There’s plenty of chatter on social media about the plan by the United Conservative Party’s powerful and secretive Take Back Alberta faction to stealthily take over the province’s school boards in the next round of board elections and set the stage for indoctrinating children with social conservative ideology.
As usual, though, conservative mainstream media (which is the only kind we have in Alberta) seems to be largely ignoring the story. This is most likely the result of understaffing and pitiful resources devoted to journalism as opposed to actual malice, but who knows for sure?
Meanwhile, another group, Parents for Choice in Education, is rolling out its strategy for supporters to capture school boards.
Parents for Choice in Education describes itself as a “non-sectarian, not-for-profit advocacy organization” that is “dedicated to informing, equipping, and mobilizing citizens toward an excellent, quality-oriented, choice-driven education system which recognizes parental authority.”
That sounds nice, but it is not really a full description of the organization and its goals. Based on its statements in media and positions taken on social issues, it is fair to conclude that PCE wants full public funding for private and religious education, is social conservative in orientation, and is hostile to the idea of students’ rights, LBGTQ rights, in-school sex education, and teachers’ unions at a minimum.
Nowhere is it said there’s a formal connection between TBA and PCE. But it can be predicted with confidence that if anyone were to draw a Venn diagram of the two groups, there would be considerable overlap. When it comes to gender issues, student rights, free collective bargaining for teachers, and the instruction of history, it is fair to say they sing from the same hymnbook.
In a series of columns published in the far-right Western Standard online publication, PCE has railed against “‘progressive’ sex teaching,” Pride events, sexual orientation and gender identity policies, critical race theory, teachers’ unions, school gay-straight alliances, and so on.
In its Summer 2023 newsletter, PCE informed its supporters that it has already held its “first training session for people looking to get involved in the next School Board Elections.”
“In response to widely felt concerns that our school boards have been overtaken by radical activists, we have created workshops on how to run for school board trustee,” the newsletter boasts. “We started running these workshops during the last school board elections, with impressive success. We’ve already run the first one for the next election season – 18 people came out in Lloydminster!” (Emphasis added: PCE’s link.)
Just to be clear, by “came out” the unnamed author of the newsletter must have meant attended a workshop.
As for what PCE plans to do this fall, the newsletter continues, “We’re continuing our election training workshops. They’re pitched both at prospective candidates and ordinary Albertans who want to learn how to get good people into office.”
Importantly, if you’ve been paying attention to the news, it continues: “We’re hoping to convince the government to pass a Parental Rights Act, similar to the policy recently implemented in Saskatchewan. Our Executive Director had a positive conversation with the Minister of Education on the subject in a recent meeting.” (Emphasis added.)
That is, they want an Alberta version of the controversial and possibly unconstitutional policies introduced by the conservative governments led by premiers Blaine Higgs in New Brunswick and Scott Moe in Saskatchewan that force schools to expose children who wish to change their names or pronouns to their parents or guardians, and sometimes to their fellow students.
Given the newsletter’s claims, it would be worthwhile knowing what Alberta Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides’ position truly is on this highly controversial issue.
The PCE newsletter also advises its supporters to “convince more and more school boards to drop their secrecy policies” – secrecy, in this context being code for confidentiality about students’ choices about their names, gender identity, sexuality, and so on.
If you’re concerned about the MAGA assault on education, whether it comes from TBA or other social-conservative groups, fasten your seatbelts, because it’s coming to Alberta in the next province-wide municipal election when school board candidates’ names will also be on the ballot.
And like the warning on your car’s wing mirror, Oct. 20, 2025, is closer than it looks. And there may be by-elections before then.
So be ready to query all candidates about their connections to TBA and PCE, as well as their views on these specific issues.
Far-right ideologically motivated candidates know they are out of tune with what most Albertans think and want for their children, so just as TBA is doing with its takeover of the UCP, and the anti-choice radicals opposed to women’s reproductive rights did to infiltrate the UCP and Conservative Party of Canada legislative and Parliamentary caucuses, many will try to act covertly and hide their beliefs and connections.
In such circumstances, you can and should take no answer as the obvious answer.
The best thing to do to assure that the takeover does not happen is to expose it to light. Light serves as a disinfectant. We had a number of candidates under the banner VICA who ran in school board in Victoria B.C. recently. https://www.cheknews.ca/viva-candidates-running-for-school-board-council-have-ties-to-peoples-party-of-canada-1097244/ To my knowledge no candidates from VIVA we elected.
Ted:
Here are some links about VIVA:
https://www.timescolonist.com/local-news/viva-victoria-candidate-says-post-about-powerful-jews-was-in-jest-5930147
https://www.capitaldaily.ca/news/viva-victoria-ppc-municipal-school-board-election
https://thetyee.ca/News/2022/10/11/Victoria-Right-Wing-Slate/
https://www.cheknews.ca/viva-victoria-fires-volunteer-accused-of-impersonating-island-health-in-fake-endorsement-email-1099952/
They sound like a delightful crew.
And, yes, the VIVA slate was wiped out on election day. https://www.vicnews.com/news/nightmare-night-for-mayors-as-incumbents-lose-in-greater-victoria-106706
DJC
That’s in Victoria though Ted. This is Alberta. So serious people need to organize not just against TBA-thinking folks but offer an alternative. I’m not aware of any groupings of people (here in Edmonton even!) willing to do this for school boards or anything else.
Who’s seriously organizing against TBA or their related orgs? Labour is MIA and, unfortunately, this is what is looks like when progressive causes, no matter how widely supported, are divorced from economic issues, i.e. fighting the class war.
Sorry to say but this is what neutered politics looks like, when the so-called “Left” abandons working people and leaves the Right to do it. Trump was elected almost eight years ago and Michael Moore warned us before that, so please, let’s stop pretending we don’t know that the fault lies with us failing to act appropriately.
Tim is right!
Folks are going to have to stand up for something – (lest they fall for anything like the fascist BS coming from the conservatives).
I’ve observed that most people don’t know what they stand for. They are too afraid and cowardly to investigate and educate themselves. They don’t want to ‘rock the boat’.
Well, the boat’s about to sink.
The actually existing entity potentially capable counter organization is the provincial NDP. where are they in all this?
Back in the days of the RPC, Presto Manning offered a solution to public education funding by offering a voucher program. This program would allow for the transfer of considering sums of public monies directly into the hands of parents, who would then decide which schools would get the money. The problem was that most parents would pick the public schools as they were then for their children. This caused considerable concern for the Bible-thumpers because there were not enough of the schools they wanted to accommodate the tens of thousands of students and vouchers that they wanted to catch. The plan was to turn public schools into private schools wholesale. The resulting upheaval would effectively wreck public education, because of the obvious patchwork of school standards. The resulting backlash from parents, to seeing their education options bulldozed, would destroy many a school board official’s career. The whole grand scheme was shelved as undoable. Looks like TBA wants another shot at it, and Parker doesn’t care who or what he crushes.
I remember when they used to refer to Alberta as “Texas North”. Was just reading an article regarding the school system in Houston, taken over by the state. Looks like these two groups would be more comfortable in Texas.
If they follow the Texas routine, they’ll be wanting to eliminate support for students with autism.
It is to be hoped parents who do not support these groups become active and ensure they don’t form school boards. The things they advocate are not good for children or their education.
As to “secrecy”, if these idiots want access to children’s private records, they may find out others will start looking at their “private records”. Most of these idiots have something in their lives they don’t want the world to know about. “Out a child” and some one may “out you”. Of course Canada does have H.R. Legislation, so that will offer more protection to kids than the Americans have.
e.a.f.: Texas North has never been a fair description of Alberta. On the other hand, Oklahoma North pretty well nails it. DJC
many of the tactics referred herein, are from the playbook of “moms for liberty” are more recent incarnation of the myriad of fronts for evangelical nationalists and the republicans.
watch what they do and eventually the m.o. will migrate here.
The UCP seem to be a retread of the Social Credit Party, which was in power in Alberta for a very long time. The Social Credit Party had backwards views and policies, which Peter Lougheed wanted to eradicate, when he and the Alberta PCs came to power, in 1971. If there are seniors who are still around, they would definitely remember those times. Peter Lougheed even compared Ralph Klein to the Social Credit Party. With the UCP, they are also doing similar bad things that Ralph Klein did. What we are seeing is Alberta being taken backwards by the UCP. I wonder what any of these older people who knew Peter Lougheed, or his cabinet ministers, would have to say about what is going on in Alberta, with the UCP?
Scott Moe and his “parental rights”. Could someone please remind me how many drunk driving charges Scott Moe has had, how many hit and run charges and how many people have died when Moe was behind the wheel?
This is right out of the Republican playbook. Start by taking over school boards, next is the Municipalities, then the provinces. All the while gaming the system so they can never be voted out.
Let’s not forget that Pierre Poilievre has jumped on this parental rights band wagon stating parents should have the final say in what is taught to their children. I imagine the flat earthers, anti science, anti women, homophobes, racists and climate change deniers are happy to hear that statement.
Indeed, it’s a plan to empower extremists and hatemongers.
Clarification please: in the mai body of your story, you refer to this group as “Parents for Choice in Education”, but in the caption below the photo of Min. Nicolaides, they are called “Parents for Voice in Education”. Is this a mere typo, or are there in fact two such lobby groups?
On the substance, the underlying philosophy underpinning all of this advocacy for so-called “parents’ rights” is the antiquated notion that children are their parents’ property, as if they were chattels, over whom the parents have total control — not individual human beings, dependents for sure, but who have inherent human rights of their own.
Seriously, Jerry, of course it’s a typo. It’s been fixed. DJC
I met some home schooled children of the domestic terrorists who invaded Edmonton with massive and brand new John Deere equipment (I wonder who funded that?). The ignorance and selfishness they oozed was breathtaking.
Just as we saw with the almost failed attempt to rewrite the Alberta curricula back to the 1900s, it appears to be part of a larger movement catering to people who find the state of the world too complicated.
India has now followed Alberta’s lead:
“On June 1, India cut a slew of foundational topics from tenth grade textbooks, including the periodic table of elements, Darwin’s theory of evolution, the Pythagorean theorem, sources of energy, sustainable management of natural resources and contribution of agriculture to the national economy, among others.
A small section explaining Michael Faraday’s contributions to scientific understanding of electricity and magnetism has also been removed.”
Source: https://www.dw.com/en/indiadropsevolution/a-65804720
Here is a very interesting interview with a Journalist with an Indian heritage on the above:
https://www.dw.com/en/whyd-india-delete-the-periodic-table-from-textbooks/audio-66630578
She makes the observation that when foundational concepts like evolution and atomic theory are no longer taught, the answers they provide about our origins are ignored, and this leaves the field open for religion and bigotry.
Welcome to Alberta where we never met a solar panel we did not hate and have successfully tilted at windmills, at least for now.
I would recommend that you read some Vishal Mangalwadi if you want to know where the true developmental (and educational) strength of India came from.
Nonsense, utter nonsense.
Road apples, hogwash and barn-yard droppings.
Both you and Vishal are charlatans! Promoters of ignorance and superstition!
Ranger: Personally, I think Vishal Mangalwadi deserves a closer look, although not necessarily for the reasons Pastor David suggests. Having been raised in Evangelical circles in a day before Evangelicals drifted away from the Gospel and began spreading almost entirely bad news, characters appear from time to time who lend a certain scholarly respectability to a branch of Christianity that’s sensitive about its lack of same. Usually they are a flash in the pan, soon disillusioning their enthusiasts one way or another. I confess (not in a Catholic sort of way, of course) that I had missed Mr. Mangalwadi. I will be paying attention henceforth. It is not a good sign, though, that he has been caught in a YouTube video with the execrable Jordan Peterson, who played a similar role lending a little academic respectability to the secular right before overplaying his hand. Nowadays, only incels and National Post columnists take Dr. Peterson seriously. I imagine Mr. Mangalwadi will suffer a similar fate, but in the meantime it will be interesting to see who carries his water. Commenter Caron seems to be familiar with his oeuvre while reminding us usefully that, if we’re truly serious about such matters as the centrality of the Bible to Western culture and society, we ought never to forget that estimable Canadian intellectual Northrop Frye. DJC
Dear Pastor David: with all due respect to Vishal Mangalwadi, he tills some rather old and stale ground. “The Great Code” by the formidable Canadian literary critic Northrop Frye also points out the centrality of the Bible to western thought and society. However, his, and many other works, also pay homage to Shakespeare for playing a similar role in ending the rule of Christian thought and ushering in the modern age. Not to mention the central role Islam played by giving us useful mathematical notations and preserving western literature and philosophy from the Christian book burners and vandals.
What we do know from the history of Christian Europe is that when you mix religion and politics, you always end up in civil war. The secular state, in all its imperfections, was the way our European ancestors escaped the dark ages of the Christian Taliban.
Ignore the Yanks, celebrate Canada, and don’t try to force us to go back by hijacking the public school system. There endeth the lesson.
If you look at the present governing party in India, you will find they have much in common with the present Republican party, governments in Poland, Hungary and other similar political parties. The history of the BJP is as Hindu nationalist faction (RSS)in opposition to the British mandate in Asia. Their founder(s) looked to states such as Italy as an example to follow.
BTW, some “schools” did install solar panels in recent years. Many Alberta schools were built using the P3 model. The private companies that run these facilities can install solar panels if that is what they choose to do. Maybe it’s cost effective. These corporations do not control the budget for school textbooks. They don’t even decide school curriculum or hire staff. There seems to be a lot of conflation these days.
I would like to correct my previous statement that Take Back Alberta wants to take us back to the 1950s. I was wrong. They want to take us back to The Old Testament.
In this once and future universe, The Old Testament hasn’t produced a sequel called The New Testament. Children (and women) are nothing more than chattel. If you own an a**, it will have equal rights with these low-value barely-humans.
Schools in the TBA future will become places where children learn to obey authority figures, nothing more. Children will be seen and not heard. Spank every child! Spare no rods! Bring back the strap!
For that matter, why do girl children need to be seen or go to school? They don’t need jobs when they grow up. Jobs like used car salesman should be saved for men. You could ask why women, who are nothing but big girls, should be seen at all if they don’t have jobs. Jobs for women are anti-human.
Women should stay home and be invisible, producing babies and meals and cleaning up after men.
The world needs more men. That should begin with women producing only male babies through gender selection in utero. Kindly don’t ask what happens when there are no girl babies to grow up and produce male babies only and cook and clean. Maybe men can have babies with men? No, of course not. That would be silly. No one knows how this works because it isn’t taught in schools. Men do know that there are only two genders. They know this because they learned to read in schools, when they weren’t getting the strap.
Uppity girls do not go to school to read and write Social Studies essays like “Good is a Male Chauvinist Pig”. There are no girls to become uppity women because there are no women, or at least no one knows if women exist because no one has seen them. We’ll have to get back to you on how this all works because there is no sex education, remember?
I’m the furthest thing from a Bible scholar, @Abs, but if I were you, I’d be careful about slagging the Old Testament. That could be interpreted as anti-Semitic, since the Old Testament is the only part of the Bible that Judaism recognizes.
There’s a story in today’s Star about the Pope being highly critical of “backward” conservative Catholic bishops in the US, accusing them of favouring ideology over faith. Worth a read if you have access:
https://www.thestar.com/news/world/europe/pope-says-some-backward-conservatives-in-us-catholic-church-have-replaced-faith-with-ideology/article_cea3b705-14c8-5c1b-97b8-ec97934d6be7.html
Jerry, Jerry, Jerry. I’m an anti-Semite who should read the Pope? That’s…sumthin’.
This makes my blood BOIL!!! If TBA continues their unwanted takeover of Alberta public school boards, children and staff are doomed. We will go right back to the nasty old days where school was a prison sentence for those who were not white or straight. Teenage suicides and mental health issues will also increase as the bigotry continues. Let’s not forget the mess Danielle Smith caused in Calgary when she got elected to the Calgary Board of Education. The minister ended up firing them all because of Danielle’s chaos. What will she do when all of her buddies take over the school boards?
My three years at Bishop Carroll High School in the 70’s were the worst three years of my life. Not a single day went by when I wasn’t shoved into a locker, had books taken out of my workspace, called a fag, physically threatened or generally bullied. EVERY SINGLE DAY for three years. School administration did NOTHING.
My parents had no idea how often I contemplated suicide during those years.
This is what any non-white, non-straight student can expect if TBA takes over the school boards. I, for one, will be doing everything I can to expose TBA candidates for the raging homophobes and bigots they are.
If you’ll allow it, let me provide a bit of a counterpoint to this article.
The social conservative impetus mentioned here is not clandestine. In point of fact, it is a necessary and predictable reaction to a runaway sexual and identity progressivism within the cultural left. Leave it to the idealistic left to believe that children are remotely capable of choosing their identity. Leave it to the sexualized left to believe they can argue “born this way” one decade, and “morph any way” the next. The moral confusion and degeneration would be laughable if it weren’t so damnable.
It is little wonder that the Biblically aware invoke the millstone imagery of Christ quite readily when referencing public education these days. The wonder of it all is that the same people who wring their hands at the statist debacle of 19th Century Native Residential schools, do NOT perceive their own cultural complicity and arrogance with the prospect of thousands of surgically altered plaintiffs in thirty years asking why this generation (and its education policy) allowed for something so utterly stupid.
Any educational policy that facilitates the permanent gender modification or reassignment of children is asking— indeed begging— for trouble going forward.
Millstones, people. Millstones. As shocking as it may sound to the Canadian left, there are still some people who actually believe Jesus to be more credible than Drs. Kinsey— or Wells.
No where in the publically available public school curriculum is there even a hint of a “policy that facilitates the permanent gender modification or reassignment of children”
Look elsewhere for a straw man
“In point of fact, it is a necessary and predictable reaction to a runaway sexual and identity progressivism within the cultural left. Leave it to the idealistic left to believe that children are remotely capable of choosing their identity. Leave it to the sexualized left to believe they can argue “born this way” one decade, and “morph any way” the next. The moral confusion and degeneration would be laughable if it weren’t so damnable.”
Your faith based hubris and scientific ignorance is both somewhat outstanding and astounding in this 21st century, but it is not surprising, considering the historical ‘religious’ reaction and intolerance directed at any larger scientific understanding of the species homo and the larger reality that the species is part of and operates in. See for example,
https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/burned-at-the-stake-for-believing-in-science
In any case, it is interesting to note, that for example, “Sex is supposed to be simple—at least at the molecular level. The biological explanations that appear in textbooks amount to X + X = ♀ and X + Y = ♂. Venus or Mars, pink or blue. As science looks more closely, however, it becomes increasingly clear that a pair of chromosomes do not always suffice to distinguish girl/boy—either from the standpoint of sex (biological traits) or of gender (social identity). . . . To varying extents, many of us are biological hybrids on a male-female continuum. Researchers have found XY cells in a 94-year-old woman, and surgeons discovered a womb in a 70-year-old man, a father of four. New evidence suggests that the brain consists of a “mosaic” of cell types, some more yin, others further along the yang scale.”
That, no doubt, shocks your sensibilities at the very core of your cherished, outdated, and dogmatic belief system. The science does not care and it will advance and move forward, even as it drags you along, kicking and screaming.
So, once again, for example:
“Furthermore, despite the binary that is suggested by human reproduction, both sex and gender are fluid. Variations in chromosomes, hormone levels, and reproductive organs result in more than 2 sexes, reflecting complex processes of sex development across multiple levels, and suggesting that sex itself is culturally constructed.”
Or, again, and more plainly:
“This occurrence of a range of differing identities would be comparable with a trait such as height. Although men are about 14 cm taller than women on average, it’s perfectly normal to see short men and tall women. It’s just part of the normal distribution of a certain human characteristic expressed differently in men and women. . . . These variants of sexual identity and behaviour may therefore be considered examples of what we call “sexual antagonism”, in which a gene variant has different selective values in men and women. It makes for the amazing variety of human sexual behaviours that we are beginning to recognise.”–Jenny Graves
Distinguished Professor of Genetics, La Trobe University
No links are provided. They are not required , as an elementary school child would have little trouble finding the source material.
Finally, it should be noted carefully that the use of the word “CHOICE”, by a certain subset of the population is not only dishonest it is simply fraudulent.
Alkyll:
Why is it that the most dogmatic followers of scientism see the existence of genetic outliers as a means to philosophically negate norms? Or to make the assumption that the norms aren’t normal?
When is the last time today’s sexual ideologues even brought themselves to use the word, “abnormal”? Is it too politically difficult?
What we’re experiencing in schools and education policy these days has everything to do with a spectrum of hubris and self-justification in politics, and little to nothing to do with the human genome.
“What we’re experiencing in schools and education policy these days has everything to do with a spectrum of hubris and self-justification in politics, and little to nothing to do with the human genome.”
You have simply little or no idea what you are talking about. That much is self evident by the failed attempt to mimic and adopt language and words that you do not fully understand and in that sense you are a ‘false prophet’ spreading false ideas to the gullible and fearful, nothing more.
Equivocation and conflation are particular types of logical fallacies [Motte-and-bailey fallacy, e.g.] and/or cognitive biases that you employ in your argumentation, perhaps you are simply trolling in ‘enemy’ territory.
The ‘norms’ that you ignorantly speak of are also fluid and evolving social ‘games’:
“We consider social norms as collections of beliefs or superstitions about events occurring in nature. These events have no inherent meaning, but individuals can choose to believe that they do. . . . we show how social norms that coordinate behaviors can be bootstrapped from random superstitions about irrelevant events in the world.”
In your case, your peculiar and distorted normative beliefs are influencing your equally distorted actions [“Intolerance and obnoxious moral overtones”] ; where, your fanatical belief in a myth is simply incompatible with the rigors of current scientific understanding.
Such that:
“An appreciation of the diversity of sex determination and sexual behaviour in the natural world might defuse the hype and get rid of the obnoxious moral overtones that make discussion of human sex so fraught. . . . Why are we so intolerant of differences in sexual development? Why are we resistant to the ideas of variation in sexually different traits? They are not terribly rare in humans, and also occur throughout the animal kingdom.”
In any case, as a fool you should naturally continue to persist in both your own folly and the intellectually perverted game that you have designed for yourself and your followers.
Scientism? Your pseudo intellectual drivel only fools the weak minded.
Sexual ideologues. I’m sure you have a source, instead of just mashing two words together to
Sound intelligent.
Go pound your bible.
You made me laugh, D&G, but we have certain standards of decorum around here.
I thought my Anglophile circumlocution might evade your admirably strict standards of comportement.
D&G: Sorry about that. It’s always worth a try, I suppose. DJC
Gosh, I wonder why Christianity is losing influence and credibility.
Once again, good luck forcing the will of a tiny bigoted minority that doesn’t even speak for the broader faith on the substantial, somewhat organized majority. You can make queer folks illegal, but they won’t stop existing anymore than sunshine.
Also if you’re going to cite your religion, you’re going to need scripture, and Paul threw all that out with the NT. Everything is permissible for me. Y’all are novice scholars, you don’t know a single thing other than hatred and anger.
Pastor David: The UCP does nothing that is Christian like. Absolutely nothing. Helping the poor is something that Jesus taught. The UCP haven’t helped the poor. More suffering has happened under the UCP’s leadership. Poverty and hunger have increased in Alberta. Homelessness has expanded. Lying is something else that the Bible does not endorse. Yet Danielle Smith tells lie after lie. The Bible doesn’t support drunkenness. A UCP MLA, has a drinking problem, and is still an MLA, and has been involved with controversies because of his drinking. Where in the Bible does it say that people are to support Danielle Smith and the UCP, let alone any Conservative government? Nothing is Conservative about the UCP, or the CPC. There was nothing Conservative about the Alberta PCs, when they made a horrific mess of things, according to Peter Lougheed. Ralph Klein was a great example of this. Another drunkard.
Pastor David, so much concern about sexuality (oh, the horror of acknowledging the “secret” that every elementary kid is aware of!). Where is the crusade against child poverty, children dying in foster care, abused children? When people stop satisfying their own sick needs by fixating on children’s genitals and start looking at the whole child and real problems, your protestations may be taken seriously.
You are a disgrace. Did you not learn basic English as a child? Stealth would mean that we are not announcing it to the entire world. Your propaganda and lies are laughable. If it was “stealthy” you would never hear about it.
The stealthy part, Mr. Parker, as stated in the story, is the connection between the candidates from the organization you lead and its fellow travellers. I am confident your candidates will try quite hard to avoid acknowledging their affiliation. In other words (yours) you are not announcing it to the entire world, or even our small part of it, and so are proceeding stealthily. Are you prepared to commit to asking candidates to put their TBA affiliation on their election signs? Of course not. If you wish to quibble about the use of words, however, I suppose this is as good a moment as any to raise my concern about your organization’s name, Take Back Alberta, which to be technically accurate really should be Take Over Alberta, and not through normal democratic means. DJC
Way to go, DC!! You have this pseudo-intellectual on the mat and then you go in for the death thrust. Have you noticed this poster/imposter never replies to your response? You always shut him down!
Speaking of disgrace …
I am ashamed that you can even claim to be from the same place as me. You shame every thinking and responsible man.
You are a bad person with a contemptable character.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
The poor alt-right’s desperation is showing.
And once again the absolute paucity of the far right intellect is revealed as you immediately double down on insults, rather than address the substantive claims of the article.
As a parent, I think of my kids as my children , not as chattel but if you use that term, I’d certainly prefer them to be my chattel rather than the states.
I love my kids, know my kids and definitely could direct and protect them better than anyone else. That’s my joy and duty; not yours or the schools or the levels of government. Once they are adults they become responsible for their own decisions and pay the price or rewards attached.
Of course.
And any reading of the actual AB curriculum will make clear there are no conflicts with your stance.
As for “duty of care”, do read the AB teacher professional code and school board policy and the gov of AB laws around what these organizations are doing and try to identify even one aspect which which you have a problem – not the bogeyman click-bait anecdotes presented by Parker and the TBA.
From https://abcnews.go.com/US/americans-identify-lgbt-poll/story?id=76097305
“Notably, the generational group that has the highest percentage of people who identify as LGBT is the youngest — Generation Z (born 1997 to 2002) — with 15.9%”
Imagine your child has six friends – it is likely one will identify as LGBT. Suppose your child is that one. Would you want them to have to grow up hiding part of themselves from you? Helping their friend hide that part of themselves from you and their parents? What will they think of a family, or a religion, that knowingly mistreats everyone like them?
It is possible people are getting “gayer” for lack of a better word, but I think all that’s happened is society is much less violent and abusive towards LGBT folks than it used to be, so they face less pressure to hide. Here’s homosexuality in the animal kingdom:
“Same-sex behaviour ranging from co-parenting to sex has been observed in over 1,000 species with likely many more as researchers begin to look for the behaviour explicitly. Homosexuality is widespread, with bisexuality even more prevalent across species.”
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/190987/scientists-explore-evolution-animal-homosexuality/#:~:text=Same%2Dsex%20behaviour%20ranging%20from,even%20more%20prevalent%20across%20species.
The comments here betray the whining of the far left. They are so used to having control of the systems that they just can’t stand to see people getting involved when the woke mob finally pushed things too far.
“Woke mob”?
You’ve misunderstood, or have been misled, “rational and respectful members of civilization”.
I wish that was true because you’re insincere. We used to live and let live. Why don’t you support that?
many of us are no longer prepared to tolerate the open performance of sexism, racism, homophobia, and fundamentalist hatred. If you find that oppressive, that just falls under the category of tough doo-doo.
Zelda, your word “woke” comes from the USA. There and in that context it means anti-Black and “stop woke” means “stop Black”. Unless that is your intent please stop using that word. It is offensive to this American and many others. Thank you.
Ugh, a post fired off in anger, in disgust, and in error – “anti-woke” means “anti-Black”. “Woke” is of course a term coined by the Black community to mean the realization of systems of oppression.
Exactly. I think in this case Wikipedia got it right: “In possibly the earliest audio recording of the phrase, Lead Belly [Huddie Ledbetter] urged Black listeners to “stay woke” in the spoken afterword to a 1938 recording of his song “Scottsboro Boys,” which tells the story of nine Black teenagers and young men falsely accused of raping two white women in Alabama in 1931. Lead Belly warns his listeners, “So I advise everybody, be a little careful when they go along through there [Alabama] — best stay woke, keep their eyes open.” Good advice at all times and places, even Alberta.
Zelda is still firmly asleep as they allow their betters to lead them to the slaughter.
“Whining”? That’s exactly what I was thinking about you.
Are you sure you are on the correct page? This is Alberta – 44 years of Conservative gov’ts some pretty far right, now, pretty far right and plenty stupid. 4 years of intelligent, caring and responsible gov’t under Rachel Notely which surely resembled a REAL conservative one.
Zelda: What woke mob? There are Albertans who don’t have an appetite for taking Alberta backwards to the Social Credit Party.
Parents got a good look at what was being taught their children during remote schooling, many didn’t like what they saw. These groups are offering a path to change this, they of course have their own agenda but if the end result is more parental involvement in the school system it will be a good thing. One of the main issues is the disconnect between trustees and the classroom. How many actually have children in the school system or have taught during the covid period? This is expressed by many teachers, in private conversations of course, the thought process doesn’t align with reality. For example an attempt to divert already limited resources from the classroom to achieve net zero buildings. As an already stretched classroom teacher what would be your response to a trustee presenting this idea? There are many fabulous teachers in this province and trustees attempting to push their ideology into the classroom do them a terrible disservice. Whether that comes from the far right or what is currently coming from the far left so called progressives. What the author fails to recognize, likely from not having children in school, is the push to remove parental authority and introduce radical ideas by activist trustees only hurts the children. I would suggest you work to remove this disconnection, everyone is free to attend parent council meetings at your local school. At my children’s school we frequently have grandparents attending our parent council meetings. Rather than just angrily writing a blog post, come observe and note the concerns being brought up by parents.
Here’s what the trustees are legally all about “Our Mission
Each student in keeping with their individual abilities and gifts, will complete high school with a foundation of learning necessary to thrive in life, work and continued learning.
Our Values
Students come first.
Learning is our central purpose.
Public education serves the common good.
Each student has the opportunity to achieve their potential
Children are safe at school
The jurisdiction’s financial and capital resources are well managed
Its business is conducted in a legal and ethical manner” https://cbe.ab.ca/about-us/board-of-trustees/Pages/default.aspx
And here are the trustees’ bios https://cbe.ab.ca/about-us/board-of-trustees/Pages/Our-Trustees.aspx
They all are moms, dads, teachers, and to suggest otherwise is dishonest.
As we see in the U. S., this is not a faction that is looking to improve governance of the local schools. It is a movement that intends to remove a public school system as a viable option for the population as a whole. This is a revolutionary movement.
There is a reason that entities such as the DeVos, Bradley and Koch families have, and continue to place such vast resources at play.
on what basis do you claim to speak for parents in general?
No matter how many people note the ignorant opinions voiced by these political groups, they’re still ignorant. Let that sink in.
“Parents got a good look at what was being taught their children during remote schooling, many didn’t like what they saw.”
Where are you getting this from? And what exactly didn’t they like?
Personally the amount of wasted time during the day, if a student can learn the material expected for an entire day in a few hours what are they doing for an entire school day? I have talked with several other parents, teachers, principals, and board members about this issue each saying I am not alone.
Do they expect to have “left culture parents” also involved? Because that’s what’s going to happen. And then what?
Personally I would encourage involvement of all parents regardless of where they put themselves on the political spectrum. One can assume that these parents have their children’s best interests in mind, might just disagree on the path. Usually the best answer can be found somewhere in the middle on most things after a healthy, respectful, and open debate.
Funny how people in charge on the left never listen to parents but feel the need to criticize parents who want to be involved! What happen to democracy? Is it only democracy when your trustees are elected? The hypocrisy in this article is very revealing! Like the left has no agenda! Make me laugh!
Guess Sept 20th protest will tell who their is more of, Parents who know their rights or trustees who think they know better than parents?
Funny how alt-rights bust out debunked, ignorant opinions time after time but wilfully ignore actual facts.
There are people in charge on the left? Who are they?
Header: Democracy under the UCP is laughable. They can’t get anywhere without cheating. Fine after fine was put on UCP members for disobeying election laws. The last head honcho of the UCP has the R.C.M.P on his tail, and are looking into his leadership race.
Yes because leftist people don’t procreate, and parents are homogenous group that all agree on how their children should be raised.
You’re being ridiculous.
I’ve noticed that many of the comments today lean towards parroting David Parker’s rant regarding your blog, DJC. Is this a stealthy way of getting TBA opinions out without mentioning the affiliation? If so, it looks stealthy to me. I find it very tiring reading how “parents know best” on repeat. People, this is not a news article. It is an opinion piece. Agree, don’t agree – your choice. But if you disagree, back up your opinions with something. Maybe quote a book, or a research paper, if you’ve read one.
You hit a nerve, David. I am struggling to grasp what exactly the issue is that drives these angry parents if it isn’t anti-LGBTQ+ hysteria, with a dash of climate denialism. Who exactly is being forced to undergo forced medications and medical procedures by schools? Where are educational funds being diverted to making net-zero buildings? On the former, recognizing trans people exist and are worthy of our love and compassion is not the same as forcing anyone to be anything. In fact, that would seem a very Christian stance to take. On the latter, I would presume those funds would come from other sources devoted to tackling the climate climate crisis. If I am wrong and this isn’t the case then that would indeed be concerning and I trust our good blogger or another source, say the CBC, would inform me. Am I naive? Are forced transitions happening and schools buying solar panels instead of text books? All of this is happening under our noses and our scandal-driven media (exception for this blog) is so in the thrall of the Great Reset that only David Parker and his crew know this is happening? I really don’t see how that’s possible. Has it ever occurred to any of the TBA crowd that, as we try to create a pluralistic society that loves and cares for this planet and all of its inhabitants, they are the ones trying to force their point of view and morality down the throats of others, not the other way around?
I can’t understand why, as one person mentioned without naming it, there will be an anti-LGBTQ+ protest march in Ottawa on September 20 focused on schools. I thought schools fell under provincial jurisdiction, silly me. Why stop with LGBTQ+? Surely other groups can be culled from schools on the basis of skin color, religious beliefs, etc. First they came for the LGBTQ+…
Say, isn’t that around the time the trial of some Freedom Convoy members will be wrapping up?
Innnteresting – how this expose brought out the right religious “my children” (possessive pronoun – the Big I will decide for MY children/chattels) fanatics, including the PuppetMaster, himself. Way to go, David K.! (you Disgrace, you). Keep on rocking their minds – you will not convince them since they have swallowed the Koolaid (cult reference) but it makes for entertainment in the wasteland formerly known as the province of Alberta. They will turn to their canned force-fed illogical arguments for to reject any pearls of wisdom thrown to them.
LAS: “…neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.” DJC
I’m illiterate, so I think I’ll let someone with skill speak for me. https://youtu.be/NjoU1Qkeizs?t=5
Zelda can you explain why the vast majority of us conservatives were smart enough to vote NDP in the last election, because we were smart enough to try to put a stop to these Reformers , trying to pretend they are conservatives , when there is nothing conservative about them. What excuse do you use for supporting them? Apparently you haven’t talked to our lawyers, accountants, oilmen, bankers and former conservative MLAs who agree with us. Are you going to ignore the $975 billion starting with Ralph Klein we estimate that they have screwed the Alberta people out of by helping the rich steal our oil and tax wealth?
Alan K. Spiller: I have heard Peter Lougheed saying that he didn’t support the Reform Party, because they reminded him of the Social Credit Party he worked so hard to replace. Preston Manning’s dad, Ernest, was the head of the Social Credit Party in Alberta for many years. Also, in the 1960s, Preston Manning was trying to get Peter Lougheed to merge the Alberta PCs with the Social Credit Party. Peter Lougheed was smart enough to reject the idea. Another time, I heard Peter Lougheed comparing Ralph Klein to the Social Credit Party. I can see why. Peter Lougheed was so disappointed with Ralph Klein, that he wouldn’t even appear with him at social events. Again, it’s because Ralph Klein totally sabotaged the good things that Peter Lougheed had done. The UCP are just like the phony Conservative, Ralph Klein, and the Reformers. Destroying jobs, robbing us further of our oil and tax wealth, doing very pricey shenanigans, that cost us billions of dollars, increasing poverty, making costs of things go up, such as utilities and insurance, increasing homelessness, harming the public education and public healthcare, and not caring about the environment. People have foolishly believed the lies of the UCP, and look where it got us. Anyone that disagrees with them, gets called nasty names. Where is the sense in this?
I have no idea what these people think actually goes on in schools. People think the problems with schools in Alberta is they’re too “woke”. Well, I don’t know, my grade 12 social studies class taught me the Soviets oppressed their population and wasted tons of resources in their war in Afghanistan. Shocker! How could the 100% woke mob-approved curriculum do this? (Disregard the fact that everyone except for those who eat up Stalinist propaganda thinks those authoritarian regimes are very good.)
I am far from what conservatives imagine me to be. Counter to the dominant anti-woke narrative, I’m a person who doesn’t think much about sex, if at all. The sex education I received in junior high was pretty simple stuff, and a decent chunk of it was learning about consent and the ability to say no. I think that’s important to know about.
I do think there are problems with the Alberta curriculum. I’ll provide some examples. For one, we lack basic computer and media literacy. When I went to school in BC, we were taught basic computer and online safety skills. I learnt even more of those skills when going to school in India. Here, they don’t teach anything about computers and how they work unless you take a class in grade 10 (which doesn’t teach you about general computer usage anyway and isn’t offered in all schools). So many people end up in introductory university computer science courses who don’t know what files and folders are. Now that is a problem.
My other example is we don’t learn enough about the history of where we live. Sure, we learn there are indigenous communities, but how were their societies structured? What were they like? What were the major events that happened? (In grade 7, we only learned about 3 groups in eastern Canada, and not much overall.) And later on, how were the cities and towns we live in created? How did Alberta come to be the place it is today? I want to know more about the province I live in now, the city I live in, and most of the things I’ve learned are things I’ve seemed out for myself. I don’t think these topics are covered nearly enough in school.
If people are concerned about Alberta’s education, they should be. But the reason why they should be concerned is because it falls short in teaching us about our past and preparing us for our future. We need to expand the curriculum to teach more things. But groups like the PCE don’t actually care about any of that. They’re simply scared of the fact that people view the world in different ways, and think that only theirs is correct. They’re scared of children deciding for themselves what they want to be. They’re against people changing their minds on something when they learn they were wrong (and I mean this for all parts of the political spectrum). And they also can’t seem to stop thinking every single thing has to be sexual (please stop, not everything is about sex).
This is an extremely long comment, but I needed to say it. TL;DR actual deficiencies in Alberta education are being ignored in exchange for pushing ideology (the rest of this comment has more nuance).
Every accusation from an alt-right, like Parker and his group of idiots, is a confession. It’s why they are getting testy at being outed.
notice the posts from posters never before seen.
Of course! Our host, DJC, must be on David Parker’s watch list.
When you lift the skunk’s tail…..
Folks
I responded to a number of postings with a too snarky tone. My apologies.
By way of explanation, but not excuse for my rudeness, all of my postings are up in response to statements others have made that express fears that do seem reasonable. However, those fears are not consistent with easily verified facts, publicly posted school board policies, nor government law.
This current moral panic reminds me of the 1980s Child Eating Satanic Cult panic – legitimate if true but ludicrous upon closer examination.
Moms for Liberty.
The Alberta Taliban, aka TBA.
One and the same.
Nikki Fried, the lone democrat in Governor Ron Desantisland, Florida, wore the absolute best t-shirt when she was arrested for something Ron Desantis signed into law.
It said “JUST F*CKING VOTE”.
JUST F*CKING VOTE.
Learn the issues and vote.
I grew up with southern U.S. kin. I am a US citizen (now, regretfully so). I am also a Canadian citizen.
And please, for people who don’t understand dual citizenship, please educate yourselves on the pros and cons of multiple nationality. Great for billionaires, not so much for thousandaires.
The guns, grits, god folks. Gotta luvim’. I spent my summers as a kid, 50 years ago, in a rural county no Canadian has ever heard of. You know, real America, so says Fox “News”.
Everyone moved away. Somehow rural Alberta seems to feel some sort of kinship affinity with the US Republican South. All you dumasses in rural Alberta and Saskatchewan, got sumthin’ for ya; the Americans think you’re dummer’n a sacka hammers. No matter how poor, no matter how dumb white complexioned southerners are, they are still American. And still better than any loser from Canada.
Those MAGA Republicans with Donald Trump as their leader would happily invade your little town in Alberta.
First of all. The United States, all 50 of them, are like all the people in the family weddings I was forced to attend as a child.
They resent each other, deeply. California, Mississippi. Lets stop comparing now.
As a child, one wedding was memorable. As a 10 year old, my Saskatchewan born quasi-catholic mother forced me to wear a dress. With frilly underpants, ugh. My 27, or so, cousin’s are all older than me. Their children are all about my age. At one wedding, one little jerk with his buddies, kept flipping my skirt to show everyone my unfortunate frilly panties. I hated those frilly panties, but to have this fat kid of my older cousin, along with his friends, attack me for wearing what I despised, that was it.
I got him on the ground, I punched, I kicked him in the balls, hard, he curled into a ball. My parents separated the two of us and we left the wedding, thankfully, my frilly panties still hated by me, but unsullied by the likes of a thug bully.
Learned, as a child, how to shoot a handgun.
Normal?
In Canada, absolutely not.
Someone is trying to make southern US Republican politics attractive to the credulous in Alberta.
What do American MAGA voters think of Canada?
Trick question. They don’t think of anyone outside of their own personal resentment. (One, maybe two counties)
Canada? Some frozen wasteland.
Ignorance is bliss.
I got tired of a cousin, who lives in the rural south, always tellin’ me that the “dog sled I drive must be gettin’ old; my igloo must be needin’ some repair”.
This cousin felt better insulting me than confronting the many problems in her community. Score one for the Republicans.
I’m not prepared to give in to the lies and the garbage that are invading this Alberta, this Canada.
Rural Alberta is a mystery to me. But I do remember one country gentleman. I was trying to explain to him why I couldn’t just assign money to him and his siblings based on his emailed version of a will written by his father.His newly deceased father (95 years) had been receiving mineral lease revenue from my employer, based on a legal contract signed many decades before. Not being a lawyer, I tried my best to explain probate law. We got it sorted out, he probated his dad’s will, all was good. Several years later, the man showed up at my office, unannounced, to thank me for being patient.
I’ve never forgotten that one thing.
Thx J, that was a great post.
I learned something. I saw a part of the human world I had not seen before. And you reminded me of another part of the human world that I have seen previous but only rarely now.
Dave, here’s a link to an article in slate.com, which provides a recent historical context for this issue and suggests where it might be going. There’s nothing new under the sun and those who ignore history are often doomed to repeat it, as Mr. George Santayana might say.
https://slate.com/human-interest/2023/08/moms-for-liberty-parental-rights.html
This issue is about the transfer of wealth, from the public purse to the corporate class. There are billions of public dollars at stake here and the corporate sector wants it. However, they have framed the issue as a cultural war, a smoke screen so to speak, to hide their motives. Even though they want more control over what is taught – their anti-public, regressive ideology – they are after the billions of public money. Division, stereotyping and creating a cultural war is only part and parcel of their strategy.
Bingo! Puppetmaster Parker is just a puppet himself for far more sinister forces trying to destroy Alberta.
There seems some remarkable coordination of introduced commentary about this interesting article: for the life of me, I cannot resolve the Venn diagram to anything other that a big, fat net-zero—not even a tiny lunar-like libration (not even with loony libation).
As it appears my usual, native verbosity has been curiously bumped so, not to be outdone, alls I can say is:
Holy curriculum, Batperson!
Stop The Stealth!!
How is it possible for the group called ‘Take Back Alberta’ to call themselves that when they’ve never had Alberta? You can’t take back what you never had….
So school week started early in Alberta this year?? Class, class– “Prof ” Climenhaga, shakes his head and thinks to himself”.- I could have retired. Kids these days!! Okay, Mike-up front; Cool- opposite side in the back. Scotty- please take off the cape, the fluorescent lights are glaring off of it…Thank You! David Hume, please put your briefcase under the desk before someone trips over it. Ranger, did you bring the note for the new counselor about your hat? Good, make sure you hand it in. American friend, so glad you’ve decided to join us for another year. Neil, the Gritty shirt may not go over that well in Oiler nation, so be prepared. And from the music in the yard, I’ll assume POGO will be joining us shortly. Abs and Akyl , patience, we’re just getting started on this year. We’re still short a few but let’s get on with it.
Now to the new students. Contrary what you may have read on social media sites, or heard in blogs; this is not a “woke ” class. At least not as defined by Mr Parker. We use it in context of: ” I woke up this morning, gratefully, but am now reconsidering….is it too late to go back to bed?……..
Anyway, my apologies for taking liberties, and I hope I have not offended anyone.
Now for the crux of the matter aka Mr Parker and his anti- move forward Alberta party.
Just a few observations, regarding “your” statements.
1. Premier Higgs is a hero ?Children belong to their parents? Remember the 5th commandment? —- he is supposed to be a representative for the people; children are not chattel and what does honoring your parents have to do with this.
2. Dear Progressive Albertans- we will outwork you and that is why we will win-TBA …..imho..a resume with 2yr/ less turn over in jobs does not in any way say stability or dedication…just saying.
3. If you think the state has more of a right to educate children than their own parents, then you are the enemy. You are the “they” that we are referring to……the state? We are the enemy?
are you suggesting that all schools should be closed? fire all the teachers? home schooling for everyone ? Now that should be interesting!!
4. This is your legacy JKenny
Imagine if you will * a government that does more to stop the distribution of ivermectin and hydrcloriquine than it does to stop the distribution of fentanyl……* I know that I can imagine a lawsuit for using a celebrity’s photo to promote political agendas., the Twilight zone indeed !
5. The climate cult is a death cult…….WTF??you should never, ever tempt or dismiss Mother Nature, she’s very liable to box your ears, and turn you on your head for good measure. But if we’re going to discuss cults, how about a few words on : Mike Roman, who works as assistant chairman of Harper’s IDU, was indicted along with 18 others for attempting to overturn the 2020 election.
6. “GM to everyone, especially my haters who spread my message further than I could alone”…..AI pictures are better than airbrushing, right? So how does that song go — Nobody loves me, everybody hates me, going to the garden to eat worms…..
7. replying to RNotley:”you promote discrimination and you will be punished electorally for it. I swear to you this day that I will not rest until you have resigned as leader of the NDP in disgrace…….”you will be punished” ?? Seriously ?, I think some of the high ground medica is in order.
8. Benita Pederson’s message about not wearing the TBA shirts , election finance rules could have been contravened.,…just another day in the war between the pro humans and anti humans, referring to abortion and urban women’s impulse to delay having children for their careers sake……IMPULSE ????
Well sorry class, I have to disagree with the old testament analogy, this is more in the caveman mentality. I don’t believe it’s happenstance that they took the Progressive out of the Conservative narrative these days.
And yes “ironically “—-in Alberta along with their southern counterparts;the right wing “evangelicals ” that quote the bible and use the name of Jesus that According to Genisis 1 and the bible’s genealogical records combined for the creation of earth, making it approximately 6000 yrs old—- but here they are pushing for the Oil and gas industry, thanks to the dinosaurs that died millions of years ago….I’m sorry, that’s not irony, that’s that sweet bubblin’ crude, black gold……
Well David, is this a record for most comments? Most new posters? Most anger-inspired posts? Gosh, I never thought education would be such a touch paper on an Alberta politics forum. Let’s move on to more important topics for libertarians: raw milk, right turns on red, compulsory life jackets in canoes, cloud seeding! Onwards!
Not yet, YYCLefty. We’re edging closer, but we haven’t even broken three figures yet. I had one, if I recall, that went to about 160 comments. I think that was time time I asked who was paying for the fuel for the truckers who blockaded Edmonton’s airport with the help of Andrew Scheer. It caused a similar organized response. DJC
Since the PCE does not permit the public to pose questions, perhaps some of their members who began posting here recently might respond to this.
On their website, they cite the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 26.3 as an authority for their existence and activities. What do they do to promote Article 26.2 or any of the other articles of the UDHR?
Hello David Hume,
For sure. It’s all about money and how to transfer it to the rich. How to impoverish any public services, including education. And how the rich can take over the commons.
Since we’ve become “North Oklahoma”, I thought I’d toss a link on the fire, from our brethren in Massachusetts! Both our host, and likely thousands of others, are able to write without resorting to vitriol and cursing! Unfortunately, there are many of of us with a hotter temperament! https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a44948964/conservatives-trump-2025-project/
DJC, the level of (willful or blind) misunderstanding by many of these right-wing writers to this blog, makes me as a teacher want to clarify the reality of educational systems in Canada. I apologize for my lack of brevity.
The curriculum is designed by educational experts at the provincial level, as directed by a Provincial government, not by trustees, by school admin, or teachers. These educational experts know more about their subject area and pedagogy than most any parent. They are looking at the big picture, and also the myriad details that go into a curriculum. The vetting of material to be included in the curriculum is vigorous, and field tested thoroughly, before being included in the Program of Studies. Alberta has historically been at the forefront of this – we have been recognized internationally for our excellence. But of course we live in an era where experts are not trusted by the right.
In some ways, the actual classroom material is almost irrelevant. Yes, some concepts and subjects are absolutely necessary to function in society (basic math, the function of democracy, the temp of water boiling, etc), but the real purpose of education is to install concepts and thoughts into a students mind to help them weigh and evaluate new ideas, teach them to think and act critically, open them up to new skills, ways of stretching their minds, and developing a work ethic. Are some of the ideas and skills 100% useful in later life? No – no one really needs to know how to play a recorder, or know about the War of 1812. But they stretch your mind a bit, give you some new skills or ideas, perhaps open some doors to new interests, or help you form an opinion. The curriculum takes into account the wide range of views held by the community, which is one of the huge benefits of immigration – we are more aware of the world now. School curriculum reflects society, not some narrow ideology. What education should certainly NOT do is simply validate existing knowledge and beliefs and strongly held opinions. But of course we live in an era where being smart and thinking independently is attacked by the right.
Trustees create policies to enhance education, and ensure the well being of the students in their system. They reflect the majority democratic opinion of those who elected them. There is no “agenda”, save for the building and improving of our Western standards of knowledge, and civic responsibility. But of course we live in a new era where unelected zealots like David Parker and TBA use surreptitious methods to gain control, because they know their ideas are unpalatable to the majority.
Principals have a mandate to administer the schools – they do not set curriculum or Board policy. They cannot mandate what teachers teach in the classroom outside of the Program of Studies. They are there to ensure that schools are safe and nurturing.
Teachers are expected to know the Program of Studies, and teach to the learning outcomes described therein. It is a comprehensive document, and the joy and creativity of the job is to find fun and cool ways to teach it, to reach as many students (who have a variety of different learning styles) as possible, to motivate students to want to learn and excel, to achieve success for as many students as possible, and to evaluate and assess students knowledge and abilities to think and express themselves.
There is a concept in education, legally mandated, called “in loco parentis”, which basically states that during the day when students are in a schools care, that the school is acting as a parent – we are partners in parenting the child. We all want what is best for the child, and we want them to be successful. Teachers are not looking to replace parents, but we do have some skin in the game. We are allies. And it is our legally mandated responsibility to care for them as best we can. Parents know their kids best, but I guarantee that teachers often know some things about their students that parents don’t – some are obvious, and some are subtle. We see the kids in a different setting, and the energy and interactions they have at school are different than that at home.
The entire LGBTQ and gender questions are issues that schools and teachers wish they did not have to deal with, but seem to be the impetus for this far right reaction. Schools and boards are not driving the conversation. Many educators are very uneasy because they know that children’s development is not complete until well after the student has graduated. Student anxiety, developmental immaturity, adolescent confusion and defiance, and social media fashion and trends are what are pushing this issue, and schools are the laboratory where this issue is being played out. This is the new era we live in.
“Parental authority / rights” catch phrase is a laughable talking point designed to keep right wingers upset. They have no good ideas to deal with tough issues. Just old bad ones. And progressives, moderates, and sane normal traditional conservatives had better start getting organized, because these Canadian Taliban aren’t joking around in this new era.
Well said. Comprehensive. Clear. And unfortunately, such a necessary message. Thank you.
Almost everyone commenting here, including the author, is retarded
Dongus: It’s always nice to know that the representatives of the Alberta Right stand ready to make a useful contribution to civil discourse. DJC