Dear Editor:
Re: Changes ahead for education system, by Keith Baldrey, The Record, Oct. 12.
Every time there's a new government, there are more "sweeping changes." I wonder, how much will these ones cost? I've been teaching since 1980, and I've seen many of these changes. I do believe several of them were a complete waste of time. And, with the cost of vast numbers of expensive auditors, assessments, consultants, etc. needed to implement such changes, it's no wonder cuts have to be made to classrooms. Generally, these changes come from a new government wanting to polish their public image and get votes. When is the election again?
Oh, and just a few corrections of facts: Mr. Baldrey, the B.C. College of Teachers is not an arm of the BCTF. They are separate entities. The first licenses me as a teacher so I can practise, the second regulates and advocates for my profession.
And could you please let us all know what the "disconnect" is between the classroom and the student, exactly? You say "nothing" has changed, really, since the 1960s, which is why students are disconnected and find school irrelevant. You can't mean the actual classes - the students, the physical room and the curriculum are all so very different from the '60s, when I went to school. Do you mean to say that because ideas from the '60s are discussed, classrooms are irrelevant?
But then, maybe I am just an old schoolmarm because I do believe that the most important lessons are ageless. William Butler Yeats gives me inspiration in his definition of what education is: "Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." I hope our premier tends that fire well and does not stifle it by poking in too many sticks.
Patty Holmes, New Westminster
