This provincial election is just so full of crap that it's going to take a series of garbage bags to contain it... so here's rant #1
Are we stupid?
Let’s not mince words here. The issue is being clouded by words like “religious” and “faith based”. The fact is that these are private schools. Of course, the argument becomes more personal and heated when you use words like “religion”, which then seem to lead to words like “discrimination”.
We have an inclusive, secular (occasional Christian ghosts from the past not withstanding), public system. If anyone wants something different, then they have every right to seek it out and pay for it. Freedom of religion does not mean freedom from cost!
I need not expound on tired slippery slope rhetoric to make a point but if we fund one group of private schools because they are faith based, why not fund other private schools based on preferred curricula?
The public system is still suffering the negative financial consequences of having their funding split with the Catholic system. The funding of Catholic schools was a terrible mistake. If we start giving public funding to more private schools, we are just compounding that mistake. Even now, the future of the Catholic system is in question due to it’s public funding. Is there no fear that other private schools will also end up being absorbed by the public boards once they are publicly funded? Yet the proponents of public funding keep citing the Catholic board debacle as a strong precedent.
So what would be best for my son who is languishing in an under funded public system that excels in meritocracy? One of two things I believe…
A- To attend a private school where a gifted child can receive the attention he needs to reach full potential (which I can’t afford without public funding)
B- To attend properly funded public school where a gifted child can receive the attention he needs to reach full potential (which the system can’t afford if our tax dollars are split amongst a host of private schools)
So here we are. Important issues such as the environment and the exodus of manufacturing from Ontario are now all on the back burner thanks to this divisive issue being thrown out like a chicken to the starving pack of hyenas that are the media. Sad isn’t it?
Are we stupid?
Let’s not mince words here. The issue is being clouded by words like “religious” and “faith based”. The fact is that these are private schools. Of course, the argument becomes more personal and heated when you use words like “religion”, which then seem to lead to words like “discrimination”.
We have an inclusive, secular (occasional Christian ghosts from the past not withstanding), public system. If anyone wants something different, then they have every right to seek it out and pay for it. Freedom of religion does not mean freedom from cost!
I need not expound on tired slippery slope rhetoric to make a point but if we fund one group of private schools because they are faith based, why not fund other private schools based on preferred curricula?
The public system is still suffering the negative financial consequences of having their funding split with the Catholic system. The funding of Catholic schools was a terrible mistake. If we start giving public funding to more private schools, we are just compounding that mistake. Even now, the future of the Catholic system is in question due to it’s public funding. Is there no fear that other private schools will also end up being absorbed by the public boards once they are publicly funded? Yet the proponents of public funding keep citing the Catholic board debacle as a strong precedent.
So what would be best for my son who is languishing in an under funded public system that excels in meritocracy? One of two things I believe…
A- To attend a private school where a gifted child can receive the attention he needs to reach full potential (which I can’t afford without public funding)
B- To attend properly funded public school where a gifted child can receive the attention he needs to reach full potential (which the system can’t afford if our tax dollars are split amongst a host of private schools)
So here we are. Important issues such as the environment and the exodus of manufacturing from Ontario are now all on the back burner thanks to this divisive issue being thrown out like a chicken to the starving pack of hyenas that are the media. Sad isn’t it?
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