Rational Anarchy Publishing-1993  Lazarus Long
                                                  lazarusl@vaxxine.com

The Diminishment of Education
in Ontario


     The idea that the education system exists to give our
children an education has evidently eluded the
administrators of our school system. That the tools and the
ability to succeed in later life should be taught in the
primary grades has not occurred to the bureaucrats that
administer the bloated and inefficient morass known as the
Ontario Ministry of Education. However one cannot just affix
the blame on the civil servants, for they are dependent on
the advice and the theories of the educational consultants
of the various faculties of educations at our universities.
These fantasy land inhabitants have been given license to
experiment with our children's education to test their
various hypotheses. This has resulted in a quality of
education that has declined in the past twenty years to the
point that freshman college students have to take grade five
level English for the first and second semesters in order
for them to be able to complete the writing assignments in
their programs.
     The greatest evil that these charlatans have
perpetrated on society is the diminishment of three
fundamentals of learning: reading, writing and arithmetic.
Without the ability to read and more importantly to
comprehend, one cannot hope to be able to learn anything
beyond that  is taught. Perhaps that is part of their long
range plan, a society that is incapable of envisioning
alternate ideas. This possibility, while seeming far-fetched
at first, makes sense once one realises that the Faculty of
Education at the University of Toronto is for the most part
an enclave of radical socialism and that for socialism to
succeed one must have a large base of unthinking, dependent
sheep for the government to lead.       Writing as a
mechanical exercise and as a creative tool seems to be
joining the other "old-fashioned" ideas in its diminishment
in the junior grades of our schools. Penmanship has become a
lost art as more of the students creative writing is done on
the computer. Admittedly this does allow the student to
devote more time to the creative process but with the use of
spell-checking, grammar correction software and the ease of
on screen editing, the repetition that came in presenting a
proofed final draft is lacking and more importantly the
practice in checking for grammatical and spelling errors is
also missed. This lack of grammatical competence is most
evident when on reads the essays written by the younger
students, at the college level, who have been subjected to
the "whole language" fraud throughout their academic life.
     Mathematics, at a time when industry is calling for
more skills, is another weakness of the modern education
system. Years ago, knowledge of the times tables and the
ability to do arithmetical calculations mentally was taken
for granted at the primary level. Now, it is considered
satisfactory for a student in the grade five to grade six
ranges to use his fingers to count on. This, I believe, has
come about due to the disdain held for drill by the modern
educator, who obviously has never heard of the phrase
"Practice makes perfect." The use of calculators should be
prohibited in the classroom in the elementary and the junior
high school. In fact a total ban would not hurt. I have no
claim as a great mathematician but I never used a calculator
until Trade school where it was assumed that the student
knew the principles of math and the calculator was used as a
device to speed up the calculations to keep up with the
workload.
     The province's insistence on mandatory multiculturalism
teaching in the school system directs money and time that
would be better spent on providing elementary students the
basic skills that they will need in their later school
years. The province and the local school boards seem to have
forgotten the definition of elementary. For the purpose of
reminding them I will state the Oxford Dictionary definition
of the word, "Elementary (adj.) dealing with the basic
principles of a subject." Therefore, elementary schools
should stick to the basic subjects. I see nothing wrong with
a curriculum consisting of mathematics, literature, grammar,
science, Canadian history and geography, and physical
education. An introduction to art and vocal music would be
nice as long as their inclusion did not divert too much time
or resources from the core subjects.
     The ending of streaming students into different levels
of study is an idea that serves well the socialist idea that
all people are the same but fails in the harsh light of
reality. It is common knowledge and scientifically proven
that people have varied learning abilities. It is also a
well-known fact that many of our faster learners would feel
bored sitting through review of material that they have
already mastered and would likely lose interest in their
studies. On the other hand, there are many who would fail to
keep up with the courses and would lose interest in their
studies. The prospect of losing the top students to ennui is
an unpleasant thought when one considers that as the next
century approaches we will need our brightest to keep pace
and to develop our new industries in the service and
technology fields. The slower learners that we will lose
through this will create a large group of discontented and
frustrated people who will find themselves shut out of the
job market. For the job market is changing, already there
has been a decrease in the amount of jobs that the poorly
educated may perform. In the future high academic skills and
intuitiveness will be required by industry, gone are the
days when industry needed strong backs and weak minds. The
role of the education system should be to provide in the
primary grades a basic knowledge of the fundamentals
discussed earlier with the addition, in grades seven and
eight, of essay and report writing to provide an essential
skill that also serves as a way of teaching disciplined work
habit that will benefit the student in later years.
     The high school years should see the student spend
grade nine in a period of general study where his
performance and aptitude in various subjects can be
observed, with an eye to placing the student in the field of
study that bests suits his or her abilities. The tenth,
eleventh and twelfth should be used to prepare the student
for entry into technology or service industry career paths
and to provide those with the ability and the desire to
attend a university, the skills required to succeed at that
level. Grade thirteen would be used to acquire advanced math
and science skills as well as practice in writing and
logical analysis.
     Of necessity the students heading to college level
education would be placed in different classes than those
going on to a university. This would allow courses to be
tailored to meet the needs of the students without wasted
time in irrelevant studies.
     Subjects that should be taught at the grade nine level
could include mathematics, English, a mandatory modern
language, Latin or Greek, physical education, history and
geography and science. The science course should be taught
in two semesters, one semester should be a basic biology
course and the second would be an introductory course in
physics. There should also be mandatory courses in shop and
in household management. By mandatory, I mean both sexes
should attend each of the courses. This would ensure that
both sexes get a feel for the type of skills required to
perform these two roles and it would also give them
experience in two essential life skills. The term shop does
not, at least in this example, mean autoshop or woodshop but
practical hands on experience in a variety of fields
including teaching basic electrical circuitry some hand and
power tool use, small appliance repair and other useful
skills. Similarly, Household management would go beyond
cooking and sewing and would cover budgeting, cost benefit
analysis how to shop for a mortgage and insurance as well as
parenting skills and problem solving.
English would be taught as a comprehensive course involving
some classical and contemporary literature with the aim of
teaching recognition of style. Several genres could be
studied and reports as well as classroom discussion would be
used as method of learning. Essay writing and creative
writing would be taught as well as prose and poetry
appreciation. Recitation and memory work should be used as
it helps provide a method of disciplining the memory. Proper
use of grammar would be stressed and required not only in
English classes but in all subjects throughout the
curriculum.
     By now the reader has no doubt noticed an absence of
basket weaving courses in the grade nine curriculum that I
have proposed. This is because I feel grade nine, in my
plan, is the most important year in high school and there is
simply no room for time fillers. In the later years, after
the student has placed himself in a course of study there
would be time allotted in the schedule for one interest
course per semester.
     Changes such as I have recommended would make life
easier in some ways for the instructors and professors at
the postsecondary level by having students entering their
institutions capable of communicating in English and
understanding how to write essays and reports. At the same
time it may provide them with a challenge as students having
learned how to analyse and ask more penetrating questions
would be less likely to accept statements from their
teachers as gospel. This would lead to a greater educational
experience for all concerned.
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