Re: “Curriculum panel has high stakes," page 24, Sept. 3 Gazette.
Not surprising it’s political since Mr. Kenney and his minister of education, Adriana LaGrange, are not supporters of public education. President Trump appointed a private school supporter, Betsy DeVos, to become the secretary of education. That’s like hiring the fox to supervise the chicken coop.
Question: When did the Alberta government ask the people of Alberta to fund private schools? Does the public know how much public money is going to support private schools? Why should public money go to private businesses?
If we believe in “small government," why should the taxpayers support private businesses?
Moreover, Janice Mackinnon, former finance minister of Saskatchewan, issued 26 recommendations to improve Alberta’s finances, and number 6 recommends tying funding for public education to test scores and to sharing services. Code words for “merit pay” and for sharing revenue with private schools.
Tying funding to test scores will result in teachers, administrators and school trustees fudging test scores. Maybe the public and the politicians should look at what happened in America to see what happened to this scheme. Remember: “Money is the root of all evil." Read the “Panama Papers," study the Max 737 airliner disaster, and follow the opioid crisis to understand why money motivates people to do illegal activities.
Mr. Kenney and his advisors also recommend that all teachers must take more math courses. What’s the purpose of having a department of education if the politicians call the shots concerning teacher education? Does that mean that doctors, dentists, lawyers, pilots, truckers, police officers, etc. will be required to take courses that Kenney approves?
Let’s make our politicians take accounting courses so they know how to balance a budget, not by cutting essential services like public education, health care, social services, road construction, etc., but by eliminating funding to private businesses. Providing adequate funding may mean that we should have a sales tax, thus avoiding dependency on oil revenues to essential public services.
As well, make politicians take the same citizenship tests required of people who want to become citizens. Why? If teachers have to graduate from universities to teach, if doctors have to graduate from universities to practise medicine, if accountants have to graduate from business schools to handle finances, if police officers have to graduate from police academies to protect us, if lawyers have to graduate from law schools to practise their profession, politicians should be required to take tests to see if they have the skills to manage the taxpayers’ money and to have some understanding of our country’s unique history, culture and laws.
Seems fair to me. What is good for the goose should be good for the gander.
- George Thatcher,
Trochu
