Richmond - The Editor, Those who believe the BCTF is trying to impose a particular ideology on our education system should recognize that governments commonly impose their idea of what role public schooling should play in supporting their own social and economic agendas.
These goals are achieved through the processes of determining which subjects should or should not be included, or emphasized or minimized in school curricula, which fields of study should be funded more than others, how teachers are trained and evaluated, which school boards are deemed most worthy of support (relative to political compatibility), and which programs are most likely to be afforded the latest equipment and technologies to work with.
It would therefore be naive to believe that the BCTF is the only party in the current conflict with an ideological agenda.
Given the players involved and the fact that while governments come and go some teachers have been working in classrooms through the passing of three or four different governments, it is left to us to try and determine which agenda, in relative degrees, has more to do with a concern for the welfare and education of our children than the other - the one promoted by teachers who work with those children every day, or the politically motivated one primarily dedicated to achieving re-election?
Ray Arnold
Richmond
