WELCOME!
At a time when the Ontario Education system is undergoing profound changes and experiencing tremendous stress from conflicting agendas and priorities, our goal is to challenge accepted ideas, myths and restrictive thinking frameworks. We want to take a critical look at the system, propose fresh ideas and provide a forum for all who are interested in fundamentally reforming and fixing this system. We will challenge the status quo by asking "why are things done this way?" and we will definitely not accept any hint of an answer which smells like "because it has always been this way".
Here is an example: why are some of the best teachers taken out of the classroom to be promoted to principal? What makes an educator a good administrator? Does this mean that administrators should also be promoted to teach? Why are there schools to train hospital administrators (who are not doctors) but there are no schools to train school administrators (who are not educators)?
These are the types of accepted practices which are the way they are simply because it is the way it has always been. Yet, while the system is broken, no one seems to question the validity of these ancient practices. Why not?
We will also challenge the roles and motivations of the main actors in the education debate. The government does not have the children's best interest at heart; they just want to be re-elected. The unions do not have the children's best interest at heart; they just want to get the best possible deal and working conditions for their members. The boards of education do not have the children's best interest at heart; based on the existing formula, they need to extract as much money as possible from the classroom in order to pay for their bureaucracy. After all, it costs a lot of money to maintain lavish board offices. Better the children be in portables than the administrators, right?
As you see, there is a lot that can and should be changed with the system: wrong priorities, wrong motivation, wrong premises and a system which the main actors do not have any incentive to fundamentally change.
We think we can change that by leveraging the incredible energy that parents and taxpayers show when it comes to making the system better for their children and for the future of our province.
We would like this site to be the catalyst which will help Ontario parents reclaim the system to be their own, not that of the government, not that of the boards, not that of the unions. All of these people are civil servants who should be serving the parents of Ontario, not the other way around. It is our system. These are our children.
At a time when the Ontario Education system is undergoing profound changes and experiencing tremendous stress from conflicting agendas and priorities, our goal is to challenge accepted ideas, myths and restrictive thinking frameworks. We want to take a critical look at the system, propose fresh ideas and provide a forum for all who are interested in fundamentally reforming and fixing this system. We will challenge the status quo by asking "why are things done this way?" and we will definitely not accept any hint of an answer which smells like "because it has always been this way".
Here is an example: why are some of the best teachers taken out of the classroom to be promoted to principal? What makes an educator a good administrator? Does this mean that administrators should also be promoted to teach? Why are there schools to train hospital administrators (who are not doctors) but there are no schools to train school administrators (who are not educators)?
These are the types of accepted practices which are the way they are simply because it is the way it has always been. Yet, while the system is broken, no one seems to question the validity of these ancient practices. Why not?
We will also challenge the roles and motivations of the main actors in the education debate. The government does not have the children's best interest at heart; they just want to be re-elected. The unions do not have the children's best interest at heart; they just want to get the best possible deal and working conditions for their members. The boards of education do not have the children's best interest at heart; based on the existing formula, they need to extract as much money as possible from the classroom in order to pay for their bureaucracy. After all, it costs a lot of money to maintain lavish board offices. Better the children be in portables than the administrators, right?
As you see, there is a lot that can and should be changed with the system: wrong priorities, wrong motivation, wrong premises and a system which the main actors do not have any incentive to fundamentally change.
We think we can change that by leveraging the incredible energy that parents and taxpayers show when it comes to making the system better for their children and for the future of our province.
We would like this site to be the catalyst which will help Ontario parents reclaim the system to be their own, not that of the government, not that of the boards, not that of the unions. All of these people are civil servants who should be serving the parents of Ontario, not the other way around. It is our system. These are our children.
posted by Andre at
7:20 PM
