socialist Posted April 10, 2014 Report Share Posted April 10, 2014 No surprise but a sad state of affairs in Alberta over that provinces vote against Gay-Straight alliances in schools. Alberta proving again that it is a backwards place on he wrong side of history. Who cares about kids anymore? Public schools promote tolerance and politicians shoot it down. It sickens me. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/vote-against-gay-straight-alliances-raises-tempers-in-the-legislature-1.2604767 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waldo Posted April 10, 2014 Report Share Posted April 10, 2014 in this case, why should the/a government usurp the responsibility/mandate of duly elected school boards? More pointedly, none of the stakeholders were consulted prior to the Opposition party member motion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
socialist Posted April 10, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2014 in this case, why should the/a government usurp the responsibility/mandate of duly elected school boards? More pointedly, none of the stakeholders were consulted prior to the Opposition party member motion. Just more neo-liberal negative influences on public education waldo. Neo-liberalism is the problem and you know it whether you choose to believe it or not. It's your decision. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waldo Posted April 10, 2014 Report Share Posted April 10, 2014 Just more neo-liberal negative influences on public education waldo. Neo-liberalism is the problem and you know it whether you choose to believe it or not. It's your decision. huh! Just what economic growth ties are you presuming to "squeeze" out of this? I note you didn't answer my question as relates to the authority/mandate of (elected) school boards being usurped by the intended motion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
socialist Posted April 10, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2014 huh! Just what economic growth ties are you presuming to "squeeze" out of this? I note you didn't answer my question as relates to the authority/mandate of (elected) school boards being usurped by the intended motion. I give a rat's ass about school boards. Neo-liberals are creating havoc on public education waldo. Time for you to become informed about the massive underfunding of education across Canada and especially in BC. Waldo you know a lot but when it comes to public education it's time for you to shit or get off the pot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waldo Posted April 10, 2014 Report Share Posted April 10, 2014 I give a rat's ass about school boards. clearly! What about teachers? Neither school boards... or teachers... or parents..... or any stakeholders for that matter, were consulted prior to the motion being brought forward by an Opposition party member. Neo-liberals are creating havoc on public education waldo. how so? Examples??? Time for you to become informed about the massive underfunding of education across Canada and especially in BC. what does this have to do with Gay-Straight Alliances in schools? Waldo you know a lot but when it comes to public education it's time for you to shit or get off the pot. what, uhhh... pot do you perceive me to be on? What would you like me to exactly do/say... to get off that pot? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestCoastRunner Posted April 11, 2014 Report Share Posted April 11, 2014 Good to see you back Waldo! I do look forward to your informed posts! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
socialist Posted April 11, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2014 clearly! What about teachers? Neither school boards... or teachers... or parents..... or any stakeholders for that matter, were consulted prior to the motion being brought forward by an Opposition party member. how so? Examples??? what does this have to do with Gay-Straight Alliances in schools? what, uhhh... pot do you perceive me to be on? What would you like me to exactly do/say... to get off that pot? waldo, public education is under attack from neo-liberals. you know that without properly funded public education, democracy in this country will continue to erode. You know a lot waldo but you knowledge on the threats public education is facing is minimal. here, read this for a little understanding of the neo-liberal agenda. https://bctf.ca/publications/NewsmagArticle.aspx?id=21900 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idealisttotheend Posted April 11, 2014 Report Share Posted April 11, 2014 (edited) School boards get all their funding in Alberta from the province, the government decides when, where and how to build any new schools or to fund maintenance of old ones, and the province has complete control of the curriculum. Boards are considered a junior level to said province. The constitution and Charter also applies to boards like the rest of us. It is a bit rich to suggest that forcing them to honour GLBT rights is suddenly infringing on their territory when they are considered to have very little power to start with. In fact, it is ludicrous and simply a way for conservatives to justify allowing bigotry by religious or rural groups.... Edited April 11, 2014 by idealisttotheend Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waldo Posted April 11, 2014 Report Share Posted April 11, 2014 waldo, public education is under attack from neo-liberals. you know that without properly funded public education, democracy in this country will continue to erode. You know a lot waldo but you knowledge on the threats public education is facing is minimal. here, read this for a little understanding of the neo-liberal agenda. https://bctf.ca/publications/NewsmagArticle.aspx?id=21900 your link's content is long on both veiled & overt rhetoric and devoid of actual examples... like the examples I queried you for. I suggest you start a new thread... package up this unrelated topic... unrelated to this thread... along with your other recent thread decrying the inclusion of corporate interests in potential education cirriculum shaping. Let's have you provide real and meaningful discourse on your apparent concerns with 'Cirriculum 21', 'PISA testing', etc.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waldo Posted April 11, 2014 Report Share Posted April 11, 2014 The constitution and Charter also applies to boards like the rest of us. It is a bit rich to suggest that forcing them to honour GLBT rights is suddenly infringing on their territory when they are considered to have very little power to start with. In fact, it is ludicrous and simply a way for conservatives to justify allowing bigotry by religious or rural groups.... in terms of the mandated provincial responsibilities school boards hold... and "power" attachments therein, you don't know what you're talking about. In any case, the Alberta Legislature motion in question carried no binding lawful legislation; it was purely a symbolic..... gesture, one put forward by an Opposition Party member. It's also, as you say, a bit rich to imply the vote result is an infringement of Constitutional/Charter bound LGBTQ rights. But since you went there, in regards the Education Section 93, it is anticipated the recent related Ontario legislation, as affects Catholics/Catholic school boards, will be subject to a direct Charter challenge and/or an appeal to the federal cabinet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted April 11, 2014 Report Share Posted April 11, 2014 Promotion of the gay agenda has no place in public education. Good on Alberta for standing their ground against left-wing indoctrination. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hardner Posted April 11, 2014 Report Share Posted April 11, 2014 Promotion of the gay agenda has no place in public education. Good on Alberta for standing their ground against left-wing indoctrination. You're forgetting the first rule of political posturing: "think of the children" - in this case, the children who are bullied and abused because they are gay. Children and parents deserve to have the system they pay for (taxpayer-speak here) guarantee them an education without harassment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
socialist Posted April 11, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2014 your link's content is long on both veiled & overt rhetoric and devoid of actual examples... like the examples I queried you for. I suggest you start a new thread... package up this unrelated topic... unrelated to this thread... along with your other recent thread decrying the inclusion of corporate interests in potential education cirriculum shaping. Let's have you provide real and meaningful discourse on your apparent concerns with 'Cirriculum 21', 'PISA testing', etc.. It is not even close to being long on veiled and overt rhetoric. Did you even read it? So you are OK with the current government's push for the privatization of public education creating a two tiered system? Do you even understand the threats public education is facing? I think this is one topic you know little about. Please educate yourself. also courts ruled in favour of the BCTF. Were you even aware of that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted April 11, 2014 Report Share Posted April 11, 2014 You're forgetting the first rule of political posturing: "think of the children" - in this case, the children who are bullied and abused because they are gay. Children and parents deserve to have the system they pay for (taxpayer-speak here) guarantee them an education without harassment. Kids will bully ANYONE if they are allowed to. Sexuality has nothing to do with it. The wrong hair or clothes, listen to the wrong music, etc. You can't pick out one thing at a time. The eventual list will be far too long, and the resources to deal with them all will take away from real education. No bullying policies are a very good idea. Using it as an excuse to promote special interests is a very bad idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted April 11, 2014 Report Share Posted April 11, 2014 So you are OK with the current government's push for the privatization of public education creating a two tiered system? That is actually a really good idea. I wish they would do that in Manitoba. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hardner Posted April 11, 2014 Report Share Posted April 11, 2014 Kids will bully ANYONE if they are allowed to. Sexuality has nothing to do with it. I don't think that's true, and people who have endured the abuse would likely disagree with you. You most definitely can pick out one thing at a time, and why shouldn't you ? These programs don't necessarily need to be permanent but they do need to be there IMO. Obviously many others feel the same way. The resources to deal with them are part of a pool of resources used to make a great education system. We could fund this by cutting the badminton team, if you prefer. After all there are less badminton players than gay people. No bullying policies are a very good idea. Using it as an excuse to promote special interests is a very bad idea. The special interests angle is just a conspiracy theory, unless you can provide proof of people promoting protection of these kids for other reasons than the obvious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
left_alberta Posted April 11, 2014 Report Share Posted April 11, 2014 In this kind of debate, it's always hard to tell who is sincerely advancing a jurisidictional objection(ie. the government should not mandate what clubs get recognized by local schools), and who is using the issue as a dog-whistle for bigots. If it's unprecedented for the government to give orders to school boards on this kind of matter, then I could believe that some of the objection is about respecting local autonomy. But if it's not unprecedented, then I have to think that the people voting against the motion are just looking for an excuse to be seen slamming gays. For the record, the Alberta government does support, if not mandate, the establishment of GSAs. At least on their website. http://tinyurl.com/n86mqof One thing, the Tories should be careful how they tread here, because if the conventional wisdom is to be believed, they won the last election largely due to revulsion at the homophobia of Wildrose candidates. So it's debatable how far they can now go in alienating gay and gay-positive voters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
overthere Posted April 11, 2014 Report Share Posted April 11, 2014 No surprise but a sad state of affairs in Alberta over that provinces vote against Gay-Straight alliances in schools. Alberta proving again that it is a backwards place on he wrong side of history. Who cares about kids anymore? Public schools promote tolerance and politicians shoot it down. It sickens me. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/vote-against-gay-straight-alliances-raises-tempers-in-the-legislature-1.2604767 You are wholly ignorant of the hiostory of Alberta in education(btw, the province led Canada and much of the world in the PISA student assessments). The Edmonton Public School Board is a titan of public education and has done many bold things to ensure the health of the system. There are very few private schools in Edmonton because of what they have done. That good work was largely done by a gent called Emery Dosdall, who was met by threats and hysteria by the BC teacher unions when he came to BC to try and make some sense out of your mess. It's been copied elsewhere Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guyser Posted April 11, 2014 Report Share Posted April 11, 2014 You are wholly ignorant of the hiostory of Alberta in education(btw, the province led Canada and much of the world in the PISA student assessments).Per chance do you have a link? My soures say Que first, BC second and Alberta below the avg for Canada http://www.cmec.ca/252/Programs-and-Initiatives/Assessment/Programme-for-International-Student-Assessment-(PISA)/PISA-2012/index.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
overthere Posted April 11, 2014 Report Share Posted April 11, 2014 http://www.macleans.ca/education/uniandcollege/why-albertas-education-system-is-better/ they led Canada and nearly all the world for about 10 years until 2012/13, and have slid back a bit since. Socialist hates Alberta Education because they have mandatory student assessement testing at grades 3, 6, 9 . The info is pulsihed on a school level. Some think it is also a teacher assessment tool, although there are no instances of any teacher being censured for chronic poor class performance. The principals(also union members) are clever enough to put strong teachers into those grades. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
socialist Posted April 13, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2014 That is actually a really good idea. I wish they would do that in Manitoba. My contacts in Manitoba tell me their public education system is awesome because the provincial government there understands and respects proper funding of public education. Count yourself lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
socialist Posted April 13, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2014 http://www.macleans.ca/education/uniandcollege/why-albertas-education-system-is-better/ they led Canada and nearly all the world for about 10 years until 2012/13, and have slid back a bit since. Socialist hates Alberta Education because they have mandatory student assessement testing at grades 3, 6, 9 . The info is pulsihed on a school level. Some think it is also a teacher assessment tool, although there are no instances of any teacher being censured for chronic poor class performance. The principals(also union members) are clever enough to put strong teachers into those grades. You make me laugh when you think testing is useful. The latest research says testing is useless. You need to educate yourself. http://www.joebower.org/2013/03/de-testing-and-de-grading-schools.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted April 13, 2014 Report Share Posted April 13, 2014 My contacts in Manitoba tell me their public education system is awesome because the provincial government there understands and respects proper funding of public education. Count yourself lucky. Your "contacts" are wrong. Our public education here is utter garbage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
socialist Posted April 13, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2014 Your "contacts" are wrong. Our public education here is utter garbage. Nope. The many teachers I know in Manitoba say public education there is top notch and improving greatly under the NDP and their working together with the MTS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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