Ruminations: Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child

"Your union has won this day ['professional development day'] in our collective agreement at a time where teachers are released to attend ETT-organized professional development activities."
Elementary Teachers of Toronto union

"Climate change and the classroom: Engaging students about frontline climate work [or] Teaching math while White [or] Centering anti-racist and anti-colonial pedagogy in early years literacy [or] Elementary teachers acting for social justice -- theatre of the oppressed [or] An abolitionist approach to dismantling racism in the math classroom."
Among list of 25 workshops offered to teachers: Elementary Teachers of Toronto professional development day

"[I have pledged to take] an intersectional perspective which aims to eliminate disproportionate outcomes for students."
Director of Education, Toronto District School Board

Nightmares. Frequent tears. Fear of going to school.

The three Rs have been exchanged for diversity sensitivity. Reading, writing and 'rithmetic no longer have the honoured first place in Ontario schools, deep-sixed in favour of touchy-feely sensibiliies to make better citizens of students on their way to adulthood. Some may turn out to be academic dolts knowing little-to-nothing about geography and history and heritage subjects, about the natural world around us, about science and nationhood. Because the politics of 'identity' and the ideal of 'outcomes' favouring those groups seen as socially/culturally and educationally disadvantaged must be addressed.

Now, with the emphasis of righting past wrongs by disadvantaging everyone, all the bumps on the road to adulthood will be equally distributed among all students -- graduating with great knowledge gaps in their formative/learning years. At Toronto high school York Memorial Collegiate Institute, incidents of violence have been erupting inclusive of violent assaults, drug deals, almost daily fights and verbal harassment. This is becoming 'normal' for both students and teaching staff.

Among the York Memorial staff fourteen decided to respect their sanity, refusing to appear at their workplace, naming unsafe working conditions as their reason for non-compliance. There is a "jump list" (list of people targeted for physical attack)_specifically named by three of the staff, in circulation among the students. And then there is Saunders Secondary School in London, Ontario with its reputation for violence, students challenging teachers to fist fights.

Researchers surveyed 3,854 education workers, members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), between Feb. 3, 2020, and March 13, 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Workers were asked about their experiences of harassment and violence during the 2018-2019 school year.The survey did not include teachers. Instead, researchers looked at education assistants, early childhood educators, child and youth workers and school support staff. (The Associated Press)

Across Canada, these random and still-rare occurrences have led to students and teachers feeling that their school day may come complete with the excitement of being unsafe. Leap ahead to the cause; school administrators clinging to the benefits of placing disciplinary actions high up on a dusty shelf, as incompatible with "responsive, equitable and restorative practices", which appears to be the latest darling among the education cognoscenti.

At the Thames Valley District School Board (includes Saunders Seconcary) aims to reduce the number of student suspensions to focus on other more meaningful measures. Leading to students who egregiously misbehave facing little to no disciplinary measures. Toronto School trustees ruled out reviving the School Resource Officer program in which case unless school administrators contact police to report a crime,York Memorial will be absent any police school presence as a cautionary device.

School administrators appear uniformly inclined now to espouse woke ideology promoting a lax disciplinary methodology along with divisive curiculum. Which appears to signal to students that violence will be tolerated in schools. Leaving students and their teachers in suspense about what they may encounter each day they enter the precincts of their school to teach reasonable students on the teachers' part and to obtain a good education on the part of the students.