Public Education in 2020

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
108,906
11,186
113
Low Earth Orbit
I dont know about you but "education" in my day was 6 hours spent away from having to work at home.

Kids used to be part of the economy and workforce. We learned with our hands too.
 
Last edited:

Twin_Moose

Hall of Fame Member
Apr 17, 2017
21,301
5,727
113
Twin Moose Creek
School was second shift after you threw the bales out for the cows before catching the bus at 4pm you started the third shift until sundown, ate, did homework sometimes and then off to bed
 

taxslave

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 25, 2008
36,362
4,336
113
Vancouver Island
There is a universal education system in place just as there is a universal health care system in place.
The first priority of each is universality.
You can augment your education and healthcare as much as you want and as much as you can afford to - but you cannot opt out of paying for it. The whole thing is based on everyone paying in.
So are people on welfare paying into either one? How about illegal aliens?
 

Serryah

Executive Branch Member
Dec 3, 2008
8,913
2,046
113
New Brunswick
Not shocked Wally doesn't like HIS-tory.

Hint Wally: people in North America and South America before Columbus was written down, stupid white folks just didn't believe it.

Anyway...

In grade 3 my family moved from NB to NFLD. Base classes were about the same - English/Grammar, Math - but things like Social Studies/History was different as it was province focused. And even in public school in the mid 80's, I learned Religion which was a basic run through about the Bible that was age appropriate, but also touched on other religions; Catholic kids got that period to go to another school for Catholic focused education (I hated that class and wanted out so bad...)

We had one period of French a week.

3 years later we move BACK to NB and as ahead as I was in classes in NFLD - especially French - everything went to shit when we got home.

Ironically it was the fact my French was so horrible that became career/life defining. I'd gone from one day a week to every day and was so far behind I never recovered, and I learned to detest the class.

Point is, while it'd be great to have one Country wide, universal education system, that's not going to happen. That would mean pushing subjects on provinces that they'd fight tooth and nail over having to put into the system.

The education system needs to be changed, IMO, but we don't want to put in the work and, more, don't want to pay for the actual resources to change the system and properly teach our kids. Teachers are just "overpaid, glorified babysitters" in the minds of too many people, with HEAVY emphasis on 'babysitters'.

This whole Covid issue proved that.

It also proved, IMO, that I think if parents had to take care of their kids 24/7 at this point in society, they wouldn't have had kids to begin with, or would give them up once they hit age 5ish. Not all, mind you, but a good chunk of them I'm sure.
 

bob the dog

Council Member
Aug 14, 2020
1,086
849
113
Not quite a month in and all kinds of chaos almost across the country. Call it a day already. The kids are learning nothing. It's not like anyone will fail. We'll see what happens.
 

bob the dog

Council Member
Aug 14, 2020
1,086
849
113
Pondering the value of public education once again.

Considering the life of David Thompson who boarded a ship for the new world at age 14. Survival on it's own is something. Learned navigational skills using the stars and charted the largest area of North America including establishing the boundaries of our country. Fathered 13 children which again is something. Dragged them around on his journeys.

Hopefully not still pounding out Canadian history to the kids in grade 5 but if they are they are learning about David Thompson. Only hope for todays generation to emulate his accomplishments is if they had a cartography app for their smart phone.

Point being David Thompson was challenged to survive at a young age. He had no time to be bored and soon learned what was important. Today we lump them in a classroom with members of the opposite sex and teach them Shakespeare. The key is that they provide employment for the educators that are going through the motions along their way to a pension.

Interesting about David Thompson is that he did so much and in the end sold his maps for pennies to survive. Now days they do so little but end up with so much. Not attacking the people doing the jobs either but saying that there is no payback to that investment on the macro level. Of course we keep hoping for sunshine and lollipops
 

bob the dog

Council Member
Aug 14, 2020
1,086
849
113
Call it 8 weeks in and half the students and teachers across the country are at home quarantining. No one learning, everyone getting paid. Doing it for the kids.
 

bob the dog

Council Member
Aug 14, 2020
1,086
849
113
Manitoba locking down for 4 weeks.

Sending the kids back to school was the worst decision ever. Made primarily for the benefit of jobs. Everything gone to shtt now but they can pay them to stay home for the next 8 months and try again next year.

These are the people who are educating children. Sounds harsh but cancel the program and move on.
 

bob the dog

Council Member
Aug 14, 2020
1,086
849
113
Ontario considering not returning in 2021 after 3 months of dicking around with quarantines and social distancing accomplishing nothing except all the educators being paid in full. No discussion related to classroom sizes. There are not enough streets in the world to be renamed in honour of the sacrifices they are doing on behalf of the kids.

Public sector is beyond control. Starts with the politicians.
 

bob the dog

Council Member
Aug 14, 2020
1,086
849
113
Listened to an interview on CBC last week with the rower who won silver at the 1984 Olympics in one of team rowing events. She is now a professor with the International Center for Olympic Studies. How can this even be a thing other than a convenient place to employ connected people.

It's like they sit around when they are not pre taping holiday messages and try to think up crazy government departments. What accountability is involved with Olympic Studies? No doubt there is a bus load of them that attend each Olympic games on someone else's nickel.

Why change now? Odd to me that Silken Lauman was not mentioned during the interview.


"The primary mission of the International Centre for Olympic Studies at Western University is the generation and dissemination of academic scholarship focused specifically on the socio-cultural study of the Olympic Games and the Olympic Movement."
 

Dixie Cup

Senate Member
Sep 16, 2006
5,693
3,570
113
Edmonton
How does the voucher system work?
Each child receives a "voucher" and the parents are able to decide for themselves where each child should go to school. Attached each voucher are the funds that the chosen school will use to educate said child. Makes complete sense as then the parents have more control over which school they would prefer their child to attend.
 

taxslave

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 25, 2008
36,362
4,336
113
Vancouver Island
Each child receives a "voucher" and the parents are able to decide for themselves where each child should go to school. Attached each voucher are the funds that the chosen school will use to educate said child. Makes complete sense as then the parents have more control over which school they would prefer their child to attend.
The biggest problem with the voucher system is it only works in large cities where there is more than one school within a reasonable distance from home. When the next highschool is 100 miles down the road the decision on which school to send your kids to is moot.
 

Dixie Cup

Senate Member
Sep 16, 2006
5,693
3,570
113
Edmonton
But the present system creates lots of high paying government union jobs. The quality of the product is irrelevant.
True. Bad teachers are almost impossible to get rid of due to their unions.

Had a teacher for our son when we lived in Calgary that was horrible - we complained & attended some so-called "meetings" whereby we were told how ineffective our parenting was - meeting wasn't about what was being taught nor our concerns about the teacher and what she wasn't doing - all deflected. Afterwards, we were told by some professionals that this same teacher had "many" complaints but there didn't seem to be anything that anyone could do about it. At the end of the school year, hubby got out of the military & we promptly moved back to Edmonton where our son had much more success. That doesn't mean the same type of teacher doesn't exist elsewhere, but that was our experience in Calgary.

Horrible for the kids who we left behind & whose parents may not have had an alternative. We were even denied looking at other school programs that would have better benefitted our son, It was a demeaning & extremely frustrating process. I have nothing but contempt for the individuals we had to deal with who were extremely patronizing & disingenuous.
 

Dixie Cup

Senate Member
Sep 16, 2006
5,693
3,570
113
Edmonton
The biggest problem with the voucher system is it only works in large cities where there is more than one school within a reasonable distance from home. When the next highschool is 100 miles down the road the decision on which school to send your kids to is moot.
Also true. Don't know how to "fix" that - perhaps having rural parents more involved somehow?? Wiser people than I may have a solution to that but it is a concern for sure.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Twin_Moose