Petition from Ontario High School StudentsHigh 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.
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