JMJ
May 15,2012
The Department of Education issued a news release that stated there is no reason to change the math curriculum. Saskatchewan math is in line with what is happening in the rest of the country. Which is precisely what is wrong with Saskatchewan math. It is also misleading. Sask. math scores are well below the line of the Canadian average. We were sent the results of the 2010 survey on math and science standards twice. It seems strange that the Department of Education has not heard about it. It is perhaps not strange that the Ministry of Education thinks that the decisions and curriculum that they createtd doesn’t need to be changed.
The socialists have long understood he who controls education controls the province , the agenda and the voting patterns of the next generation. Year after year, government after government just does whatever the department wants, which is anti- Christian, anti- parent, anti- patriotic and anti- logical. It is easier to control and manipulate people if they cannot think, they cannot reason and they do not have the skills to run their own lives and make their own decisions.
Math including geometry, algebra and trigonometry teaches ordered thinking, and a confidence that the world was created to make sense. We’re not getting brighter. We have the benefit of accumulated knowledge of centuries, and generations of people who learned in a discipline orderly way. The inventors of computers, blackberries, pulser TVs, satellites and DVD’s went to school where they learned to count, add and subtract, memorised the multiplication table and learned long division before they entered high school. They learned formulas, axioms, corollaries and principles and laws. They didn’t play with gerbils, wonder if they should be a boy or girl on Thursday, didn’t think being a poker whiz was a career and thought it more important to make a living than to discuss the interest on their mastercard.
The senior engineer of the Canadarm, Dextra and the Canadian contribution to the space station started out at Detchen school where there were large windows not to gaze at the wheat fields but because there was no electricity. The other students were pretty much the same crowd as at home. Of the six to 12 students most had the same last name as he. He failed grade 2 and no one cared sweet tweet what this did to his self- esteem or his social life. He read JEAN VAL JEAN in grade 8 with a stutter. For the Christmas concert he was given the part of the radio announcer so he could read back stage. It was perfect. His stuttering sounded just like a tube radio in a snow storm. He had to take grade 12 French at the University of Saskatchewan because he got 2% on his final exam. He didn’t like the teacher, walked in the classroom , wrote his name and walked out. He failed; the teacher didn’t get fired.
After graduating from the University of Saskatchewan he went on to get a Ph. D at McGill University in Montreal. He spent the rest of his life in Quebec except when he was travelling around the world as an international leader in electronic telecommunications. Because of him Canada received an Emmy from Hollywood. Flora McDonald accepted the award on behalf of Canada’s breakthrough in making movies available globally. At Queen Elizabeth’s wedding bomber pilots flew film reels to Canada. At her grandson, Prince William’s wedding we saw the event instantaneously. The difference didn’t just happen in a cosmic serendipity evolution. It happened because education was about definable results, provable progress, and gradable basic skills.
Eric White had exceptional ability. He was allowed to go to school where he could learn the tools to use his ability. There are many students with their own strengths, abilities, and challenges who are not allowed to go to school to learn basic skills. Saskatchewan used to be a leader in education in Canada and the United States. Many provinces and states used our text books produced at our Teachers’ Colleges. Now everything is judged just fine as long as our education is as sloppy and vacuous as the rest of Canada. Gay
