When the heat is on, governments will often mount in inquiry, or task force, or Royal Commission, or whatever! We’ve seen lots of these in Canada so that an OECD Report in 1976 commented:
These largely seem to be pro forma exercises.
In 1984 in British Columbia it was announced we would have an “overhaul”.
My letter to the editor was published in the Vancouver Sun, Dec. 3, 1984
Vested interests lead ‘education overhaul’
The “education overhaul” to be undertaken by the ministry of education (Nov. 29, Sun) should really be seen, not as some meaningful exercise, but “business as usual”.
Let the public beware. The 12 member review committee is composed entirely of people with a vested interest in defending the status quo in our school system. They wrote the discussion paper and will also sit in on hearings. It’s more like the foxes guarding the chicken coop than some independent process!
The same old “family compact” that is responsible for bringing education to its present state is now to sit in judgment on public input. How can it avoid being defensive and unbiased?
Not only that, but yesterday and today the troika of power-wielders have been meeting at the Hotel Vancouver to plan schedules, materials, and formats for this public discussion. Who are the 250 people called together to decide on the ground rules? Why, the chairpersons of school boards, the school superintendents, and teacher union leaders!
Milton Friedman in his book The Tyranny of the Status Quo said the iron triangle (composed of those who have a vester interest, that is, petty politicians, bureaucrats, and beneficiaries) is the cause of most of the problems in our social services.
In eduction the iron triangle is composed of the trustees, the superintendents and other school board and ministry officials, and the beneficiaries who are those who get the paycheque, the teachers. The intended beneficiaries–the parents and students–are effectively excluded in such a system.
And whatever fights and differences the public may hear among the three “protectors” are but a cruel illusion. They are only jockeying within their sweetheart arrangements of power-sharing. They are, of course, unified in their opposition to the public, the parents, and students having any meaningful voice in education matters.
Let’s beware this latest exercise in “democracy”. It looks like a trap to me.Tunya Audain
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