Array of opinions should be sought

By Letter to the Editor on August 23, 2019.

While David Eggen and the Alberta Teachers’ Association decry the minister of education’s decision to not allow the ATA to be a primary consultant in writing Alberta’s new curriculum, I for one applaud the move.

Don’t get me wrong. I was a teacher and school principal for 30-plus years, and I believe that teachers should be allowed to decide how a curriculum should be delivered in their current diverse classrooms. But teachers should not be the major deciders of what is in the curriculum.

While the ATA might like to dictate both the how and the what to suit their purposes and Mr. Eggen would like to see a more socialist political philosophy embedded into knowledge and skills curricular objectives, what is in the curriculum must come from a far larger Alberta society. In fact the majority of consultations should come from somewhere other than politicians and educators. Parents must be given a greater voice. Business must have an unfiltered and major place at the table. Post-secondary institutions should be heeded instead of expecting them to lower entrance expectations. I could go on, but you get the idea.

A curriculum should be composed of what it takes to work in and contribute to community, not a tool to indoctrinate nor an agent to change society to fit a progressive agenda!

Richard Dietrich

Medicine Hat

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