I suspect that unless the School Act in BC is changed, alternative TRADITIONAL schools will not see the light of day in the public school board system.

If there are public traditional schools in BC, I would like to know which ones they are. Do any exist?

The recent attacks on trustee Mike Huber in Maple Ridge Pitt-Meadows are, I suspect, related to his child's attendance at a private school and his support for follow-through to the parent survey revealing a high interest in a traditional school.

I did a huge essay on this topic in a round-about fashion for Janet's Vancouver Sun blog. Here it is:

Public Education Trumps Government Schooling!

1. DISCLOSURE: I ran in the last West Vancouver school board elections of Nov/08. I obtained 1/10 of the votes cast. While I earnestly wished NOT to be elected, I promised, and it was prominent on my website,
http://abolish-school-boards.org/?s=trustee+awareness

that if elected, I would do my best to be a good trustee. I ran for 2 main reasons, a) to bring to public attention the notion of abolishing school boards, and b) to gauge the interest in this idea by the public and other municipal candidates.

HOWEVER, had I been elected, I would not consider it a conflict of interest or a contradiction to work to abolish the very board I sat on. The electorate would have said, yes, we want to see progress in this direction.

2. ABOLISH SCHOOL BOARDS has become a much more frequent Google item even in the last few months. Today the references number 261,000. Frequently quoted is this Mark Twain quote:
"In the first place God made idiots. This was for practice. Then He made School Boards."

3. TOP-DOWN, HIERARCHICAL DECISION-MAKING is increasingly being challenged. We have this year’s Nobel Economics winner, Elinor Ostrom, saying “policy makers are reconsidering the consequences of past reforms and recommending charter schools, voucher systems, and other reforms that create more responsive schools.” See my letter to the editor, North Shore News, Dec.13/09 http://www2.canada.com/northshorenews/ne...76-465e6d8cd498

4. HYPOCRISY, BETRAYAL, DISLOYALTY should not be terms hurled at public school trustees who use private schools in the best interests of their own children. Even Ministers of Education use private schools. This reminds me of some research about BC in the 80’s. From an SFU thesis, “The political influence of the individual in educational policy-making” by G.S.Waymark, we read “The NDP also criticize the radicalism of the BCTF and recognize that its own members shunned the public system to some extent.” Then this quote from an unnamed NDPer “Almost all the Cabinet members were sending their kids to private schools…and many NDP MLAs were sending their kids to private schools.” (The Cabinet members mentioned were Socreds.)

5. UNIVERSAL PUBLIC EDUCATION is the reason we pay taxes to educate the young. Good and noble idea. But, I will argue until the cows come home that there is a HUGE divide between universal public education and government schooling. The first is what we want from an educated public, as we want a good level of public health.

That does NOT mean we need government to process the students, services, teachers, etc. Government schooling smacks of mass indoctrination.

Yes, collect the money but disburse it to the client. Let the money follow the child, parents choosing which school or style for education. A fair distribution to all in the K-12 BC population and with extra credits for those with special needs.

I see a much higher level of literacy, critical thinking, creativity, teamwork, etc., etc., arising from this style than the present hierarchical monopoly, heavily bureaucratized, over-administered, homogenous, expensive system we have now. Within this blog, Report Card, I have written two essays on this topic.

Public Education is the End, Not the Means http://genuine-education-reform-today.org/2009/12/15/state-schooling-vs-public-education/
BIG Difference Between Public Education and Government Schools
http://genuine-education-reform-today.or...rnment-schools/

For a 48 pg Think Tank paper on the topic see: The Public Education Tax Credit
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=8812

6. EGALITARIAN AGENDA THREATENED: Is that the reason for the hostility towards Mr. Huber, a first-time trustee candidate who topped the polls and who now is the subject of censure for enrolling his child into a private school? There is a progressive, egalitarian, repressive, leveling, mean streak running deep in BC and it says that all must go through the public school mill (no exit, not choice). Even in Australia 37 % choose non-government schools vs BC 11%.

Does Mr. Huber, by chance, support the notion of REAL traditional schools? Is Mr. Huber, by chance, rocking the boat, when he says that the recent survey of parent interests showing an overwhelming desire for a traditional school should be taken seriously? That parent preferences do matter, damned be the progressives in administration, teaching and trustee ranks? Is he ruffling feathers in his trustee role and being vilified extraneously? Is Mr. Huber too uber for the rest of the gang? Is he a tall poppy that needs to be cut down?

7. MY SUMMARY: The Berlin Wall is down, the Soviet system has disintegrated, yet we still see soviet-era politics at play in BC. Stop the central control, the collectivization of society, the march to the same drummer, the control and the hidden curriculum of state schooling. Those who have been advocating separation of state and education, for new models of delivery of education, need to be heard. We can achieve a highly educated public through 100’s of different, responsive, independent, self-organized styles of education.

There are rules to follow, structures and principles to adhere to, rights to respect and enforce, and further essays on this aspect can be produced. But, the models are there. Non-profits, independent schools, and others already embody these principles and serve as examples where parents and workers run great schools for far less money than government schools. The payoffs are there. If only the stranglehold of ideological control freaks and married-to-the-bureaucratic-model people would let go. And, of course, we must challenge those who think parents and school-level workers can’t be trusted to make effective decisions.

Our BC School Act as the template of these rigid, top-down out-dated organizational forms needs serious reworking. And, hopefully, these debates on private/public issues can help advance the cause toward more responsive models of education.
091216