The Smaller Office

News outlets across Canada have been cycling through the story of the Edmonton, Alberta high school science teacher who was suspended, supposedly because he was in violation of the district’s ‘no-zero’ policy. These stories almost always whip up the fervor and saliva-rich rantings of that element of society who advance the canon that everything we do now is ‘just plain wrong’!

As Alfie Kohn pointed out in his essay, Feel-Bad Education, there is an unfounded belief out there that children are lazy, unmotivated dullards who require a myriad Dickensian responses to make them learn: “More! You want more!

Without knowing him (and I apologize if I offend) but my feeling is that our colleague in Edmonton is no more a hero, as some have said, than a doctor who refuses to treat his patients- and then blames them for not getting better.

Public schools are places where adults who have been trained in child development, pedagogy and curriculum are given the job of helping children to learn. The teachers who reflect upon their practices, strive to adapt and grow and learn along with their students- they are the heroes. And we have many more of those teachers than we know- lets make sure we blog and tweet about them.

Photo: B. Harrison

“We know that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students too often feel unsafe at school. We know the power of words can create fear and pain, and spread hatred, homophobia, transphobia, biphobia, sexism and racism. And we know that if we can’t name it, we can’t address it.”                                                                                                                         ~Laurel Broten~ Minister of Education for the Province of Ontario

Each of the flags I have in my office (shown above) tell a story. This post is not about the flag on the left, perhaps some other time I will write about the trials and tribulations of a long suffering Toronto Maple Leafs fan. This post is about the flag in the centre and the one one the right.

Canada is an interesting experiment in democracy. Our nation was founded in 1867 by a collection of British colonies comprised of an interesting mix of cultures and ethnic groups.  French, English, Scots, Irish, Loyalists; who had travelled north after the War of Independence. They were predominantly Anglican, Roman Catholic and Methodistin faith and were united in a concern that they were being abandoned by the empire that had created them and would be swallowed up by their mighty neighbours to the south. The arrangement these colonies brokered was one that balanced the rights and priorities of these diverse groups within a framework that put ‘peace, order and good government’ above all.  Above even, the rights of individuals.

These collective rights ensured state support for separate schools in Ontario and Quebec~English and French, secular and Roman Catholic. That is why, to this day we have a publicly-funded Roman Catholic school system in Ontario. In 1982, the re-patriation of the constitution and inclusion of the Charter of Rights offered a re-visioning of the framework; with a shift away from the concept of collective rights towards the rights of individuals.

This has led us to the place we are now. The explicit individual human right of each Ontario student to learn and work in an environment that is free from discrimination has collided with the entrenched, historical right of a religious school system to adhere to it’s core beliefs.  And LGBT students are right in the path of this collision.

Personally, I believe that it is not only courageous that our provincial government is moving forward with the legislation to ensure that students can form  Gay-Straight Alliances in any publicly-funded school in Ontario, it also the right thing to do. In her comments Education Minister Laurel Broten stated that, “all boards shall comply with this section in a way that does not adversely affect any right of a pupil guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.  Our charter of rights and freedoms is the law of our land, now.

Which brings me to the flag. 11 years ago, when I was a school librarian, I worked with an amazing teacher who came out at a time when many teachers were reluctant to do so. She asked me if I would fly a rainbow flag in the library to demonstrate that our school library was a safe place for all; students, staff and community. When I replied I’d be happy to do so as a demonstration of ‘tolerance‘ she corrected me, and I still recall her words;  

“Nobody deserves to be tolerated, we all deserve to be included!”

One of my heroes, Deborah Meier says it best;

“Democracy is not always convenient, and rights do require sorting out. Neither equity, civil rights, nor mutual respect for the ideas of others are always the winners in public institutions- far from it. But public schooling shifts the odds in favour of such democratic principles…Public schools train us for such political conversation across divisions of race, class, religion and ideology.”                          The Power of Their Ideas 

Photo Credit- NASA Public Domain

You’re the finest thing that I’ve done
The hurricane I’ll never outrun
I could wait around for the dust to still
But I don’t believe that it ever will

Hurricane : Scott Cutler, Anna Previn, Greta Morgan

When I look at a satellite image of a hurricane from space the intricate detail of the photos always draw me to the centre, the eye of the hurricane. Science tells us why and how the eye becomes what it is, but the almost spiritual calm in the centre of a raging, spiralling rampage of hot air is the most compelling image of all.

I believe  that good public schools are like the eye of a hurricane; a place where we can settle our children while the world rages around and around.  We are in the midst stormy times~ the shifting global economy, the challenges of adaptation and change and the manner in which governments and stakeholders are responding to these changes~ these are all swirling about and the air is getting hotter.

I hope we all remember that our schools have to be like the eye of the hurricane~ our children need that from us, more than ever.

September has been a difficult month around our house.  With both parents back to the whirlwind of the first few weeks of school, one son adapting to life as a grade nine student and twelve year old twins getting used to the practices of their ‘traditional’ grade seven teachers, we’ve had more than our share of bumps and grumps.Tossed into this mix was the inevitable and painful reality that comes with having a pet, our dog Katie became ill, very ill.

We adopted Katie from the local animal shelter 3 years ago. We all agreed that it would be a good thing for the children to have a dog in the house as they made the transition from going to after-school day care to being able to come home to our house at the end of the school day.  Katie was a settled and calm 9 year old blond Cocker Spaniel who’s previous owners had moved out of the country. One look at her in the shelter and we were charmed.

Upon bringing her home, we discovered that Katie was calm in almost all situations but two; when people knocked on our door (she barked loudly and protectively) and when we were dicing vegetables on the cutting board (she begged persistently and assertively). The inference we made was that her previous owner must have been a introverted sous-chef. In short period of time the novelty of dog-ownership faded for our two sons while Katie forged a deep and abiding reciprocal kinship with our daughter. Of course, irony demands that Katie would grow the most attached to my wife, the family member who was the least enthusiastic about adopting her in the first place. Never underestimate the canine ability to discern the identity of the pack leader.

In September Katie was diagnosed with canine oral melanoma, a form of cancer that we discovered is common in Spaniels her age and one that spreads rapidly. Faced with a grim prognosis, and fully aware of the pain our dog was experiencing, we made the difficult decision to end her suffering. As a family, we talked about the selfless nature of Katie’s loyalty to our family and how we were responsible for placing her needs above ours, love is not always easy.

Together, my daughter and I brought our Katie to the veterinarian’s office and my daughter bid her farewell.  I held Katie in my arms as the vet ended her pain. As hard as this was, it was remarkable to see the degree of honesty, strength and empathy that my daughter demonstrated that day and the days since.

There are moments where we get a glimpse of what we have accomplished as parents, a moment of clarity that is evident in the actions of our children. I saw my daughter at her best, real, honest and brave, and was proud of what I saw. Never easy this parenting thing, but so worth it. We miss our dog, she brought so much to us in the short time she was with us and we are grateful for the lessons she has helped us learn.

” I found my locker and I found my classes” BNL

This week marked the beginning of our son’s career in high school. Over 30 years have passed since my high school debut, back in 1979. Back then, as I squeezed my red Adidas gym bag and boom box on the the bus, I imagined that the high school experiences my children would have would be much more…modern. Maybe they’d be zooming to school in a Jetson-like hover car to work on space age computer tablets (like on Star Trek). Well, no hover car yet but…the tablet.

After a bleary-eyed drive to the school, we, students and parents, shuffled into an hour-long assembly to learn about school expectations, programs and routines. Staff were given a quick introduction and off we went to pick up the timetable, student agenda and I.D. card and find the locker.  All in all, the process went smoothly; the fact that only the grade nine class was in attendance helped keep the crowds small, and it was evident that there had been a high level of advance preparation and organization. Nice touch having the parents there. Not sure how our son felt but he did sit with us. As a rule, slowing down while I jumped out of the family car was as close as I ever wanted my parents to to get to my high school.

It is remarkable to me, however, how little has changed in 30 years. On the surface, the routines and structures are almost the same, even though the items and vices may have changed. The same energy and doggedness that used to go into stamping out smoking on the school grounds now seems to be directed at texting and cell phone use. My son is exited that he can access of  his course ware and textbooks are online, but what of the content and context. Will he develop the creative, adaptive and critical thinking capacities that our world will demand of him? We’ll see.

I am encouraged by a conversation we had about something new my son learned in school (and not just because we were actually having a conversation about something he learned in school). My son was telling me that he’d learned that  half of the top 10 jobs today didn’t even exist 10 years ago. In 1979, we all pretty much knew what we could be, or even would be. He shared that  he felt good about that, since he wasn’t  really sure what he wanted to do yet anyway. And, my son assured me that he planned to keep learning so he’d be ready when he knew. I’m counting on my colleagues, his teachers, to make it so.

After all, somebody needs to invent a fricking hover car!