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If you want your kids to go to school with all of society – public schools are slowly no longer serving that need. Publicly funded speciality schools and programs are popping up everywhere and are breaking the system into fragments.

When public money dries up for these programs, and it will. The case for public education will be lost since the benefit of gaining perspective from being educated with children of all backgrounds will be gone. Chartered schools will spring up with cash strapped governments more than happy to reduce their education funding.

The loss of a strong public education system that has been a cornerstone of a progressive Ontario would be a shame. The irony is that it is being brought about by people wanting exclusivity in their public education system, but who are unable to afford the private option. This same demographic will be hurt the most – when these public programs get cut and parents come crawling back to a universal public system that many stakeholders have since abandoned.

Column originally published in the Guelph Mercury Sept. 28, 2008.  

With the new school year underway, I want to talk about that dirty word for students — homework.

It seems it now is a dirty word for some Ontario school boards, too, as they have placed limits on the amount of homework students can be assigned. Some have even gone so far as to ban homework altogether in the early grades.

While I can see the merits of reducing the homework burden at the elementary level, I think we do our high school students a disservice if we lessen the expectation of their workload outside the classroom.

If anything, in today’s competitive global economy we need to raise the bar higher. Telling students to study more and socialize less may be easier said than done. Believe me I know, but we owe it to our young people to keep trying and not give up.

When I was in elementary school I was a pretty conscientious student who spent many a night doing at least an hour worth of homework.

In Grade 5, I can remember watching with envy from my bedroom window as my school friend Terry was playing and hanging out with other kids in the neighbourhood. I, however, stayed committed to my studies and eventually was rewarded for it.

I won the academic award for my elementary school and was accepted — along with everyone else who passed Grade 8 — to our local high school.

Like many elementary school friends who enter high school together, Terry and I started hanging out with different crowds and pursuing different interests. Mine was getting out more and having fun. I still wanted to get decent grades, but having a social life was certainly a much greater priority.

Playing sports let me hang with the jock crowd and my social calendar was kept busy enough to keep my head out of the books.

During my grad year, high school was a blast and I had the confident swagger seniors get when they think they have life by the tail. Sure enough, I was in for a wake up call.

For me, it happened around 3 a.m. at an all-night graduation event being held at Canada’s Wonderland.

There I met up with my old elementary school chum Terry and we caught up with each other while he drank his new favourite beverage, coffee. I told Terry how I was having so much fun this past year and I asked how his final year had gone.

He sighed, and seemed relieved it was over. Turns out he had been doing at least two hours of homework a night in his final year and even more prepping for his exams, hence the coffee.

He was heading off to Queen’s University to take biology and chemistry. I on the other hand was still waiting to hear back from my top school selection.

When I left him that night, I knew I had not pushed myself to anywhere close to my potential. Unlike elementary school, my high school marks mattered.

I ended up not getting into the top-tier university of my choice and there were no graduation awards or scholarships for my half- hearted effort.

Luckily, I got that wake-up call early enough to make changes and eventually was able to get on the right track.

From there, I soon realized that the years of university and post-graduation were the real party.

Nothing in high school came close to the fun times and lasting memories of those years. Independence and disposable income really are a fantastic combination!

Your greatest years of socializing and utter freedom shouldn’t be in high school — too much of your life lies ahead of you to be looking in the rear-view mirror.

It is true that not every student is bound for university or college, but all students can push themselves to reach their potential whatever that may be.

The stakes are even higher today in our competitive global economy.

Students today are not only competing with the kid sitting beside them for post-secondary spots, but also with students all around the world.

The safety net of low-skilled jobs that are held by some of the parents of today’s students are now heading elsewhere and even if a high school grad can find one, it soon won’t pay anywhere close to what their parents received.

So if you are in high school and sacrificing your social life as you study long hours or master your trade for our skills-based economy, don’t worry, your party is up around the bend.

But if you’re a student without a marketable skill, doing little work, but having an absolute blast, well enjoy, but your party may soon be over.

Written some negative things about unions in the past, that made some label me as a anti-union or a union buster etc. . So let me clarify.

When it comes to Private – Sector Unions I do believe in the right to organize and negotiate collectively. When the work itself is low-skill and offers the worker little or no protection - I do believe unions have a necessary place in society.  All one needs to do is read the book the “Grapes of Wrath” to understand the need for workers to organize. 

I am encouraged to see worker’s in China and other parts of the developing world beginning to understand the power of the collective and fight for better wages and work conditions.

My frustration is not directed toward private-sector unions – but unions in the public-sector, and more specifically teacher unions.  

Teaching, I believe is a profession that requires great skill and passion for one’s success.  Unfortunately, teacher unions have denigrated this great profession into one that believes that all teacher workers are of equal ability and skill.  This is a myth that no one believes, but it permeates throughout education and impedes any meaningful reform.  What it has done though, is create a race toward mediocrity among its members. 

Teachers have told me that we need a union to ”protect” us from an abusive government that would rein in compensation and increase expectations and accountability. To that I say this –  we live in a democracy. If a government is elected to reform education, who are we to stand in the way?

In a democracy citizens are able to shape public public policy – including education.  If we deny parents and others the ability to influence the education system through  the threat of strikes and other actions, then people will choose other alternatives such as private and charter schools.

After over ten years of teaching and early in my career being actively involved in my teachers’ union one thing  has become clear.  That I cannot believe strongly in education and support my teacher’s union. They are a liability toward the cause of public education. They stand in the way of any meaningful improved teacher performance and appraisal.

Through the threat of work stoppage, they continually fill their pockets while needed money is drained from other areas of need within the education system.       

I believe public school teachers realize the role they play in supporting and defending public education. I remain hopeful teachers would rather support a Teacher Association that promotes and protects public education and not just their job.

I knew when the rationale for why my wife and I decided not to send our kids into FI program here in Guelph was published, it would cause a stir. Some thoughts…

First off, the decision is one that was made based on how FI is run in Guelph.  How FI programs are run vary from board to board and the arguments offered were from a Guelph perspective. Our decision might have been quite different if we lived in Ottawa for example.

In respect to the talent pool comment. I have heard no one dispute the column’s claim there are less applicants for FI postings than non.  That being the case I don’t know of anyone who would not rather have a larger pool of qualified applicants to choose from when hiring for any position – let alone one as important as a classroom teacher.   This argument does not mean that all FI teachers are bad,  a fact clearly stated in my column

“This doesn’t mean there aren’t some talented French immersion teachers out there.”

I even happen to know a few.

For some – their anger stems from the fact that I won’t stay quiet about the big lie - that all teachers are of the same ability and skill.  Teachers’ Unions like to preach this untruth - but no one truly believes it.  Unfortunately, only a few teachers are willing to face the consequences and say anything publicly that directly or indirectly shatters this myth.

The other key lesson has been learned writing op-ed material is that people will sometimes agree or disagree with you – but they may not actually have read what you wrote.   We see what we want to see I guess and a few “hot button” words will move people to take a side.

http://news.guelphmercury.com/Opinions/EditorialOpinion/article/732230

High school teachers do their students a disservice when they fail to take a step back and let students have the limelight. Their job is to foster student leadership – not dominate the conversation.

With the new school year underway, I want to talk about that dirty word for students — homework.

It seems it now is a dirty word for some Ontario school boards, too, as they have placed limits on the amount of homework students can be assigned. Some have even gone so far as to ban homework altogether in the early grades.

While I can see the merits of reducing the homework burden at the elementary level, I think we do our high school students a disservice if we lessen the expectation of their workload outside the classroom.

If anything, in today’s competitive global economy we need to raise the bar higher. Telling students to study more and socialize less may be easier said than done. Believe me I know, but we owe it to our young people to keep trying and not give up.

When I was in elementary school I was a pretty conscientious student who spent many a night doing at least an hour worth of homework.

In Grade 5, I can remember watching with envy from my bedroom window as my school friend Terry was playing and hanging out with other kids in the neighbourhood. I, however, stayed committed to my studies and eventually was rewarded for it.

I won the academic award for my elementary school and was accepted — along with everyone else who passed Grade 8 — to our local high school.

Like many elementary school friends who enter high school together, Terry and I started hanging out with different crowds and pursuing different interests. Mine was getting out more and having fun. I still wanted to get decent grades, but having a social life was certainly a much greater priority.

Playing sports let me hang with the jock crowd and my social calendar was kept busy enough to keep my head out of the books.

During my grad year, high school was a blast and I had the confident swagger seniors get when they think they have life by the tail. Sure enough, I was in for a wake up call.

For me, it happened around 3 a.m. at an all-night graduation event being held at Canada’s Wonderland.

There I met up with my old elementary school chum Terry and we caught up with each other while he drank his new favourite beverage, coffee. I told Terry how I was having so much fun this past year and I asked how his final year had gone.

He sighed, and seemed relieved it was over. Turns out he had been doing at least two hours of homework a night in his final year and even more prepping for his exams, hence the coffee.

He was heading off to Queen’s University to take biology and chemistry. I on the other hand was still waiting to hear back from my top school selection.

When I left him that night, I knew I had not pushed myself to anywhere close to my potential. Unlike elementary school, my high school marks mattered.

I ended up not getting into the top-tier university of my choice and there were no graduation awards or scholarships for my half- hearted effort.

Luckily, I got that wake-up call early enough to make changes and eventually was able to get on the right track.

From there, I soon realized that the years of university and post-graduation were the real party.

Nothing in high school came close to the fun times and lasting memories of those years. Independence and disposable income really are a fantastic combination!

Your greatest years of socializing and utter freedom shouldn’t be in high school — too much of your life lies ahead of you to be looking in the rear-view mirror.

It is true that not every student is bound for university or college, but all students can push themselves to reach their potential whatever that may be.

The stakes are even higher today in our competitive global economy.

Students today are not only competing with the kid sitting beside them for post-secondary spots, but also with students all around the world.

The safety net of low-skilled jobs that are held by some of the parents of today’s students are now heading elsewhere and even if a high school grad can find one, it soon won’t pay anywhere close to what their parents received.

So if you are in high school and sacrificing your social life as you study long hours or master your trade for our skills-based economy, don’t worry, your party is up around the bend.

But if you’re a student without a marketable skill, doing little work, but having an absolute blast, well enjoy, but your party may soon be over.

In response the TDSB idea to pay “at risk” to attend class – it just goes to show how our education system is losing its way. If you want to pay students to attend class than all students should be paid (like we can afford that). The idea of only paying the kids who are not going to class to motivate them to attend is just assinine. You pay for the behaviour you want – think scholarships – not the behavior you don’t – skipping. 

I have heard of one school that tried a version of this backward policy too. They gave out free pizza to kids who didn’t hand in their assignments on time.  Students were told if they went to finish their work in the late assignment room – they would get free pizza.  The other hardworking stiffs who did their work on time of course got nothing.  Such is the life in a education system that has clearly lost its way, lacking common sense and moral purpose.  

The system is bending over backwards to meet the needs of students who don’t care about education – all the while ignoring the majority who do. There is no attention paid to the great majority of kids who get 60 and 70′s.  This overlooked group with encouragement and some attention paid from the system would be pushed to reach their potential  and thus having a greater positive impact on society. 

Focusing on ”at risk” students is noble – but ulitmately, all it does is waste a whole lot of money and devalue the efforts and education of the majority.

http://news.guelphmercury.com/Opinions/article/500799

When I wrote my column regarding teacher Merit pay I was asked what is my solution for coming up with a system that evaluates and rewards good teachers. My response has always been ” did you read my column.  In it I clearly state my view.

‘The concept of merit pay has been floated before. It does have its drawbacks though if the criteria for how it is disbursed are not in line with improved teacher performance. Relying heavily on one measure such as test scores or leaving too much power in the hands of one principal won’t suffice. It will require all the stakeholders in public education, including the teacher unions to devise a fair system of teacher evaluation that can allow for performance pay and the removal of bad teachers that are a barrier to student learning. If the teacher unions will not come to the table on this issue or rally their members to continue the status quo then their true colours will have been shown. Public education will lose its relevance as a pillar of this province as fed up parents will choose vouchers and chartered schools for their children. Hopefully this scenario can be avoided with strong leadership on this issue.”

As I predicted Teachers and their stubborn union want no part of any meaningful evaluation system – according to the union – teachers are all equals and any system that challenges that falsehood is shunned.

Public sector unions continually fail to recognize that they are major stakeholders in public education and they cannot soley represent the interests of their member teachers. This strategy will only cause the destruction of public education as moderates will flock to support charter schools as is the case in the U.S. . Notable Democrats there have become fed up with teacher unions self-interest and now talk over them and support Charter Schools as a way to improve the system.

The same situation will occur here in time as inner-city education decays and money flows out of the system.  Make no mistake – public education in Ontario is beginning its slow death – and its the teacher unions, not any right-wing government that will have blood on its hands.

Written by Gregory Cawsey

DO TEACHER UNIONS SUPPORT

PUBLIC EDUCATION?

There sure has been enough “union bashing” going on during this economic downturn. Unionized autoworkers seem to be taking the brunt of the abuse this time around. Many observers have credited the “bloated” workforce of GM and Chrysler with contributing to their demise. That point may be debatable, but it has got a lot more people talking about the merits of private sector unions in a competitive, global economy. Achieving great pay packages, improved working conditions and fantastic benefits don’t mean a whole lot if the company you work for closes shop because it can’t compete. As someone who became a teacher because of my passion and strong belief in the importance of public education, I have repeatedly questioned the role of entrenched teacher unions. Now as we move from the industrial to the information age, I fear the demise of Ontario’s own cherished public education system if major reforms are not made to the teaching profession.

Teaching the youth of Canada to be the leaders of tomorrow I believe is one of the most important jobs out there. It is why I wonder in disbelief, how can we continue to let the people who do this important work be paid the exact same with no consideration given to their ability?

Currently the salary of a unionized teacher is determined by two factors – seniority and level of education, with seniority having by far the greatest influence. Whether in fact you are any good at it doesn’t factor into the equation. There are evaluations given to teachers to be sure, but the union has watered down that process so much that these infrequent evaluations take place only with advance notice and offer a non-descript grading system such as satisfactory/unsatisfactory. Under the union, teachers are all equals and therefore an experienced teacher can’t formally evaluate another inexperienced union brother or sister. Performance appraisals are left to the short number of administrators that in too many cases have far fewer years of experience than the teachers they are trying to evaluate. Unfortunately previous educational reforms have made this more of a regular occurrence than it should be.

Former Ontario Premier Mike Harris threw administrators out of the union and into management. In doing so though he neglected to compensate this group well enough and left too much of the power within the schools in the hands of the union – protected teachers. It’s no wonder why Ontario’s public school system has trouble attracting their best teachers and school leaders to move up the ranks. Very few want to leave their comfy union confines to become over-worked and under appreciated school administrators.

Don’t get me wrong here. I am not in favour of dismantling the entire system. The teaching profession requires the need for greater legal protection that unions or associations provide. However, that need has come with far too many “improved working conditions” and inability to weed out poor teachers that has put our cherished public education system in danger. Don’t be fooled. What is good for teachers is not always good for public education. Twenty sick days might be great from the teacher’s perspective, but it is damaging to education.

To be fair, the unions have helped public education by fighting for good salaries and benefits that have lured talented individuals into the profession. Once in however, you will have to be incredibly, intrinsically motivated and wear blinders to avoid comparing yourself to and eventually becoming the lazy teacher down the hall that “does nothing” and gets paid the same amount as you.

The concept of merit pay has been floated before. It does have its drawbacks though if the criteria for how it is disbursed are not in line with improved teacher performance. Relying heavily on one measure such as test scores or leaving too much power in the hands of one principal won’t suffice. It will require all the stakeholders in public education, including the teacher unions to devise a fair system of teacher evaluation that can allow for performance pay and the removal of bad teachers that are a barrier to student learning. If the teacher unions will not come to the table on this issue or rally their members to continue the status quo then their true colours will have been shown. Public education will lose its relevance as a pillar of this province as fed up parents will choose vouchers and chartered schools for their children. Hopefully this scenario can be avoided with strong leadership on this issue.

It is why I am encouraged to hear U.S. President Obama, a Democrat, speak of merit pay through revising their teacher evaluation process as a way to improve the American public education system. He recognizes the enormous impact improved teacher performance can have on student success. Let’s hope for the sake of our treasured public education system an Ontario political figure will emerge that has the courage take on the special interest and create meaningful educational reform so that we can develop the best teachers to inspire our young people to be leaders in the new knowledge economy.

Gregory Cawsey is a teacher in Guelph and a member of the Guelph Mercury’s Community Editorial Board.