Local Musings A New Way - Part 1

 by Doug Patterson

Okay, by now, HT readers will be well aware that I believe schools are no longer fit for the purpose of educating young people for a proactive role in our society. Therefore, it would seem counter-productive to pour more money into a system that is blatantly failing and possibly contributing to the social alienation of many of our youth.

What we need is a new way for them to become active citizens in a largely unknown future.

Of course, we would still need a period of early compulsory education, but its purpose, how it is provided and how it is funded, need to be re-considered; where the primary aim of this would be to help every young person to find a path that would best prepare them for a place in our future society. 

To this end, the key goals would have to include some mastery in an expanded understanding of literacy and numeracy, but also in the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. 

While traditionally, literacy has included learning the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing, it needs to be widened to include computer literacy, media literacy (including social media) and the insidious role of advertising and influencers, and commercial literacy. 

Likewise, numeracy skills must include a practical understanding of money, banking, insurance, credit and shopping. As well, life skills around diet and food preparation, exercise, body image, gender identification and multiculturalism need to be included.

However, the role of manners, lores, rules and laws in respectful social interactions also needs to be treated as a basic learning requirement for the very young. There needs to be an understanding of the importance of courteous, respectful interpersonal communication. 

Additionally, every young person needs to understand the role of governments in making laws to protect and support most people and these are what ensure that social justice and social opportunity are fair and equitable. Re-dressing major social issues like climate change, First Nation deprivation, drug abuse, racial abuse and gender abuse seem to belong in any social awareness program.

It is not logical to think that formal schools as we know them are the only way to achieve these goals. Already, as well as state and private schools, there are a host of independent, alternative schools already operating in our education system, but all too often, how they are funded limits choice. 

If the government paid the learner – in this case the parent/guardian – and they in turn paid the provider of their choice, a more participatory approach could be achieved and with it, value for money. 

If an allocation was made for the education of a child for a year and the parent/guardian directed this to be paid to an approved, nominated provider, this would entail a form of contract between the provider and the learner’s family. 

Such a contract would include the satisfactory performance of the provider and the satisfactory participation of the learner and the learner’s family in the teaching-learning process, with any breach of the contract by either party leading to arbitration. 

The satisfactory completion of this primary level of education would constitute the only compulsory requirement for an individual, where its outcome would be a certificate of completion and readiness to engage in further secondary levels of education. 

Children would enter this system around four years old but could graduate from it when the readiness for further education is established, which could range from 6 to 10 years of participation.