ABC and 1-2-3

Good morning one and all. I hope everyone brought in the new year safely and with joy and happiness.

Not being a party animal myself, I brought in the new year reading and catching up on local news. While reading the SP (Dec. 31/10) I was taken by the article on the state of education in Saskatchewan. According to a survey commissioned by the Leader Post 59.3% believe the objective of the systems should be to provide a better general education and the remainder believe how well they prepare students for work is a more important objective. My sense from the article was that neither the majority or minority felt the objectives were being met.

The usual responses came from the Directors of both divisions in Saskatoon. The basic theme is that one size fits all education does not work and that education must be tailored to meet the needs of the individual students.

What was most intriguing was the co-relation between income levels and opinions. Those with higher incomes, and I would assume higher incomes mean higher education, did not believe the education systems were well run and did a good job. Those with incomes of less than $30,000.00 were likely to believe the schools did a good job.

I personally want students to first have basic skills before the system designs a program tailored to the individual need. Regardless of the path students take after their secondary education is complete, each and every one of them will need basic reading and writing skills, and at the very least, practical math.

In that regard, the systems fail. Ooops! I forgot. No one can fail.