emailed September 9, 2014, re: My experience in the golden age of public schooling in BC Dear Honourable Peter Fassbender, and Honourable Premier Christy Clark, I grew up in what mustve been the golden age of public schooling in British Columbia (1991-2003), in the heart of East Vancouver, and excelled, taking advantage of every opportunity academically and extracurricularly. My teachers were mostly solid human beings who cultivated excellence and curiosity. I skipped grade 4, had art, choir, band, drama, and represented my school on the volleyball team throughout high school. I had the luxury of thriving in publicly funded accelerated academics in the form of mini-school at Gladstone Secondary in Vancouver. I graduated as the valedictorian of my class. It was a truly wonderful experience. I also graduated high school with a classmate who was severely autistic, and I remember his support worker, who accompanied him to every class, every year, once saying with a heavy heart that this student would probably be one of, if not the last, to have this type of support. I was shocked at the time. This socially strange student, who sprinted through the halls to classes with eyes perpetually cast downward and binder tightly clutched to his chest, who never spoke a word or made eye contact of any sort, one day, in Art 12, painted the most stunning picture, the objectively most skilled of any of the students, which completely took me by surprise and sent me into a state of shock and awe. This, the student accomplished, with his special needs support worker by his side. I cannot even begin to imagine how this student might have flourished with the present state of class sizes and composition that is such a significant issue in the present round of negotiations. In the school year that I graduated, I was affected by the same stale fight that is going on now between the government and the teachers. I saw, as a young student, how the Liberals were elected into power after an admittedly disastrous provincial NDP regime. Yet I also saw how the Liberals immediately voted in a hefty raise for themselves, and then fought a nasty battle with our teachers, who ARE the taxpaying citizens of British Columbia, over peanuts. This with all the youngest ones caught in the crossfire. We organized a student walkout in my grad year. It was quite an awkward affair. We werent sure how the world worked, or how we could make a difference. We were too young to vote at that time. But we werent, and arent now, too young to remember. We are also well old enough to vote now. The teachers arent asking for much. They have been 18 months without a contract, and settling for terrible terms before that again and again. Human morale is important. I strongly believe that a large part of the governments job is to set a positive intention and tone for the people, to care for its citizens, to create resources for generations to live happy, healthy, and productive lives, and I believe that a strong public school system is a core part of that. Diamonds in the rough must be given a chance to shine, because not everyone wants to buy into a private school or voucher system even if we can afford it for our children. Sincerely, Beverly Hannah, Concerned resident of Burnaby-Lougheed. Masters of Arts student at SFU Linguistics. Parent to an inquisitive 1.5 year old. cc: MLA Jane Shin, MP Kennedy Stewart, Mayor Derek Corrigan
Posted on: Tue, 09 Sep 2014 18:50:04 +0000
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