July 3, 2022

Winnipeg
19° C, Partly cloudy

Full Forecast

Contact Us Subscribe Manage Subscription Chat with us
Log in Create Free Account Help Chat with us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertising Contact
    • Submit a News Tip
    • Subscribe to Newsletters

    • Finding your
      information

    • My Account
    • Manage my Subscription
    • Change Password

    • Grid View
    • List View
    • Compact View
    • Text Size
    • Translate

    • Log Out
    • Log in
    • Create Free Account
    • Help

    • Grid View
    • List View
    • Compact View
    • Text Size
    • Translate
  • Coronavirus Coverage
  • Replica E-Edition
    • About the E-Edition
    • Winnipeg Free Press
    • Community Review East
    • Community Review West
  • Above the Fold
  • Front page
  • Arts & Life
    • All Arts & Life
    • The Arts
    • Autos
    • Books
    • Book Club
    • Cannabis
    • Celebrities
    • Diversions
    • Puzzles
    • Environment
    • Events
    • Faith
    • Food & Drink
    • Your Health
    • Life & Style
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Science & Technology
    • TV
    • Travel
  • Business
    • All Business
    • Agriculture
    • Personal Finance
    • Manitoba's Top Employers
  • Canada
  • Local
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Columnists
    • Editorials
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Send a Letter to the Editor
  • Sports
    • All Sports
    • Amateur
    • Auto Racing
    • Blue Bombers
    • Curling
    • Football
    • Goldeyes
    • Golf
    • High School
    • Hockey
    • Horse Racing
    • Winnipeg Jets
    • Manitoba Moose
    • WHL
    • MLB
    • NBA
    • Olympics
    • Soccer
  • World
  • Reader BridgeNEW
  • WFP EventsNEW
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Advertising
    • Contact Us
    • Carrier Positions & Retailer Requests
    • FP Newspapers Inc.
    • History
    • Internships
    • Job Opportunities
    • News Café
    • Privacy Policy
    • Retail Locations
    • Staff Biographies
    • Terms and Conditions
  • Archives
  • Free Press Community Review
    • All Free Press Community Review News
    • East Edition
    • West Edition
    • Sports
    • Events
    • Contact Us
    • E-Editions
  • Classifieds
  • Contests
  • Coupons
    • All Coupons
    • Staples Copy & Print Coupons
    • Ripley's Aquariums Coupons
    • The Bay Coupons
    • Staples Canada Coupons
    • Altitude Sports Coupons
    • Nike Coupons
    • Tuango Coupons
    • Ebay Canada Coupons
    • Sport Chek Coupons
    • Roots Coupons
  • LifestylesNEW
    • All Lifestyles
    • Business Hub
    • Community
    • Drink & Dine
    • Life
    • Wellness
    • Whiskers & Wings
    • Sponsored Articles
  • Homes
    • Property Listings
    • Featured News
    • Renovation and design
    • New homes
    • Resale homes
  • Newsletters
  • Obituaries
  • Puzzles
  • Photo and Book store
  • More

©2022 FP Newspaper Inc.

Close
  • Quick Links

    • Coronavirus Coverage
    • Federal Election
    • Above the Fold
    • Home
    • Local
    • Canada
    • World
    • Classifieds
    • Special Coverage
    • Newsletters
    • Obituaries
    • Photo and Book store
    • Archives
    • Contests
    • Publications
    • Sponsored Content
    • Privacy Policy

    Ways to support us

    • Pay it Forward program
    • Subscribe
    • Support Faith coverage
    • Support Arts coverage
  • Replica E-Edition

    • About the E-Edition
    • Winnipeg Free Press
    • Community Review East
    • Community Review West

    Business

    • All Business
    • Agriculture
    • Personal Finance
  • Arts & Life

    • All Arts & Life
    • The Arts
    • Autos
    • Books
    • Cannabis
    • Celebrities
    • Diversions
    • Puzzles
    • Environment
    • Events
    • Faith
    • Food & Drink
    • Your Health
    • Life & Style
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Science & Technology
    • TV
    • Travel
  • Sports

    • All Sports
    • Amateur
    • Auto Racing
    • Blue Bombers
    • Curling
    • Football
    • Goldeyes
    • Golf
    • High School
    • Hockey
    • Horse Racing
    • Winnipeg Jets
    • Manitoba Moose
    • WHL
    • MLB
    • NBA
    • Olympics
    • Soccer
  • Opinion

    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Columnists
    • Editorials
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Send a Letter to the Editor

    Media

    • All Media
    • Photo Galleries
    • Videos

    Homes

    • Property Listings
    • Featured News
    • Renovation and design
    • New homes
    • Resale homes
  • Canstar Community News

    • All Free Press Community Review News
    • East Edition
    • West Edition
    • Sports
    • Events
    • Contact Us
    • E-Editions
  • Coupons

    • All Coupons
    • Staples Copy & Print Coupons
    • Ripley's Aquariums Coupons
    • The Bay Coupons
    • Staples Canada Coupons
    • Altitude Sports Coupons
    • Nike Coupons
    • Tuango Coupons
    • Ebay Canada Coupons
    • Sport Chek Coupons
    • Roots Coupons
  • About Us

    • About Us
    • Advertising
    • Contact Us
    • Carrier Positions & Retailer Requests
    • FP Newspapers Inc.
    • History
    • Internships
    • Job Opportunities
    • News Café
    • Privacy Policy
    • Retail Locations
    • Staff Biographies
    • Terms and Conditions
The Free Press
Articles Read
Your Balance +tax
Day Pass Till
Day Pass
    • Contact Us
    • Advertising Contact
    • Report an Error
    • Send a Letter to the Editor
    • Staff Biographies
    • Submit a News Tip
    • Subscribe to Newsletters

    • Finding your
      information

    • Log in
    • Create Account
    • Help
    • Chat with us

    • Grid View
    • List View
    • Compact View
    • Text Size
    • Translate
    • My Account
    • Manage My Subscription
    • Change Password
    • Chat with us

    • Grid View
    • List View
    • Compact View
    • Text Size
    • Translate

    • Log Out
Log in Create Account Contact Us
Contact Us Manage Subscription
  • Sections
  • Local
  • Arts & Life
    • All Arts & Life
    • The Arts
    • Autos
    • Books
    • Diversions
    • Environment
    • Faith
    • Food & Drink
    • Health
    • Movies
    • Music
    • TV
    • Travel
  • Business
    • All Business
    • Agriculture
    • Personal Finance
    • Manitoba's Top Employers
  • Sports
    • All Sports
    • Amateur
    • Blue Bombers
    • Curling
    • Football
    • Goldeyes
    • High School
    • Hockey
    • Winnipeg Jets
    • Manitoba Moose
    • WHL
    • MLB
    • NBA
    • Soccer
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Columnists
    • Editorials
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Send a Letter to the Editor
  • E-Edition
  • Homes
  • Classifieds
    • All Classifieds
    • Announcements
    • Automotive
    • Careers
    • Garage Sales
    • Merchandise
    • Pets
    • Real Estate
    • Rentals
    • Services
  • Lifestyles
    • Business Hub
    • Community
    • Drink & Dine
    • Life
    • Manitoba’s Top Employers
    • Wellness
    • Whiskers & Wings
    • Sponsored Articles
  • Coupons
    • All Coupons
    • Staples Copy & Print
    • Ripley's Aquariums
    • The Bay
    • Staples Canada
    • Altitude Sports
    • Nike
    • Tuango
    • Ebay Canada
    • Sport Chek
    • Roots
  • Obituaries
  • Subscribe$1.50 for 5 months
Home Opinion Analysis

Advertisement

Advertise With Us

Expertise should guide schools plan

Carl DeGurse By: Carl DeGurse
Posted: 4:00 AM CDT Saturday, Mar. 20, 2021

  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Print
  • Email
  • Save to Read Later
JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS</p><p>Minister of Education Cliff Cullen speaks at a press conference on March 15 regarding Bill 64, which will overhaul Manitoba’s K-12 education system.</p>

JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

Minister of Education Cliff Cullen speaks at a press conference on March 15 regarding Bill 64, which will overhaul Manitoba’s K-12 education system.

A key promise of the provincial government’s planned revolution of the education system is to give much more power to the parents of students. Speaking as a parent, I would rather the main responsibility for schooling Manitoba children stay with educators who are trained and experienced in the best ways to help students learn.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/3/2021 (470 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

A key promise of the provincial government’s planned revolution of the education system is to give much more power to the parents of students. Speaking as a parent, I would rather the main responsibility for schooling Manitoba children stay with educators who are trained and experienced in the best ways to help students learn.

Parents should be involved and supportive, but it’s teachers who know what to teach and how best to teach it. It’s arrogant and ignorant to dictate to professionals about their field of expertise, whether it’s doctors about medicine or mechanics about vehicles.

When proposed changes were announced this week, they included a "community council" of parents at each school. Many of us initially assumed this was just a name change for the current parent councils, which, among other roles, are an effective liaison between educators and parents.

In elaborating on the change, however, Education Minister Cliff Cullen said the new community councils will put parents "front and centre." Parents will weigh in on matters that used to be the responsibility of school trustees, such as student achievement, hiring decisions and capital projects.

Premier Brian Pallister was more specific: "They will be responsible for assessing the effectiveness of programming at the school. They will analyze the student achievement learning outcomes. They’ll determine the areas of focused improvement.

"The principal must be accountable to them."

Who will compose this newly powerful community council? Parent volunteers. No expertise in education required.

The theory is each school’s community council will engage with a regional director of education. The problem is that the single Winnipeg region will replace six existing English school boards. It’s unrealistic to expect this single director of education can effectively guide community councils from schools totalling about 100,000 students.

My wife and I were active parents in the education of our three sons, all in Winnipeg schools, from the memorable first day of kindergarten to the equally memorable celebration of throwing their mortarboard caps into the air at university graduations.

As other parents can attest, you get to know the families of your child’s classmates beginning in elementary school. You chat to other parents as you pick up and drop off, on the sidelines of sporting events, at school plays and concerts, at parties your child attends or hosts, and through the social-media networks of fellow parents.

I apologize in advance if I am about to insult any of the dozens and dozens of fellow parents I met through our sons’ schools, but here it is: none of us parents was qualified to guide the professional educators to the degree the PC government is proposing for parents.

As we volunteered together on field trips, fundraising events and parent councils, we had lots of opinions about the schools. We swapped information about which teachers were dynamic and inspired our children, and which teachers were burned-out and coasting to retirement. We warned each other about which students were bullies and which were druggies. We opined on whether the principal seemed empathetic or egotistical.

But none of us was well informed about, or deeply interested in, pedagogy. Like mother bears protecting their cubs, our view focused narrowly on how the school could help or hurt our individual child. Our obsession with our offspring made us poor candidates to have a say on the greater good of the larger student body, as the professional educators are trained to do.

The Free Press | Newsletter

Want to get a head start on your day?

Get the day’s breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning.

Sign up for Head Start
Sign Up

Our family’s personal experience with Winnipeg schools began 18 years ago and is almost finished — our youngest is working on a doctorate and doesn’t need us to supervise his homework — so it’s possible my view of parental involvement is outdated.

Perhaps the parents who are today walking their children to elementary school and chatting to other parents outside the school fence are better informed than we were about education theory and practice. Perhaps they know about social and emotional learning (SEL), gamification and mobile-first learning, which is a sample of knowledge that should be necessary if they are to volunteer for the community council to evaluate educators and judge learning outcomes.

It’s also possible the plan for the increased role of parents is currently being exaggerated by the government and, for practical purposes, the community councils will be much like the current parent councils. I hope so.

A parent’s role in education is hugely important to their child’s success. But the child is best served if the parent’s role includes respectful acknowledgement of the competence of educators.

carl.degurse@freepress.mb.ca

Carl DeGurse is a member of the Free Press editorial board.

Carl DeGurse

Carl DeGurse
Senior copy editor

Carl DeGurse’s role at the Free Press is a matter of opinion. A lot of opinions.

   Read full biography

Advertisement

Advertise With Us

  • Report Error
  • Submit a Tip
  • Refund
  • The Free Press is certified by

The Winnipeg Free Press invites you to share your opinion on this story in a letter to the editor. A selection of letters to the editor are published daily.

To submit a letter:
• fill out the form on this page, or
• email letters@freepress.mb.ca, or
• mail Letters to the Editor, 1355 Mountain Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R2X 3B6.

Letters must include the writer’s full name, address, and a daytime phone number. Letters are edited for length and clarity.

Advertisement

Advertise With Us

Top