Education is a touchy subject. The ones who need it are the ones who can’t pay for it. The ones who need it have the smallest voice in how it happens. Yet, if they don’t get it we’ll all be paying for it later.
The kids are being left out of the equation, yet right now, in America, at least, it’s the kids who are making the most noise. It’s the kids who are getting people to listen. They are getting businesses to listen.
And it’s a good thing.
Here in Nova Scotia, the provincial government is forcing through some serious educational changes. Nevermind that an overwhelming majority of teachers have advised against these changes. Nevermind that other provinces have advised against these changes.
Has anyone on either side of the border thought of what’s best for the kids?
The Nova Scotia government seems to be trying to turn the education system into a business. They are making principals more like managers instead of teachers-in-charge. They are eliminating school boards but one. They are creating a board of professionals to deal with licensing and accountability. All of these strategies have been attempted in other parts of Canada. They all report failure on all three accounts. Yet somehow the Nova Scotia government believes it’ll work here.
But, hey, at least they aren’t trying to give us guns.
On both sides of the border, governments are fighting to protect and better educate its students. Granted, they’re doing it in completely different ways, but at least they’re talking about improving education. Has either one followed the instruction of the ones who educated them? Has either one bothered to ask what would be best?
- More teachers
- More special needs teachers
- Fewer students per class
- More classroom support
- More technology
- Less (or none at all) standardized testing
I know it will cost more money. The right changes always do. No one has gotten to where they are without a teacher. Teachers are responsible for educating the minds of the future. Teachers spend 7 hours a day with our kids. We all know what it’s like to spend all day with our own kids. Imagine spending all day with 25-30 kids. 25-30 kids having different wants and needs. 25-30 kids having different skills and abilities while performing on a myriad of different levels. Yet when our teachers advise those in power on the changes that should be made that advice falls on deaf ears.
Don’t give teachers guns. The NRA doesn’t need that kind of support.
Don’t make principals managers. They’re teachers, too.
Stop ignoring those who know best. When the mechanic tells you you need a new transmission, you don’t put on a new set of tires instead. Lets focus on the problem and make the changes that will best help our students.
All In A Dad's Work 
You have written excellent article on education. Teachers are focused everywhere in the world and they have to face massive loads in classroom.
They are changing school management, but fully dependent on teaching performance. They have no courage to change school system in which knowledge transfer could be possible by using the learning dimensions of brain learnography.
This is the age of science and technology but school system is running on the teaching theories of conventional education. Neuroscience may help to find a suitable school system in which book to brain knowledge transfer will thrive in classroom situation.
Thank you very much for your writing.
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Your note at the end about the mechanic made me laugh because all through this post I was thinking about what my father always used to say when he drove an 18-wheeler: “The mechanics never believe me when I tell them what’s wrong with the truck, even though I’m the one who drives it 12 hours a day.”
So much logic in this post; it’s just unfortunate that that logic doesn’t extend to our government. It’s an age-old story of morons who have no idea what they’re doing trying to justify their jobs. It’s the same story that brought us “common core” math, which was supposed to be this amazing thing that would revolutionize math in schools, and has now been proven to be a massive failure that has completely F’ED a generation of kids for understanding numbers.
When will we learn to put an ounce of faith in the people who were trained to do a particular job? Not every teacher is a saint, for sure, but as a whole, they clearly have some clue as to what they’re doing.
And as a last note: Here here for abolishing standardized testing! A meaningless practice if ever I saw one that does nothing but stress out and wear down our youth for no good reason.
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What do we know? We just work here. Zack Churchill, the NS education minister HAS NEVER TAUGHT IN THE CLASSROOM!! And Steven has multiple family members who are teachers. I think he just has a personal vendetta. I’m sick of them forcing through legislation and bills demanding what’s going to happen. It’s dictatorship! As for testing, I’m not totally against it. I just think it should be more tape measure than judge and jury. It doesn’t need to be stressful. It shouldn’t determine how good a teacher is or which schools should get the money. It should be used to see strengths and weaknesses. This whole mess (on both sides of the border) is a complete disaster!
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“It will cost more money. The right changes always do” – Absolutely! We have had a lot of these problems in the UK too where non-teachers are dictating what happens in schools, rather than consulting the people who actually work in schools and know what works best. It’s so sad and, ultimately, we all lose out. #blogcrush
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Everyone thinks they know what’s best for teachers except the teachers.
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