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‘Teacher Unions’ Category

  1. $4 per child to test for reading ability

    December 8, 2018 by Tunya

    My comment to SUN article re upcoming teacher/government negotiations   https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/b-c-schools-2019-expect-funding-review-teacher-shortages-contract-negotiations

    Reading this well-researched article and the attached links convinces me that our education system in BC certainly needs a new funding approach. There are so many demands on the scarce taxpayer dollar, so many parties with their priorities, and parents still clambering for the rationed services needed for special needs students.

    And the broader public still has not been consulted nor allowed to weigh in. One comment to the Sun story already suggests that a new model of provision should factor in a larger online education service. This, he proposes, would “do wonders for the skyrocketing costs as well as probably get the students back to learning the three R’s”.

    I particularly like his emphasis on the 3 R’s and if we read the story carefully we see that many parents are concerned about students’ ability to read — the foremost and primary skill all students should be assured of. A simple test given to Kindergarten students, costing $4 each, for example, would identify those who need specialized reading attention early. This would save costs right from the start because further expensive psychosocial tests ($3000 ea) would not be needed for many of these students if early intervention succeeds. And, very costly remediation programs now in place wouldn’t be needed.

    Another comment from a reader suggested tapping into new resources instead of the old standby of burdening taxpayers further. He suggested returns from pot or liquor sales could be tapped. I would suggest that charities and foundations or even simple fund-raising could help find that urgent $4 per Kindergarten child to launch them on the road to confident reading. The right to read is one right we should all get behind.

    Category Absurdities, Opinions in media, Teacher Unions, Uncategorized | Tags: | No Comments

  2. Teacher Unions Use Shady Tactics

    March 21, 2016 by Tunya

    Teacher Unions Use Shady Tactics

    Here is the case of Michigan Education Association (the teacher union) working hard to retain its members who now have the right to opt-out resulting from Right To Work Legislation. Rather sneaky tactics have been employed — only one month (Aug) allowed for opting-out, address changes where letters must be received by due date, etc. http://www.mackinac.org/21632

    Though not unique in its behavior as a militant, adversarial teacher union, here, from their handbook on Crisis Planning is how they counsel members as they prepare for strikes:

    “The Heart of an Effective Crisis Campaign
    “In terms of a bargaining message, the public responds most positively when we talk about children, quality in the classroom and the future.

    “Here are some messages that have been successfully used . . .

    •  Our working conditions are your child’s learning conditions.
    •  It’s not about dollars and cents; it’s about our children.
    •  School employees support your children. Please support your school’s employees.

    “Consider these questions when making decisions about community PR:

    •  Does it create urgency to act so that children and their education won’t suffer?
    •  Does it disrupt normalcy and destroy the mood that everything in the district is fine?

    “Consider guiding principles as you plan crisis activities:

    •  The threat of action is usually more powerful than the action itself.
    • Pick a target — personalize — and polarize the opposition.

    I call these “shady” tactics, but apparently they’re normal procedure.

    Our public education systems across the world are vulnerable to capture by vested interests — for economic, ideological & dominance purposes. They are neither under civilian control nor well served by governments too eager to appease for the sake of labor peace.

    Reform efforts are piecemeal and efforts like right-to-work legislation have little benefit to children’s futures in their lifetimes. The only promising far-reaching move is for governments to direct earmarked education dollars directly to the consumer as Education Savings Accounts do. This is a movement that has already gained 5 adopting US states and eager interest in a good number more. Canada needs to seriously talk about this model.

    Category Obstacles, Teacher Unions, Uncategorized | Tags: | No Comments

  3. biology trumps everything – educrats, etc.

    May 12, 2015 by Tunya

    BIOLOGY Trumps Everything: Teacher Unions, Marxists, Academics, Passionate Education Leaders, Textbook Publishers, Snake-oil Salesmen, Education Gurus & Charlatans, Misled Politicians, Unemployed PhDs, Social Engineers, Totalitarians, Teacher Trainers, Political Junkies, etc., etc.

    Watch this video from Ontario showing the mixed ethnicity of parents protesting the new, untested, soon-to-be imposed without consent or consultation, SEX EDUCATION — http://on.aol.ca/video/thousands-protest-ontarios-new-sex-education-curriculum-518766302

    The Parent Veto is an awesome thing and is constantly under attack by usurpers of parental primacy in education. In 2011 when a surge of votes propelled Alison Redford to instant Premiership of Alberta it was claimed that promises to the teacher establishment was the key to her success. It was easy for her to quickly find $107Million in extra education funding and to scrap Gr 3 & 6 standardized tests. The third demand, abolish the parent veto, was never accomplished due to parent backlash.

    The parent veto doesn’t have to be written into law or legislation. It is there as a biological right in the Free Western World.

    As the American 2016 Presidential election machine gears up watch for the family rights backlash against the views of the leading Democratic contender, Hillary Clinton. Her statement that education is a “non-family enterprise” encapsulates the welfare state mentality perfectly and will “enjoy” a well deserved backlash from all stripes on the political spectrum.

    The empowerment bestowed on parent protests against imposed, flawed, developmentally inappropriate, sex education is a signal that the sleeping giant of family rights in education is awakening.

    Even now, sophisticated preemptive programs are being assembled by education establishments to mount “leadership training” programs to cut parents off at the pass!

    http://www.ccsso.org/Documents/2015/RevisedDraftISLLCStandards2015.pdf

    By careful reading between the lines we see yet another barrier, an enforcement layer (trained leaders), being mounted to continue keeping sovereign parents at bay while shifts and “transformations” are being inflicted on children.

    Yes, parental priorities about their children’s reading and math and knowledge, etc. will also rise up from the general dumbing-down so presently evident in public schools. The sex education protests are a taste of future parent sovereignty asserting its own place.

    [To SQE, Huff Post, FB, and below to ISC 20150512]

    Yet One More Layer For Assured Transformation — Education Adjusters

    Thanks, Robin, for the link to the CCSSO Revised. What sent me into "orbit" was the visual imagery that popped into my head about "adjustments" — screws tightening !
    The yet-to-be trained "leaders" will “make adjustments as necessary” or appropriate for the "well-adjusted" student. I had to respond to a Canadian story on Huff Post and wove in this link — hope you don't mind my long comment below:

    Category Opinions in media, Parent Tribal Memory, Teacher Unions, Uncategorized | Tags: | No Comments

  4. Democracy – open to stealth

    April 30, 2015 by Tunya

    [Thoughts on “Democracy”.  Letter to Editor, submitted but not published.]

    Dear Sirs: North Shore News, re editorial “The Biggest Loser” – May 15, 2009

    Having been a candidate in the last three elections in the past 8 months (federal, school board, provincial) I would like to pass on a few observations:

    1. Of the 18 provincial North Shore candidates I scored the lowest number of votes. However much that shows disfavor with my philosophy (minimum government) it does not equal a zero value — to me anyway..

    2. I think people do not equate democracy or even freedom with voting at general elections. I felt that many people did not vote because they accept the status quo – there was no urgent need to switch, especially in mid-stream of serious economic problems.

    3. Though many really do crave a voice in decisions that affect them, STV was not seen to be of immediate benefit. The delay before any real changes could happen was discouraging. Benefits were too far away in the distant future, with no assurance of voice anyway.

    4. Voting, in my opinion, is neither a duty nor a privilege, and non-voting is not a shame. Compulsory, government-mandated voting (under duress of fines) is coercive and unthinkable and shouldn’t even be mentioned in editorials in Canada.

    5. No, democracy is NOT just about elections, with the opportunity to “throw the bums out” from time to time.

    6. BUT, democracy still can be stolen from under our feet by stealth and persistence. Here is one example I am familiar with:

    My long experience with education made me very frustrated about the why’s and wherefore’s of the obstacles to meaningful reform. This was so upsetting until I discovered an incredible expose of our own Ministry of Education which documents the effective takeover by the BC Teachers Federation. Please read the paper easily found on the Internet, “The Decline and Fall of the BC Ministry of Education” by Dr. Thomas Fleming of the University of Victoria. Through assiduous application of “cold war” tactics the teacher union has become a seeming “parallel” de-facto government in education. Regardless of which political party is in Victoria this makes no difference. Since 1972 the militant union pursues its relentless agendas. It is an eye-opener to read this short paper about how parents, public and ministry have acquiesced to this aggressive extra-parliamentary power.

    The newly re-elected government has promised a review into education. This is an opportune time to exercise our democratic rights to present complaints and suggestions.

    If I was active in other fields, I wonder how many other pieces of research I could find where our so-called democratic institutions are eroded or being undermined by stealth, either through organized lobbies, business arrangements, union aggressiveness, or other forces beyond citizen oversight.

    No, apathy is not a threat to democracy when people fail to vote in elections. But democracy is seriously compromised when we, citizens and media, fail to keep our governments accountable or we turn a blind eye to opportunists seizing power behind our backs.

    Sincerely, Tunya Audain,

    Category Opinions in media, Teacher Unions, Uncategorized | Tags: | No Comments

  5. Radicalization in western schools?

    October 6, 2014 by Tunya

    ["White privilege" is to be a workshop and subject of curriculum development in Ontario — spurred by the Elementary Teachers' Association of Ontario. That's 6-13 year olds!  Lots of backlash on the Internet.  SQE (Society for Quality Education blog) featured a post, worth reading as a teacher unionist provides a POV. http://www.societyforqualityeducation.org/index.php/blog/read/professional-undevelopment  Below is my second comment.]

    Should “Radicalization” Be A School Task?

    What’s the difference between this Madrassa school in Pakistan that trains suicide bombers http://www.ted.com/talks/sharmeen_obaid_chinoy_inside_a_school_for_suicide_bombers  and a teacher who provokes outrage in students so they can feel oppressed?

    It’s a matter of degree, isn’t it? 

    Maybe the madrassa devoted to training suicide bombers is much, much worse than our public school which guilts, cajoles, and wheedles children to want to “change the world”.

    In reading scads of material on “white privilege”, which is becoming a sub topic in the social justice field, I came across a range of challenges activist teachers face in advancing their social justice cause. One pointer was to focus on students with “chips on their shoulders”.  One teacher of teachers, Maxine Greene, spoke at an AERA (American Educational Research Association, 2008) meeting saying  “we must teach ‘uneasiness, outrage, anything that will awaken . . . How can I cultivate appropriate outrage?’”

    Well, it’s happening.

    In America right now a new national curriculum in American History is being pushed. Instead of the traditional emphasis on historical heroes and the Constitution, etc., there is increasing emphasis on European exploitation, black bondage, white racial superiority, dropping of atomic bombs, race and segregation — relentlessly negative views of American history.  The seeds of discontent would lead young people to believe the propaganda on the Internet.  How does ISIS recruit but with preying on disenchanted young Americans?

    Is this too far from home, from Canada, for us to pay attention?  No.  The discontent is being sown here, and for the greater good.  For a “strong welfare state.”

    In so much of the writings on 21st C Learning and necessary transformations we see certain gurus appearing regularly with their visions of the new global world.  Two are now advising Ontario Ministry of Education – Michael Fullan and Andrew Hargreaves.

    In the literature, and often in the same reports is a buddy of Fullan’s and Hargreaves’,  Jal Mehta. Well, while so many of these gurus mask their intent in obfuscating narratives, this is what Amazon.com says about Mehta’s latest book:

     “The larger problem, Mehta argues, is that reformers have it backwards . . . Our current pattern is to draw less than our most talented people into teaching, equip them with little relevant knowledge, train them minimally, put them in a weak welfare state, and then hold them accountable when they predictably do not achieve what we seek. What we want, Mehta argues, is the opposite approach which characterizes top-performing educational nations: attract strong candidates into teaching, develop relevant and usable knowledge, train teachers extensively in that knowledge, and support these efforts through a strong welfare state.” 

    A strong welfare state — exactly what does that mean?  It means an enforced, delegated, coerced welfare state with compliant residents. Throw “citizenship” and “democracy” as we know it out the window!

    Much as I see the need for improved teacher training, what I see here is intense inculcation of teachers in “white privilege”, social emotional learning, etc. with the intent of converting both teachers and students to some new world order! 

     

    Category Book Reviews, Opinions in media, Parent Tribal Memory, Teacher Unions | Tags: | No Comments

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