How bad is the social studies curriculum the United Conservative Party wants to start piloting?
We all know it’s bad. But I mean, seriously, how bad is it really?
Last Friday, the expert panel asked by the province to weigh in on the UCP Government’s new kindergarten to Grade 6 social studies curriculum published an open letter to Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides unanimously urging him pull the plug on it and start over again.
The eight post-secondary educators and curriculum specialists outlined their “significant concerns” with the plan to start piloting the controversial curriculum.
Among them: It has no contemporary or relevant vision for social studies education, offers limited opportunities for critical thinking, makes only token gestures toward Indigenous history, and has no acknowledgement of the diversity in Alberta today.
“We are deeply disappointed with this draft curriculum and concerned about the lack of transparency in the curriculum development process,” they wrote.
Alas, they said, when the curriculum was released they discovered their “critical feedback and constructive advice that could inform the creation of a high-quality social studies program for Alberta students” had been “largely ignored.”
Their belief, the letter concluded: “Alberta students deserve better.”
Their advice to the minister: “We urge the government to immediately convene a meeting of the key education partners to develop a protocol to restart the curriculum rewriting process.”
They were unfailingly polite throughout.
Probably as a result, their criticism generated a little metaphorical ink in the media but will be immediately brushed off by Dr. Nicolaides and the UCP.
After all, this is the fruit of former premier Jason “Perfesser” Kenney’s quest to reform Alberta public education in line with his crank pedagogical notions and his replacement Danielle Smith’s ideological agenda of breaking up the public education system to bust teachers’ unions and banish critical thought from Wild Rose Country.
I spoke with Larry Booi – the plain-spoken former president of the Alberta Teachers Association, long-time social studies teacher, and experienced social studies curriculum developer and instructor – in hopes he could explain the problem with the new curriculum in terms even an old journo like your blogger could understand.
To start with, Mr. Booi told me, “it’s an astonishingly bad job, and I wasn’t expecting much!”
“It is misguided, unsophisticated, and actually embarrassing.”
“This proposed curriculum has been stripped of everything but history, with a backup role for geography, some economics, and ‘civics,’” he explained, adding that even the history bits seem to be “randomly and arbitrarily arranged.”
The new curriculum, he said, “is an unrelenting look backwards … clearly based on the view that social studies must be about understanding the past, so we can somehow ‘learn from it’ – but with no sense of how that will happen.
“It’s as if we are driving into this increasingly complex and uncertain future, and the only guide we have is the rear-view mirror of our car!”
The new curriculum, he said, is “devoid of any sense of the overall goals to be systematically pursued and reflected in a person who graduates after 13 years of social studies instruction.”
The old curriculum, he explained, tried to develop the knowledge, skills and dispositions in young people that would let them become “active and engaged citizens of a democratic society.” And this, he added, “was to be worked at increasingly through the grades.”
Now? “It looks like our students will be rigidly focused on the knowledge of the past that they have accumulated. No systematic development of the skills and attributes needed for making complex decisions in public affairs, no development of discerning judgement, no sense of agency or the disposition to be engaged and involved in public affairs.”
No surprise, either, given the UCP’s American-influenced MAGA ideology and hostility to critical thinking – especially if it results in criticism of them!
This, Mr. Booi suggested, looks like “a curriculum designed for home schooling.”
It seems K-6 social studies in Alberta has received a “curriculum lobotomy,” he added, “resulting in the removal of all higher-order functions and leaving it with a narrow focus on lower-level elements.”
“There should be no piloting of this draft curriculum,” Mr. Booi concluded. “We cannot inflict it on students.”
Stick with the old one, he advised, until a better one can be written.
Expert Panel Members
The K-6 Curriculum Development Specialist Group, whose recommendations the UCP Government ignored, was made up of the following people:
Kathryn Crawford, EdD, Assistant Professor, Ambrose University
J.C. Couture, PhD, Lecturer, University of Alberta
Craig Harding, PhD, Instructor, Mount Royal University
Yvonne Poitras Pratt, PhD, Associate Professor, University of Calgary
Pierre Rousseau, Associate Lecturer, Campus St-Jean
David Scott, PhD, Associate Professor, University of Calgary
Amy von Heyking, PhD, Associate Professor, University of Lethbridge
Hi David,
In paragraph 13, I think you mean “plain spoken”.
Christina: Indeed I did! Thanks, and it’s been fixed. DJC
The UCP do not have any clue at all, and it shows.
Kenney had very traditional views of history and what should be taught that seem to out of step with modern education. His views seems to be reflected in what the government has come up with here.
I presume for whatever disagreements the current Smith government had with Kenney, their views on this issue are somewhat similar.
One might have hoped for a bit more thoughtful response from Smith, who after all was a former school trustee, but I feel that role was not her finest moment. Also, thoughtfulness on anything seems to be a lot to expect now. So at this point we are stuck with Kenney’s very traditional approach here.
I agree it really doesn’t fit the modern world or a modern Alberta well. So it would be best to go back to the drawing board again. This time with more thoughtful input would be good.
You said it yourself: Smith’s long-term goal is to sabotage social programs, demonstrate their failure as a reason to privatize everything, and cut taxes for everything except corporate welfare.
When she was a “trustee,” by the way, she made the word an oxymoron. Her libertarian bias makes her the worst person to supervise public education, period.
I remember Larry Booi when I was a high school student at Strathcona Comp in Edmonton in the 80’s. I never had a course from him, but he had a stellar reputation among my friends who did. Back then, social studies (as with all other courses) was top notch – lots of diversity of subject matter and well taught by excellent teachers. Heck, we even learned about communism in Grade 12 – my teacher did it in a wonderfully humorous way that…well you just had to be there!
I am very surprised to learn that the government was even willing to ask a panel of real experts for their opinion, especially since the panel does not appear to have been vetted for conservative-friendly reliability. I expect they won’t make that mistake again.
“No surprise, either, given the UCP’s American-influenced MAGA ideology and hostility to critical thinking – especially if it results in criticism of them!”
I think this point warrants considerably more development. Demographic analysis of voting results shows that overall, Conservative voters tend to be less educated.
After a federal election a few years ago even conservative commentator Andrew Coyne lamented the support from educated voters in the CPC camp.
When you think about the rage farming political commentators who support the ‘conservative movement’, you realize how much Conservative parties rely on a non-critical thinking population for their electoral success. What a coup it is that rage farmers can convince ordinary working people that unions are evil, and therefore support union busting political parties, when they should be thinking ‘would I be better off if I too had union benefits?’
Could the interviewed please explain what was implied by “this curriculum looks like it was designed for homeschooling.”?
Seems like an interesting remark to make. Does the interviewed know what is being taught in homeschools across the province? They couldn’t possibly, because each homeschool is different.
I’ll tell you one thing; it’s not “social studies”. Most homeschools stick to history and geography instead of “social studies”.
From an educational perspective, the curriculum or, rather, the Program of Studies, is not dependent on the whims and caprices of individual home schooling providers so your comment is concerning.
Andrea Veldkamp: The UCP, in their less than stellar wisdom, removed regulations for homeschooling for Alberta, so that anything can be taught, regardless of how controversial it is. A very bad idea. Homeschooling isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.
Home education is a valid educational choice in Alberta and yields high diploma exam marks and post-secondary university/college/tech admissions. Parents who choose home education have the opportunity to shun inadequate provincial curriculum and choose excellent resources from around the globe as they see fit to produce caring citizens and educated children. Larry Booi’s derogatory comment about homeschooling is unprofessional and unbefitting a former education leader.
Say what you will but being from a socially conservative religious background I have known A LOT of homeschooled kids and this includes members of my own family. Under socialized and Ill educated is how I would describe every single one of them. Some of them even became not only reprobates, but criminals.
My family of religious educators PUT ME IN SCHOOL, because schools are something our society has put a lot of time and effort into, and they understood the irreplaceable role of professional educators and the socialization of one’s peers. Homeschool your children if you want but the rest of us are adults, please don’t try and pretend it’s for any reason other than strict control over the blinders you are throwing on those children; and absolutely handicapping them as a result, in real economic terms.
Certainly wouldn’t want your children to be “socialized” what a tragedy for them that would be, right ?
If they teach it at all. From the perspective I have seen, it is the low subject on the list with science just one step up.
home schooling, well its about what the parents want their kids to know. History and geography can be interpreted in different ways and when a child is home schooled there is most likely fewer “opinions” on an issue. During the years in public school, graduated in 1967 we had social studies. It covered history and geography (grade 10) nd it also covered how countries got to where they were and why they were the way they were, that is social studies. Its one thing to teach a child “history”, that is just dates and events, so its the 1812 war, the Hundred Year War, the War of the Roses, WW I, WWII, the Holy Roman Empire, etc. but for it to be social studies children learn how those events came about, how it impacted the country and its people and how it ended, if it did. its fine to know a war went on for a 100 years or so, but why and what did it accomplish. Being home schooled because their parents want to instil their points of view isn’t getting an education. Going to school is not just memorizing facts and figures, its about asking questions and what questions to ask and why. Its about learning to learn.
What the UPC wants is to dummy kids down, so they don’t question the leadership, sort of like in Russia, China, etc.
I understand many children are home schooled and know of some who did but it was usually because of illness, distance to schools, learning disabilities and no teaching assistance, etc.
The “educators” in the UPC don’t know their axx from a hole in the ground. Leave it to the professionals who know a thing or two about educating children so they can be well rounded adults who know how to ask questions, and to challenge things and get through an ever more complex world
The critics mean it’s not in keeping with DEI. Of course our children need to learn about the past. Not to be indoctrinated.
God forbid children learn about inclusion empathy and diversity. Oh What’s next !? Sharing !?
That isn’t in the previous curriculum or the draft the UCP threw out, at a cost of what, millions ?
Why are you lecturing the rest of us when you don’t know what you’re talking about ?
With all due respect to Dr. Booi and his colleagues, I would submit the social studies curricula has been failing to produce critically thinking citizens for several generations now. Let’s keep in mind that 53% of those so-called critically thinking Albertans voted for the UCP and do not accept vaccinations or the physics of climate change caused by burning hydrocarbons.
The UCP are simply doubling down on generating a gullible and vicious electorate, so self-entitled they even put bumper stickers on their RVs boasting “we are spending our children’s inheritance.”
I agree with the point that social studies in this province has never been about promoting critical thought. I’ve been out of school for almost 14 years, but when I was in school, my memory of the social studies curriculum was year after year relearning the same historical facts about Canada with a conspicuous avoidance of discussion of modern history. We learned all about the traditional cultures of various indigenous groups but nothing that tied it into the modern day at all. Nothing was even said about Canada’s involvement in any of the major global conflicts of the 20th century. It was as if someone decided that the glory days of Canada were in the time of the fur trade and nothing else was worth talking about.
Joanne: My children would be about ten years older than you. Even then they had a limited social studies curriculum. There was nothing about the effects on workers or the First Nations or about the resulting financial and social collapse when fur was no longer in demand. Nothing about the residential schools either.
However, starting in elementary there was endlessly repeated blather about entrepreneurs which went right up to Grade 12. Our kids got glossy pamphlets compliments of the oil companies to support the curricula. No wonder people have no understanding of conflict of interest.
The obdurate and gullible UCP are the result of this decades long negative feedback cycle which threw out Premier Lougheed’s steps in the opposite direction. In spite of all this, I find it encouraging that many more people are rejecting the politics of hate and fear being used by the UCP than I thought possible.
I agree unanimously with Kang what is going on with progressive agenda in the last 4 yrs
George: I did say “over generations” which means back to the 1970s. So, there is lots of blame to go around for the vicious and gullible electorate we now live with.
What progressive agenda ? The UCP has been in government for the last four years!!!
What are you talking about ? You’re just spouting nonsense. Why should anyone listen to you ?
The current curriculum, predates the NDP. The “woke nonsense” is from the PCAA, you’re probably actually fine with it, you’re just so butthurt about gay people having rights you can’t read anymore. Sad.
The idea that a bunch of illiterate bullies somehow are going to take the wheel for the rest of the province based on their own hubris; y’all should have finished high school at a minimum. It’s like arguing with children. Go away, no one cares.
” gullible and vicious electorate,”
I too was seeking to sum that up and
down in the dirt ignorant and wearing a “forced progressive” hair shirt of their own making was where I was when I read this.
Confession and projection, straight out of the MAGA playbook. The impetus for examining the Alberta curriculum arose from the UCP’s claim that the then NDP government was brewing a curriculum steeped in Socialist ideology. In response to this unjustifiable claim they first produced a blueprint that included Jason Kenney’s grandfather before producing this dog’s breakfast. That’s what you get when your goal is indoctrination and befuddlement rather than education.
Yet another Conservative-hating vomit-fest by the ultra leftwing blogger of this incredibly biased site. In this entire migraine-infusing diatribe, not ONE SINGLE specific reason was given why this curriculum “is bad”. Demented Dave keeps claiming over and over again that it lacks “diversity” and is “designed for homeschooling”, without evidence.
I’m sure he – and his leftist comrades – are really upset because social studies does not dedicate a third of the book to lgbtq++++ and another one third to divisive racial issues. THAT is the main irritation with these LeftyLoons. Beisdes, social studies as a subject does not have any relevance in today’s world to begin with and does not resonate with students…most kids hate it.
And if the curriculum does indeed look like it was designed for homeschooling like these people claim then it’s actually a good thing. It’s about time that activist left-wing teachers get out of the business of designing courses (and indoctrinating children) and focus on teaching children what the Parents want their kids taught. Otherwise, I’m sure there are other career paths these SJWs can find more suitable for their constantly-enraged personalities.
As a regular and dedicated reader of this blog for many years, I’ve seen some hate-filled diatribes in the comment section. But this is one of the most extreme I’ve seen. I’m a bit surprised our host let it be displayed – although, as he notes in a reply to another commenter, he occasionally lets these rants in so others can see the kind of vitriol he has to deal with when moderating his blog comments.
Firstly, DJC is a well-known progressive blogger on Alberta politics. He makes no secret of it, nor of his ideological leanings. But every article he posts is fact-based and extensively sourced, at least to the maximum extent practicable for something he does on his own time and his own dime, and is not a job (he has one of those too).
Secondly, as conservatives are often wont to say when discussions about screening harmful content out from broadcasting and online entertainment and information outlets: “if you don’t like what you’re watching, don’t censor it, change the channel”. If you don’t agree with our host, and don’t have anything rational or constructive to say about his posts, DON’T READ THEM.
Don’t let the virtual door hit your rear end on the way out either.
Jerry: Here at AlbertaPolitics.ca, we never discourage anyone from reading, no matter how angry they are. The angriest responses I can recall were to posts about gun control and about Andrew Scheer’s visit to a trucker blockade of Edmonton International Airport. In the first case, readers seemed to believe that I personally was going to come to their houses and try to take their guns away. I have no idea, of course, where I would have put them all. In the second, they were angry because I asked, rhetorically, if they had been so immiserated by the carbon-tax, who was paying for their diesel fuel. DJC
Veronica, so much for freedom of speech. David even posted your comments which on other blogs would not have been on. In the mist of your comment I noted you mentioned history isn’t relevant to today. OMG, haven’t you heard the line, “if we do not learn from history, we will repeat it”. That usually isn’t a good thing. Children need to know history to understand many of today’s events. When in school I noticed the same bunch were going to war with each other. The dates simply had changed and a few names, but they were still killing each other over the same issues. History explains trade routes, even why Russia thinks it can claim Ukraine, besides Putin being an idiot, but Putin being Putin can also be explained by learning about Russian history. History explains why we have our Parliamentary system and the Americans have another system. Want to know why Norway is such a great place to live–history explains it, it started after WW II. History in B.C. taught us about the Aztecs, ancient countries, then we moved on to the middle ages, over to explorers in other parts of the world, and then we got to the 1800s and 1900s and along the way teachers asked us questions. The one thing we did not learn about was the Indigenous People of Canada and the U.S.A. and what happened to them.
Your anger is quite out there. None of this is personal, well not on my part.
While reading some of the comments one person wrote about the need for good teachers, foot ball couches teaching–thanks for the laugh. Richmond High school from 1964 to 1967 had some amazing teachers, a couple of which were being pursued by U.B.C. to teach there. Our teachers had a variety of back grounds, i.e. one who lived in Paris prior to WW II, one who lived in France during WWII, one had been in the military, another was an old type Brit. etc. During staff shortages and over crowding the Principle taught english on the gym stage and in what had been the boat building room. Our science ten class was in the other part of the former boat building room, with Harry Jerome as our teacher–yes the one with the Olympic medals. When I look back on my education in school, we had a real mix of teachers and some with very interesting back grounds and some of them let us debate issues around what we were learning. Kids need to know about other view points in this world. They don’t have to believe it, but its good for them to know others do have other beliefs and they’re just as valid as theirs
DJC— “who was paying their diesel fuel”…..ironically I just watched a Ford F-150 commercial, that from a very quick search was in the $74,000 price range, but buy before end of March and you get a “””$7000.00″”” rebate.
So that kind of a ‘rebate’ is just hunky dory, but a carbon tax rebate is #%=#%_/÷…..makes sense to me…lol
IMHO– Veronica A, should move to Alabama, she would find there new laws about diversity in schools, in keeping with her “values” ?
Veronica A: Nothing you said is true. What exactly are children being indoctrinated with in schools in Alberta? What activist left wing teachers are there in Alberta? The school curriculum we had in Alberta was created by the Alberta PCs. It was the Alberta PCs who updated the school curriculum, and consulted with educational experts and teachers, when they did that. This was the school curriculum that the NDP were going to implement, but the UCP scrapped it, as soon as they got into power. What the UCP did replace it with was something that is far too complicated for elementary school children, whitewashes history, has so much plagiarism from a United States school curriculum, from long ago, and has nepotism in it. People who had a hand in developing the UCP’s school curriculum, included people such as Christian Champion, who is a residential school denier. There has been former Alberta PC cabinet ministers, who held the education portfolio, and they have been outspoken about the UCP’s school curriculum, and they looked at it, and concluded that it belongs in the trash. School boards in Alberta also looked at the UCP’s school curriculum, and overwhelmingly rejected it. The UCP has cut red tape in a number of different ways, and this includes not screening what can be taught by parents who homeschool their children in Alberta. I have family members who are teachers, and they aren’t indoctrinating their students with anything. Adriana LaGrange had no qualifications to be the minister of education, and she should have been fired. Like phony Conservatives and Reformers do, they destroy jobs, not create them, and Adriana LaGrange did the largest mass layoff in the history of this country, by laying off 26,000 educational support. There is no possible way to support the buffonery and bungling of the UCP. We never saw this foolishness under Peter Lougheed.
Are you nuts ?
Third paragraph… “ The eight post-secondary educators and curriculum specialists outlined their “significant concerns” with the plan to start piloting the controversial curriculum. ”
So your first claim is a lie, and then you get right around to announcing you just hate gay people for existing, which again, the curriculum this absolute trash is replacing is ages old from the previous conservative government. Who are you mad at ? Lyle Olberg?
One wonders if this is just David Parker in comment drag.
This nightmare reminds me of when a company with many LTC facilities in Alberta and BC bought out my workplace. They presented us with policies and procedures that looked more like a preschool colouring book than an actual business p&p manual. It was a total mess. Their mission statement was very good. They proudly displayed it for everyone to see. Unfortunately, the company did not follow a single one of their missions statements. They operated opposite to it. Turned out to be a money grubbing outfit instead of a caring LTC facility. I soon left.
The criticism for me misses the need for ideology to be taught broadly and with all views represented fairly or NOT AT ALL. There are some very insulting comments about homeschooling here too.
Becky: Homeschooling is not worth the paper it’s written on. Under the UCP’s red tape reduction, they cut the screening for homeschooling in Alberta, so that anything can be taught, regardless of how inaccurate it is.
I’m waiting for the history of the Garden Troll & T-Rex Wars to be added.
No surprise whatsoever.
There was a reason why North West Territories stopped using the Alberta curriculum after many years of edu partnership with Alberta. They subsequently partnered with another Province.
It had everything to do with the declining quality of the K-12 curriculum and with the increasing focus o political agenda vs basic education.
“astonishingly bad”.. Now that is the UCP brand!
Here are the comments I jotted down in their feedback form–a form they make almost impossible to find or fill out. I suspect that’s a deliberate strategy. I’ve commented on all the versions of their proposed curriculum, knowing that it’s a waste of time in terms of influencing this government. But I hope to be able to send these comments to the NDP when/if they can get back in government.
1. While critical thinking has been added, there is nothing in this curriculum that would promote critical thinking. They merely learn to define certain concepts and memorize some facts. There is no effort to compare the present with the past. There is almost no social history as opposed to big-p political history. There is no effort to look at different viewpoints on a topic.
2. In Grade 4, learning about settlements without examining the impact on Indigenous people is unhelpful. There’s nothing here about what it might have been like to be a child in any of the periods mentioned. As a published historian of Canadian history textbooks, I find this curriculum unimaginative and inappropriate for sparking an interest in the history of Canada among 9 year olds.
3.For grade 5, learning about “contributions of those empires” (whatever those may be eludes me) is fine as long as they also learn about the oppression of empires. There’s nothing here about slavery, slave revolts, the rebellions against feudalism, etc. These societies are presented as static.
4.Grade 6–Democracy did not begin in Athens and it’s important for students to know that Athens was a slave society and that the aristocrats gave freemen a role in government to ensure that they could maintain slavery. Where’s the democracy of India that appeared 200 years before Athenian democracy and lasted 800 years versus 200 in Athens? It didn’t involve slavery. It’s good that you are including Iroquois democracy. But where’s African democracy that lasted from the beginning of humans to the period of first Muslim and then European takeovers and theft of people for slavery?
5. Grade 7–Just the “Fathers of Confederation?” No discussion about who was involved in the Confederation debates and who was left out? And why only the natural resource-based economy? After Confederation, manufacturing and service industries also grew. Where are women, children, the working class, and the poor in all of this? BORING content. This is the approach that leads to very few people wanting to continue their studies of history after Grade 12.
6.Grade 9–Total lack of debate on subjects in this memorization of facts approach. Why just suffrage and not the position of women in Canada in various periods? Why not cover the free trade debate as opposed to simply looking at the issue in terms of the growth of Canada’s economy? Why not study the Japanese internment and residential schools in the larger context of imperial and racist ideas? Where is French Canada in all this?
7.Grade 10–Again, history without the 99% who aren’t rulers. Magna Carta, which is aristocrats vs. king needs to be balanced with study of feudalism and its opponents. Nation-states need to be studied in the context of imperial rivalries. The rebellions of 1848 and the Paris Commune should be here too. Karl Marx is more important than Aristotle in the modern world.
8.Grade 11–one of the better ones potentially. But there needs to be a clear emphasis on DEBATE about what caused and continued the Cold War, did either side actually respect democracy in a global sense, etc. If you are going to discuss “victims of communism,” which you should, you should also discuss victims of capitalism and imperialism and of the battle between communism and capitalism.
9.The Grade 12 curriculum is the worst. Absolutely nothing here relating big p political issues to the lives of ordinary peoples and social conflicts. Where’s poverty in all of this? Racism? Sexism? Heterosexism? Garbage, boring curriculum. With my PhD in History and 14 books, I’d still recommend to kids to avoid taking this course if it isn’t compulsory.
Considering some of the top universities in North America are actively seeking homeschoolers, perhaps that’s a good thing. Although I have no idea what that means. He obviously doesn’t know anything about homeschooling and how incredible the results can be ….much more learned in much less time
Bill: Homeschooling is junk. It isn’t recognized, like the public education system is. With the UCP reducing red tape, anything can be taught with homeschooling, and there is no oversight.
Once again, a group of educational experts wrote a draft social studies curriculum and the government turns around and releases a completely different draft, one devoid of logic. This time it only took 6 days. This means that they were once again paying non experts to write at the same time. The amount of taxpayer dollars being wasted and the damage this draft curriculum to Alberta is unforgivable.
Having been an academic dean for many years while my wife taught our children at home, I find your title very insulting. Our children far surpassed me, a student taught in the public school system.
You’re a terrible reporter, if you can even call this production anything other than a shitpost. At no point in your rambling and name calling did you ever make anything close to a point.
Sorry about the language, folks, but I do feel it’s illuminating from time to time for regular readers to see and read the contribution of the political right on those rare occasions when they show up here. Serves a pedagogical purpose, as it were. Mr. “Blowme,” here, as the pseudonymous spokesperson for the sensitive home-schooling set describes himself, is an excellent example. Can you imagine how angry he would have been, though, if I’d managed to make a point! DJC
More angry snowflakes here today, than in the 15cm that fell in my yard overnight. Looks like Mr. Parker has unleashed his flying monkeys.
There are certain issues that unleash the flying monkeys, as you put it, Regan. Home schooling is one, gun control is another. Inevitably, they are causes whose proponents know in their hearts the criticism has landed a little too close for comfort to the truth. DJC
I’ll blow you. What is your construct of a good reporter?
Blowme: This is a blog, and you can’t seem to see that.
“the curriculum looks like it was designed for homeschooling.”
What is that statement implying? Mr. Booi should apologize for such a bigoted and offensive comment.
My children’s homeschooling curriculum was much more rigorous, intellectual, advanced and robust compared to anything Alberta Ed offers. My son just breezed through a university BA in history here in Calgary because he had learned most of the content in high school!
Critical thinking has been the cornerstone of my children’s homeschooling education.
Booi should be ashamed at such discrimination.
The author should be equally ashamed. This is not journalism, but partisanship. This piece is flawed, biased and poorly written.
Leigh: When ex Alberta PC education ministers have slammed the UCP’s school curriculum, because they looked at it and said it was garbage, there is a big problem. Former Alberta PC education ministers were also teachers, so they have a clue. The Alberta public education curriculum used to be respected, globally. Now it isn’t, because the UCP made a dog’s breakfast out of it. With homeschooling in Alberta, the UCP’s lax regulations on it, make it even more worthless than it is. Anything can be taught, without any regulations, or oversight. The UCP education minister needs to be fired. What were Albertans thinking when they voted for the UCP?
Regardless of how you feel about politics, to state such slanderous words as “designed for homeschoolers” is quite intolerant, and extremely bias. Post-secondary institutions widely accept homeschoolers worldwide, and home educated students have a reputation of being self starters and problem solvers. You should be ashamed of yourself for publishing such nonsense.
April: There is nothing slanderous about it. Former Alberta PC education ministers have even said that the UCP’s school curriculum is bad, and it belongs in the trash, because it is flawed. They saw it. Teachers would know if it is flawed, and there happened to be Alberta PC education ministers who were teachers.
A curriculum that placed a priority on critical thinking would require teachers with a deft and granular expertise in the subject matter of history, politics and economics. The purposeful downgrading of the curriculum by the UCP should surprise no one. At least we can be happy that Jason Kenney’s ancestor has been omitted from the shopping list of topics hastily thrown together in defiance of expert opinion. Perhaps the real root of the problem can be traced back to when football coaches were assigned to teach civics.
Is this actually the main finding of a group of “Experts”? With the exception of ‘chance to think critically’ it all sounds like they have a point of view to PUSH? THIS SUBJECT HAS BEEN TAUGHT SUCESSFULLY IN ALBERTA FOR 80 YEARS! HOW MUCH CHANGE IS NECESSARY? If it requires more than 10% you are Selling Something? Taught well in the 80’s , my kids 5-10 years ago were taught a bizarre version of Globalism, I’m scared to ask what changes they think are required when that statement is so clearly political? Maybe we need some of the experts that are not University professors to achieve balance? – “Among them: It has no contemporary or relevant vision for social studies education, offers limited opportunities for critical thinking, makes only token gestures toward Indigenous history, and has no acknowledgement of the diversity in Alberta today.
I’m not surprised by the raw ignorance manifest when our host opens the door to it!
This article and the comments are really disappointing. The characterization of UCP supporters and using ad hominem attacks like we are all MAGA supporters, dumb, gullible, vicious, anti-vaxxers, driving RVs with bumper stickers???etc. It’s quite shocking and immature. My husband and I have graduate studies, masters’ degrees, don’t like Donald Trump and we are vaccinated. We educated our children at home and they are flourishing in university. We voted for Jason Kenney for a lot of good and important reasons. It seems any sort of civility has been lost; respecting others with whom he disagree. With respect to homeschool curriculum, Mr. Booi clearly doesn’t have a clue about what our children learned, nor could he know the curriculum choices of homeschoolers.
Jen P.: The former premier of Alberta is a Liberal turned Reformer. He helped destroy the good things that Peter Lougheed gave Alberta. I could easily see that he couldn’t be trusted. Ralph Klein was the same way, and he couldn’t be trusted either, as he was another Liberal turned Reformer. He made a horrific mess of things, with the priciest shenanigans, cheating us out of our oil and tax wealth, doing very foolish cuts to the public education and the public healthcare systems, making our power prices go up, and causing a whole lot of damage. Where’s the sense in that?