I am writing to express my concern at your proposal to increase average high school classes to 28 in Ontario. I know you are concerned that students should be numerate and do practical maths so lets do some. There are only two ways to increase average class size; make some classes much larger than the average or eliminate subjects/courses with lower enrolments. Both these options damage learning and, ultimately our economy and society. Class sizes significantly larger than 30 just aren’t practical. Even universities have to split popular courses into smaller groups with TAs to provide assistance and mark course work. How is a single high school teacher to provide meaningful feedback on written work from, say, 40 students? You know it can’t be done. So, what of the alternative? If courses with lower enrolments are eliminated it will typically be the more challenging academic courses that go; less mainstream languages, advanced science and mathematics courses and so on. Surely the economic impact of this is apparent to you (even if you don’t care about the debasement of our collective culture)? Employers don’t just want drones with a passing acquaintance of the core curriculum. They also want people who can think, people with imagination, creative minds. By impoverishing the choices available to high school students you reduce the supply of those people. Increasingly employers who want a quality workforce will choose places other than Ontario to locate. Is this really the “common sense” your leader talks so much about? I don’t think so.
Education is not just a cost. It’s an investment in all our futures, in the quality of our society, in the success of our economy.
Respectfully,
I know i's a bit crass to focus on the economic effects but how else do you get through to this bunch of cultural barbarians?
It's fantastic, to be honest. That's the language they pretend to speak, except that they have no understanding of economics.
The elimination of 6000 upper middle-class jobs will have a massive ripple effect, but nothing compared to what destroying the public education system will do to the economy.
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no subject
Date: 2019-03-17 05:33 pm (UTC)Dear Ms. Thompson,
I am writing to express my concern at your proposal to increase average high school classes to 28 in Ontario. I know you are concerned that students should be numerate and do practical maths so lets do some. There are only two ways to increase average class size; make some classes much larger than the average or eliminate subjects/courses with lower enrolments. Both these options damage learning and, ultimately our economy and society. Class sizes significantly larger than 30 just aren’t practical. Even universities have to split popular courses into smaller groups with TAs to provide assistance and mark course work. How is a single high school teacher to provide meaningful feedback on written work from, say, 40 students? You know it can’t be done. So, what of the alternative? If courses with lower enrolments are eliminated it will typically be the more challenging academic courses that go; less mainstream languages, advanced science and mathematics courses and so on. Surely the economic impact of this is apparent to you (even if you don’t care about the debasement of our collective culture)? Employers don’t just want drones with a passing acquaintance of the core curriculum. They also want people who can think, people with imagination, creative minds. By impoverishing the choices available to high school students you reduce the supply of those people. Increasingly employers who want a quality workforce will choose places other than Ontario to locate. Is this really the “common sense” your leader talks so much about? I don’t think so.
Education is not just a cost. It’s an investment in all our futures, in the quality of our society, in the success of our economy.
Respectfully,
I know i's a bit crass to focus on the economic effects but how else do you get through to this bunch of cultural barbarians?
no subject
Date: 2019-03-17 05:38 pm (UTC)The elimination of 6000 upper middle-class jobs will have a massive ripple effect, but nothing compared to what destroying the public education system will do to the economy.
Thank you.
no subject
Date: 2019-03-18 01:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-03-18 10:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-03-19 02:41 am (UTC)