What is needed is a clear policy prohibiting indoctrination nonsense and the ability for the province to enforce it. Pictured: Ontario Education Minister Jill Dunlop. Photo Credit: Jill Dunlop/X.
If teachers and school boards spent as much time “indoctrinating” our children in how to read and do math, instead of dragging them into “social justice” rallies of one kind or another, we might find that student performance scores would be increasing rather than decreasing.
But once again, the Toronto District School Board has set a new standard for unacceptable and frankly, unbelievable behaviour.
Last week, children as young as eight were carted off to what was originally billed as a demonstration in support of the Grassy Narrows Indigenous community’s years-long battle for clean water.
The event quickly deteriorated into an anti-Israel demonstration, complete with the usual pro-Hamas chants and buttons saying “Zionism kills.” One can only imagine the alarm from the young Jewish children who were included in the student group.
The note to parents, seeking their permission for the students to attend the demonstration said students would be observing only, not participating. That was clearly not the case as students from middle school grades marched beside demonstrators, chanting anti-Israel slogans and waving handmade signs.
This is wrong on so many levels, it is hard to know where to begin.
First is just the simple issue of safety! No matter where one stands on the contentious Middle East war, it is not uncommon for such demonstrations to risk varying degrees of violence. The school board and those teachers had no business putting those students in harm’s way, especially after deceiving parents as to their children’s role.
What would have happened if things had gotten out of hand and a child was hurt? What were the teachers or school board officials thinking who allowed this to happen? Perhaps that is the point, they weren’t.
Which raises another issue, that of trust. When the next permission slip comes home, asking parents to approve their child’s participation in a future school outing, how do they know it is accurately describing what will take place? It also appears that the board ignored parents’ earlier concerns about the event, which makes the matter all the more serious.
The third important issue goes much deeper. It appears that far too many teachers do not understand the difference between teaching and indoctrination, between providing all the facts so students learn to think, rather than being brainwashed into the only “politically correct” view.
The issues involved in the Middle East conflict and the Indigenous community at Grassy Narrows are of long-standing and they are complex. Both are important topics for students to learn about at the appropriate time, in an age-appropriate way and in a way that allows the students to reach their own conclusions.
The school board has issued a lame apology and promised to review its field trip policies. But it is too little, too late from a school board that has continually demonstrated that it is more focused on the latest “woke” thinking rather than on its job of educating our children. Its behaviour and the behaviour of the teachers involved, undermines the reputation of all.
It is time for Jill Dunlop, the new minister of education, to step in and fix it. What is needed is a clear policy prohibiting this kind of nonsense and the ability for the province to enforce it.
Janet Ecker is a former Ontario Finance Minister, Minister of Education, Minister of Community and Social Services and Government House Leader in the governments of Premier Mike Harris and Premier Ernie Eves. After her political career, she served as the founding CEO of the Toronto Financial Services Alliance, a public-private partnership dedicated to building Toronto region into an international financial centre. She currently sits on a number of corporate and non-profit boards, agencies and advisory committees.
Ms. Ecker received the Order of Canada for her public service contributions and was recognized as one of the “Most Influential People in the World’s Financial Centres” by Financial Centres International. She also received a “Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award” from the Women’s Executive Network and the Richard Ivey School of Business, among other awards. She is also one of the founders of Equal Voice, a national, multi-partisan organization working to elect more women.
