We're in the grips of teacher strike fear in BC  –  just a few days before school start.  Of 31 union "threats" to withdraw services, the go-ahead has been granted by the Labour Relations Board for all except 1.  Teachers must take attendance and transmit this information to the office.

My biggest complaint has been about the ILLEGAL withholding of preparation and sending of report cards to parents.  This leaves parents bereft of critical information by which they can monitor their child's progress  –  or decide to supplement with tutoring or withdraw the child from that school.  I wrote the following essay to a local newspaper blog with my views.

“THAT'S JUST SOME PARENT ON HOLD  . . . ”

“That's just some parent on hold who called complaining about something. If you let it blink long enough, she'll go away.”  (office assistant to Joel Klein, NYC schools chancellor, about a blinking phone in the office,  from “Class Warfare” by Steven Brill, 2011)

Well, it’s finally happened!  Parents have been rendered redundant to the cause of education of their children.

In the international scheme of things teacher unions generally follow the same agendas, the same demands, the same narratives.  But, it’s only in British Columbia that the powerful BC Teachers’ Federation has gained so much in asserting control.  No doubt the air-waves are congratulating the vanguard BCTF!

I saw the Education Minister’s interview where he was pleased that the Labour Relations Board ruled that attendance must be taken and transmitted by public school teachers during the upcoming “strike”.  That ensures the babysitting function.

I read the VSB chairperson’s opinion column state this “teach only campaign” would not harm children and was in aid of building a “fair society”. 

I read and heard the BCTF president proclaim that teachers will not do administrative or bureaucratic work.

I saw how the LRB was snookered into declaring “OK” an illegal withdrawal of services  –  they are excused from preparing and sending report cards to parents and guardians.

Now we are seeing school boards abolishing recess and cautioning parents that principals and vp’s may not be available for answering questions about their children due to administrative overload.

Do not be quieted, parents.  You have very effectively been squeezed out of the picture. Deliberately and opportunistically.  Pray tell, how can parents be responsible for the education of their children?.  It’s parents who are legally responsible but the state and its employees always diminish the parental role.  In fact, many parents say they actually are disempowered and made to feel inadequate.

For people in the public school system to say that parents can still talk to their teacher, or the teacher will call is not good enough!  Remember, in BC, it is legal for teachers to complain to parents about their grievances such as opposition to FSAs.  Who wants their ears filled with this stuff?

It is patently ILLEGAL to withhold report cards.  See my selection of legalities that says so here: 

http://genuine-education-reform-today.org/2011/08/08/withholding-student-reports-is-illegal/

How come the state socialist agenda to erode and diminish the family is so successful in BC?  It’s Orwell all over  –  War is Peace  –  Families First means Families Last!

I have seen ads for teachers in British newspapers in the 80s which had on their masthead “Socialism At Work”.

And I remember reading the USA Congressional Record of 1963 during their inquiry into communist infiltration with these quotes about communist goals:

- “Discredit the family as an institution”

- “Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents”

- “Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks.”

Victory for socialism but not for parents or civil society! I’m sick to my stomach with this takeover and parents usurped!

What have our youth in Vancouver got to complain about?  Compared to other parts of the world?

Compare and Contrast  –  Somalia, Libya, Egypt, Vancouver

see: 

NeoMarxism in Public Schools

How much of the curriculum in public schools is driven by ideological agendas? I’m wondering if progressive education is now becoming more Marxist.  More bold and confident.  

For a time we had, at our university (Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC), a two-year Masters program in teacher unionism in the works.  Can you imagine what a professional, university trained teacher unionist must be like?  The first cohort would have graduated this year  (2011). Can you imagine what a doctoral degree  –  a PhD in teacher unionism  –  would be like?

Or worse still, is progressivism and NeoMarxism such a given, a fait accompli, that it’s not worth challenging?  Is the penetration that bad?

Today I had an essay published in our local newspaper’s blog on the topic of the lack of leadership in education.  It’s a rather long essay and I mentioned NeoMarxism a few times.  Imagine my immense surprise when Google Search engine picked this up within a few hours:  NeoMarxism in Public Schools.

I see that the topic is not new, so let’s have a go.  I need to know more and so do others.  Just what are we dealing with here?

Below is the essay I mentioned.

Opportunists Love the Vacuum

(in Vancouver Sun blog, The Report Card, 2011 02 24)

I’ve written many essays on how the public education system in BC has been hijacked by special interests.  The “real leadership” in BC education is “behind the scenes” – pulling the levers and calling the shots. The system is one Big Swiss Cheese – full of holes and opportunities for squatters!

I will try to show how opportunists – the keen movers and shakers – assume leadership roles, influence and control in BC.

1.  Teacher Union Calls the Shots in BC

I explain how the BCTF, through stealth and intimidation, has acquired the role of “parallel government” in BC.  I point to Thomas Fleming’s research paper which pinpoints the year 1972 (NDP wins the provincial election) when the teacher union under “radical Marxist” Jim MacFarlan gained its foothold in education matters. I point to the current president, Susan Lambert, arrogantly acting like THE BOSS, saying BCTF should be consulted as a matter of course on educational matters.

http://genuine-education-reform-today.org/2010/12/14/teacher-union-calls-the-shots-in-bc/

2.  Teacher Union Narrative Sets a Toxic Tone

I ask why should the BCTF’s left-wing ideology continue its dominance.  The population in BC generally splits 25% committed left, 25% committed conservative, and 50% uncommitted middle. Why not have people choose from a plurality of school choices? The ideological left, however, opposes school choice because they want everyone “socialized” in one system for one system!

I bring in the matter of university professors adding to the left-wing education narrative.  UBC’s Charles Ungerleider decries the media reporting “neoliberal” values of “individualism, choice, competition, productive efficiency, and private enterprise.”  The opposite of neoliberalism is neoMarxism.  Does Ungerleider suggest the media should extol neoMarxist values?

SFU Professor Donald Gutstein quotes a Marxist economist in his plea to reframe BC education.

http://genuine-education-reform-today.org/2011/01/21/teacher-union-narrative-sets-a-toxic-tone/

3.  Wiping the Slate Clean Won’t Solve the Testing Wars

The BCTF has a predictable annual agitation campaign. Any union issue will do.  This last decade it’s been the FSAs. (Campaigns are used for purposes such as — to stay in the public eye, to radicalize teachers, to test mobilizing techniques, to threaten and cajole, to form coalitions, etc.)  Many trustees, school boards, and now the principals/vp association have joined the resistance.

The BCTF exploitation of parents in this cause is unconscionable. It is the height of usurpation and violation of the trust of parents – parents who are so eager to do what’s best for their children.  Parents don’t readily see the politics behind their ill-usage. I show how a BCTF article in their magazine boldly says that in lieu of a teacher boycott there should be a “Parent Boycott”.

http://genuine-education-reform-today.org/2011/01/25/wiping-the-slate-clean-wont-solve-school-testing-wars/

4.  Who Should Rule Education – The Government or Teacher Union?

BC is seen as cowardly in face of BCTF threats. The national paper, the Globe and Mail had an article on the matter.  Over 130 comments. I made 4 comments explaining to other Canadians our pitiful circumstances.  I reiterated how it was time for school choice, that vouchers would be welcome so that parents could choose non-conflicted schools.

I showed how lay control via school boards is compromised by trustees who pledge to support teacher union causes in exchange for electoral support. I mentioned C&D and SLAPP tactics being used to chill debate and criticism by the public.

I was delighted when the story and comments flushed out another element in the “behind the scenes” control of education.  I said:  “What has remained hidden till now are the Masters of the Game, the university people behind the scenes.  And, there are many professors, deans, departments, programs, foundations.”

http://genuine-education-reform-today.org/2011/01/28/who-should-rule-education-the-government-or-teacher-union/

Ungerleider in another paper on Globalization states that teachers in BC “have achieved a measure of professional autonomy and influence unparalleled in other North American jurisdictions.”  The upcoming bargaining promises to be fierce!

Frankly, talking about THE SYSTEM is part of the problem. We don’t need big-time leaders! There should be no one big system.  No hierarchies. No central control.   Devolve the system so that the smaller units, the schools, are self-managing with their own local leadership subject to their own boards of directors. The model of our independent schools should be followed. New Zealand did the devolution route in 1989 (the same year the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union dissolved.)

We need to devolve in BC education and the mechanism for that is equal vouchers for all qualifying students K-12 with the funding following the student to the school of the parents’ and students’ choice.  Let there be strong leadership at the local, grassroots level!  That is what contributes to a more civil society versus our volatile hostilities now being suffered.