Education

Dalton McGuinty Misleads Us Yet Again In Latest Commercial

Mulder

Last night I saw a new Liberal commercial featuring your favourite liar and mine, Yellow Bellied McShifty, the leader of the Ontario provincial Liberal party.

Well in this commercial (and in one other) Dalton says, and I quote:

I believe that taking half a billion much needed dollars from [public] schools to give to private religious schools is a mistake.

Dalton assumes that to fund faith based schools, one must take money out of the current public school system. This is clearly inaccurate and McShifty knows it.

Even the Ontario Public School Board Association noted on page 4 of a 2005 report on the status of school funding that one of their four priorities was:

all allocations are on a per pupil basis while some allocations per “school” would be more appropriate.

This is in line with what my last post alluded to. The schools are currently funded on a “per butt in the seat” basis and funding faith based schools, (of which the majority are Christian but non-Catholic) would only inject money into the current system and not take a penny out of the current system.

Trade Offs. I Will Take Tory's Faith Based Funding Over The Liberal's Lawyer and Crony Based Funding Anyday

Mulder

Let’s look at some numbers (again).

Yellow Bellied McShifty, by his party’s own admission, says that the per capita cost to funding the current public school system is $9,526 per child.

The statistics show that there are approximately 55,000 children in faith based schools that are not receiving funding.

I must point out here that schools get their funding based on a per “butt on the seat” aspect. i.e. if a child is not in a school seat the school does NOT get funding. This is VERY important for people to understand.

What it means is that while everyone in the province pays taxes, funding a faith based school would NOT take money out of the current system. In fact, it would inject money INTO our education system because people who have already made the decision to have their children go to a faith based school would now get funding. How much?

Well the math is easy. $9,526 x 55,000 children is approximatley $524 Million.

What does McShifty do with this money at this point in time? He keeps it to spend on other things. Like what you ask?

Those taxes collected from the parents of children in faith based schools gets spent on scandals like the $1 Million that went to a cricket club when they only asked for $150,000. Tie in the other end of year budget shopping sprees and we get…

Total Wasted: $32 Million

It also get’s spent on provincial advertising campaigns for Caledonia that line the pockets of Liberal supporters and their families.

Total Wasted: $50,000

It goes to fund the pockets of Liberals and Liberal cronies such as Jane Stewart and David Peterson for negotiating with criminals like the natives in Caledonia.

It goes to buy land so that the OPP doesn’t have to do their job and clean out criminal land squatters in Caledonia who resort to violence.

Total Wasted: $55 Million

It goes to pay lawyers to fight against funding for autistic kids and, even more so, it goes to paying lawyers to fight to hide the cost of that fight!!! How OfficiallyScrewed is that???

Total Wasted: $2.4M on the first case and an unknown amount fighting both NDP MPP Shelley Martel and the Privacy Commissioner.

The list could go on and on.

Here’s some more math. The Health tax that McShifty brought down shortly after promising not to raise taxes brought the province of Ontario approximately $2.6 BILLION a year in revenue.

Wake up Ontario. It’s Tory Time.

Proof That Catholic Schools Do Better Than Public Schools

Mulder

In my previous post, I was asked for proof to my statement:

“The children coming out of the Catholic School system consistently outperform children in the public system”

So I am providing data below based on EQAO test scores. For those who are unaware, the province gives tests at grade 3, grade 6 in reading, writing and mathematics and they have done so since the 2001-2002 school year. They provide detailed information by board and by province.

Looking at this information is very critical at this time because the Liberal government is quietly leading voters down the path of removing the Catholic school system from the offering to Ontarians. It has not been explicitly stated, but it is clear that if they do not support segregated school funding support for all faith based schools, that this is simply an extension as the Catholic system IS a faith based system.

As there are dozens of school boards, I selectively chose ones that had both a public system and Catholic system that overlapped. This is the results which you can go confirm yourself at the EQAO website.

Durham School Board Comparison

Ottawa Carleton School Board Analysis

Renfrew School Board Comparison

Toronto School Board Analysis

Waterloo School Board Analysis

York School Board Analysis

So you can see that YES the Catholic school systems consistently outperform the public systems when put on equal footing in terms of testing and locale.

The only system in which the Catholic system lost out was in Toronto. If math was removed from the Toronto equation, the Catholic school system, again, outperformed the public system.

Faith Based Funding In Schools Is More A Matter Of Choice Than Of Religion

Mulder

I am not as surprised at the opposition to faith based funding from the loonie left as I am surprised at the opposition from some on the right of the political spectrum and let me explain why.

John Tory’s plan to bring in equal funding for faith based schools is not a matter of religion in my opinion. It is more a matter of choice. Right now in Ontario, the province dictates to us (with few special exceptions) what our publicly funded school choices are. i.e. they draw the lines and determine what school zone our children fall into and then pretty much mandate that the children go there.

This undermines one of the tenets of conservatism and that is the freedom to choose. Those of us on the right promote privatization of many things because it leads to competition and that competition leads to the best rising to the top and the worst either faltering or changing their practices to be more competitive.

If we offer public funding to put all school systems on the same level, then those that perform better will be chosen far more often by parents who don’t care about anything except for what is best for their children. It is this choice that will break the stranglehold the public school system has on our society.

Are there great teachers in the public system? Of course there are. But we cannot, by virtue of their job as a teacher, group every teacher into the category of “great”. And the teachers union has become such a strong force, that principals in the public system have little or no power to discipline or fire teachers that underperform. When was the last time you heard of a teacher being fired for underperforming in their duties? It simply does not happen.

The children coming out of the Catholic School system consistently outperform children in the public system. If Ontarians, en mass, return the party that does not believe in diversity of schools, then the door opens for the Liberals to shut down the Catholic School system. What a shame that would be. Closing down the more successful system in order to protect the public system. How better to protect the public system than to free it of competition? There is no quicker way to fail our children than to remove the competition in education.

John Tory has it right. A vote for him is a vote for what is best for our children.

Giving Students An Equal Perspective On Global Warming

Mulder

Calling all sane people!!

For all of you who are up for an equal perspective education, I have made it easy for you to email all the current education ministers in the nation and ask them to show the British Channel 4 movie, The Great Global Warming Swindle to all students that were shown Al Gore’s Convenient Lie.

This would give the students two perspectives of the global warming debate and let them see what both sides have to say. Considering the global warming debate is so controversial, this would the right thing to do.

You can easily send this email with your own email program by clicking the link below.

I also encourage any other bloggers out there to include similar code on their website.

Email Education Ministers.

If you are interested, the following list outlines who is emailed via the link above.

British Columbia: Shirley Bond (Prince George-Mount Robson)
Alberta: Ron Liepert (Calgary West)
Saskatchewan: Pat Atkinson (Saskatoon Nutana)
Manitoba: Peter Bjornson (Gimli)
Ontario: Kathleen O. Wynne (Don Valley West)
Quebec: Jean-Marc Fournier (Chateauguay) (he was the last education minister before the election call
New Brunswick: Kelly Lamrock (Fredrickton-Fort Nashwaak)
Newfoundland and Labrador: Joan Burke (St. George’s-Stephenville East)
Prince Edward Island: Mildred A. Dover (Tracadie-Fort Augustus)
Nova Scotia: Karen Casey (Colchester North)
Yukon: Patrick Rouble (Southern Lakes)
Nunavut: Ed Picco (Iqualuit East)
Northwest Territories: Charles Dent (Frame Lake)

The Great Global Warming Swindle

Mulder

I think many of you know my feelings about climate change. If not, my view is that climate changing is called “weather”. It occurs daily, it occurs weekly, it occurs seasonally, it occurs annually, and if you take it out far enough it occurs on the scale of thousands or tens of thousands of years.

There will never be the Tsunami because ice melts. There will never be a Tsunami because of the expansion of ocean water. There will never be a desert forming in a day or a week.

If you took the time to watch Al Gore’s Mockumentary, An Inconvenient Truth, then you really owe it to yourself to watch The Great Global Warming Swindle.

You will be shocked at some of the things Al Gore and his movie fail to discuss.

One item that sticks out clearly is the fact that numerous scientists have chosen to leave the IPCC and asked to have their names removed from the report. But barring the threat of legal action, the IPCC feels people who provided input, whether supportive or contradictive, are part of the committee, and as such should be listed.

Another point that really makes you think twice are some comments made right at the end of this documentary. They are based on the fact that we are now pushing the most expensive (wind and solar) energies on the underdeveloped third world. It actually brought a tear to my eye thinking of people with no electricity because we are not letting them burn coal or oil. When you think of American Democrats, you think of people who are supposed to fight for the rights of the underprivileged. Yet it is abundantly clear that Climate Change snake oil salesmen like Gore are out to keep the Third World in the dark.

I urge everyone to watch this movie and share it with friends.

H/T to A Dog Named Kyoto and a warm heart felt thank you to the BBC Channel 4. Click the play button below to watch the 75 minute show. It is well worth the time.

Yellow Bellied McShifty Breaks Another Promise – Class Sizes Won't Reach 20

Mulder

Geoff Matthews points this out in today’s Sun newspaper. Not that class sizes need to reach 20, but what the heck was Dalton doing making this promise in the first place?

Now comes word that the provincial government hasn’t a chance of meeting its self-imposed target of cutting classroom sizes for primary grades to no more than 20 students by this September — a promise that was made during, you guessed it, the 2003 election campaign.

The question isn’t whether the goal can be met. It’s why did the premier make the promise in the first place?

Is there some magical reason why a class with 20 students can be managed, while a class with, say, 23, will spiral out of control?

Couldn’t a class of 30 kids work perfectly well in some instances, while in others anything more than a dozen would be a challenge?

At the risk of sounding like a grumpy old geezer, let me point out that when I was in school, we had classes of well over 30 students, and we never seemed to lack for a bit of personal attention from the teacher when it was required.

You got it right on the money Geoff. When I was in public school, there were well over 30 kids in my class just about every year. The only time there were less was if a grade only had 25 or so kids or if there were 50 or 55 in the grade and two classes were split.

The issue isn’t class size. It’s how the teachers control that class. And this day and age, they just don’t have the skill or desire to do it. They blame things like ADD or ADHD for their inadequacies in controlling children. They push them along year after year just happy to get the troubled ones out of their class, watering down the value of a high school diploma.

How Does "Osama Bin Laden Middle School" Sound?

Mulder

This one takes the cake.

The Taliban is spending one million dollars to open its own schools in areas under its control in southern Afghanistan.

The group has announced it will provide Islamic education for students in six southern provinces.

The textbooks would be the same ones used during the Taliban rule.

The Taliban destroyed 200 schools and killed 20 teachers last year.

What a record. Destroy 200 and build one. That’s how you win over the citizens.

I was looking over the courses offered…

Sharia 101 – How To Hit A Woman Without Leaving a Visible Bruise (Full Burka and Hajib required)

Torture 010 – Beheading Dhimmis for Dummies

Advanced Electronics 200 – How to build a bomb using horse manure, a digital watch and a gyroscope

The Pencil Commies Get Bitchslapped In BC – Is Ontario Next?

Mulder

I took a bit of a beating from the moonbats on my view of forced pencil sharing in public schools, but thanks to Sara from Choice For Childcare, the story about the lawsuit in BC forcing schools to pay for all items related to the curriculum and graduation of students has been resurrected in the Toronto Star today.

The ruling is a welcome one. And while applicable only in B.C., it should serve as a strong reminder to schools, boards and education ministry officials in Ontario that fees have no place in public education.

Officially, Ontario schools cannot charge fees for anything, including basic supplies, that is required for courses under the provincial curriculum.

But after years of budget cuts, many schools appear to be quietly and unofficially skirting the rules. A 2005 study by People for Education, a parent advocacy group, suggested nearly 75 per cent of Ontario’s high schools levied lab and material fees. According to the group, those charges ranged from $5 to $100 and included science supplies, musical instruments, woodworking materials, photocopying and workbooks.

…

To rectify the situation, Queen’s Park should remind school administrators that fees are not allowed for basic courses or class materials. At the same time, it should ban the practice of levying student activity fees and give schools the funds they need to offer full programs for all without cost.

Wow!! It looks to me like schools in Ontario should provide that box of pencils, not to mention art supplies, that compass for math, and even musical instruments. Considering we rent T-bone’s trombone annually, I am starting to wonder just how much money we are paying directly for our children’s education for items that the school should be providing.

I wonder if Afghani children pay for their pencils?

I Think I Hit A Nerve With The Pencil Commentary

Mulder

I think I must have hit a nerve at Kinchblog and where’d that bug go blogs with my forced pencil sharing commentary. At least jeff at bug agrees with me that school items that are needed for the curriculum should be funded by tax payers.

As I commented on jeff’s blog:

Thanks for agreeing with SOME of my post. I want to clarify that I am all for our education system buying everything until 9th grade. That’s the way it was when I was in school, and I think it should continue.

I don’t like the fact that teachers FORCE the kids to do it. As I mentioned, my daughter does know well enough to share when it’s needed. But it isn’t the teachers place to force it. Sharing comes from the heart, not from a whip.

But thanks for trying to paint me as a tyrant. I’ll remember that (and laugh) when I give to the food bank or donate to the Canadian Cancer Society, or walk door to door with my daughter to raise money for gymnastics equipment for children who can’t afford it as I do yearly.

Did I mention sharing comes from the heart and not from a whip?

I have no clue what changed, but I do know that everything was paid for until I started 9th grade. At that point I remember going with my friends to Grand And Toy and getting our school supplies, binders, paper, etc. It was a big day getting out there on my own to buy supplies. Text books were still supplied by the school at that point and I didn’t have to buy a text until grade 13 (in Ontario) and again in all my post secondary endeavours.

Funny, that when I was in university I gave my old texts back to the school for less fortunate kids instead of selling them.

Ohh….did I mention that sharing comes from the heart and not from a whip??