Petition from Ontario High School Students
High school students in Ontario are circulating the
following petition. It is directed at Premier Doug Ford as well as the
leaders of the opposition parties in the Ontario Legislature. The
petition is part of their actions in preparation for mass walkouts on
April 4 to make their No! to the attacks on public education clear to
the government and
the other parties in the Legislature.
Stop Ford Changes to Ontario Education!!
Education is meant to prepare students for their life
beyond school; it helps to create a skilled economy and ultimately
levels the playing field for all people. The proposed Ontario education
cuts would target arts courses and programs, cut approximately 5000
teacher jobs, increase average class sizes, make E-learning mandatory,
cut funding
by 20%, and essentially strip away extracurricular activities including
sports from schools. The Ford government has set out to "balance the
budget," and in the short term they will, but the myopic policies
entirely disregard the fact that students are not numbers. Teachers are
not numbers. Our communities are not numbers. We as a generation have
inherited problems that no other generation has faced before. Issues
such as climate change, income polarization, and mounting social
tensions, and without a good education, we won't have the skills
required to solve them. We are asking the Ford government to reconsider
their proposal and think about the implications of their policies.
E-Learning is an innovative alternative to conventional
classrooms, but it is not a substitute. Every student learns
differently and making E-Learning mandatory is not an effort to
modernize education, but rather only works to help the bottom line.
Research by the Centre for Public Education has shown that the ideal
class size is between
13-17, but the Ford government once again is compromising students
learning experience in favour of cheaper alternatives. Education is an
investment whose value is unquantifiable.
With the Ford plan for education reform, the people who
will suffer most are those with disabilities and we who are too young
to have a vote. We have a voice. That's why we need to come together as
students to save our education system, for our communities, for
ourselves, and for future generations who will suffer the
repercussions. It's
not left or right, it's forward. Forward together. By signing this
petition we are fighting to protect our education system, our teachers,
and the students within. On April 4th at 1:15 pm we encourage you to
participate in the provincial walk out.
#cutshurtkids #StudentVoice #StudentssayNO #April4th
To sign the petition, click
here.
This article was published in
Number 11 - March 28, 2019
Article Link:
Petition from Ontario High School Students
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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