constructive possession' of the children. The parents are the nannies, but the state owns them.
In the wake of the death of George Floyd in police custody in the US and the Kamloops Indian Band in BC announcing that 215 kids had been murdered and secretly buried at an Indian Residential school, far left activists were able to shift the majority of the public from ambivolence to being firmly behind leftist ideologies and agendas. People simply believed, without looking for evidence, that thousands of innocent, unarmed Blacks were being killed by the police every year in the US and that Indian Residential schools were genocidal concentrataion camps. The fact that both of these claims are absolutely groundless meant nothing. Doug Ford made the crass political decision, which got him re-elected twice, to simply go along with the lurch to the left. Like most politicians, he looks to see which way the wind is blowing and goes with it. But the tide is turning- people are starting to realize they've been duped and the rekoning is well underway in the US. As usual, we are lagging behind here but our day too will come. Keep up the pressure!
Parents are generally accepted as being the first educators of their child. This also relates to the education of that child beyond early childhood. It was the British School Act of 1944 that set in motion the development of public, government funded schools as back-up for families who could not afford expensive private schools. It also provided validation for families undertaking home education. For various institutional and political reasons, this critical role of parents has been sidelined to make it seem as if the state is totally responsible for children’s education.
The British School Act of 1944 states: “It shall be the duty of the parent of every child of compulsory school age to cause him to receive efficient full-time education suitable to his age, ability, and aptitude, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise.”
It is thus disappointing to see Bill 33 — claiming to support children and students in education — to ignore the parental role. The word “parents” is used only once in the 18-page Bill 33 document. And even here it is in relation to school boards being reminded of their duties to act in an “appropriate manner” to . . . the engagement of parents and other entities that may have an interest in the activities of a board”.
This PAFE open letter to the Education Minister of Ontario illustrates a ‘hostile’ experience that some parents endure in trying to pursue educational remedies from their school boards. This same unhelpful experience has been borne by parents on numerous occasions in BC.
My opinion — as a longtime advocate for parent involvement, school choice and home education, now a great-grandparent — is that this bill should be sent back for reconsideration and a rewrite. Perhaps a bill “Supporting Parents, Children and Students in Education” ? A correction to present attitudes by our public education systems regarding parents is deeply needed!
Worth a try pleading to the lesser magistrates. You never know.
Most of the internet is controlled.
https://open.substack.com/pub/soberchristiangentlemanpodcast/p/s2-ep-27-95-percent-of-the-internet-a22?r=31s3eo&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Please consider reviewing my book WORLD ON MUTE by Lisa Miron. Part 3 addreses woke ideology.
https://open.substack.com/pub/lawyerlisa/p/how-the-trainbow-abortion-and-the
I fully support Woke Watch and PAFE. I think Calandra is largely an ally to our cause. While I agree with all the content of this letter, I find the tone a little harsh - given Calandra IS mostly on our side.