Mindless cuts to education puts our future at risk

By Charles E. Pascal
Professor, Human Development, OISE/University of Toronto
Former Ontario Deputy Minister of Education

A growing number of Ontarians are being hurt—and our shared future placed at risk—by the moment by moment uninformed decision-making by the current government at Queen’s Park. Led by an unthinking premier and enabled by a spineless cabinet, we are in the midst of a very damaging period in our political history.

A war between fact and fiction—between sound evidence and mindless ideology—is at play on the stage of Ontario politics. Whether in education, social services, public health, or the environment, we are witnessing decisions that show a wanton disregard for the kind of collaboration that should involve those who implement services and those who are on the receiving end.

Leaders who truly believe in a healthier, safer, more just and prosperous society know that nothing is more important than high quality education. Former PC Premier William G. Davis has often noted that if we invest in high quality education, everything else benefits— including less cost burdens in the health, social service and justice portfolios.

So nothing illustrates more clearly the current government’s damaging shortsightedness than its attack on education. It would be more than enough were it just the manner in which it botched the health curriculum in an effort to turn the clock back to the last century. It would be more than enough were it just the attack on class sizes and the cancellations of hundreds of curriculum choices for students; or the spin “that no teachers will lose their jobs”; or the mismanagement of the autism file; or the disregard for the crisis in child care. Were that not enough, think about the government’s shell game with post-secondary tuition and funding.

And when it comes to our children, youth and young adult learners, they don’t live just in schools. They live in families and communities. When you add the government’s attack on wages, public health, the environment, mental health supports, child welfare, libraries and more, the consequences to the province’s learners and their families are even more devastating.

It’s time to consistently call out the ongoing bumper sticker mis-information nonsense that attempts to distract us from what’s really happening to our education system:

We have conducted the most extensive education consultation in history.
Totally untrue. And what consultation on any issue has shown integrity?

These changes are necessary to get Ontario’s education back on track.
Really? Ontario remains one of the most highly rated systems in the world. High school graduation rates went from 56 per cent to 86 per cent over a period of six years.

Those student demonstrations are being orchestrated by the union bosses
Big whopper. These protests are being totally organized and led by students providing the Premier with the only tangibly good thing he has done for education— igniting a welcomed student movement.

Ontario is Open for Business.
Business leaders everywhere know that quality education and training and government labour upgrading programs are a top priority when making relocation and investment decisions.

And the new licence plate slogan, Ontario— A place to grow? Surprise. I love it. Why? Real simple. I’m an educator who believes in lifelong learning. High quality education is about the growth of human development, our most precious social and economic asset. Holy hypocrisy as we note the gap between the new plate slogan and the government’s devaluation of education.

Let me be clear, I have no problem with the need to reduce the province’s debt load. But a reprieve of Chainsaw Massacre without any apparent ability to apply leading edge change management acumen that involves collaborative and transparent ways of determining priorities and timelines, is deeply troubling. There is no business on earth that would go about creating a more cost-effective approach in this way if it wanted to retain its customers. The notion that the current government knows how to run a popstand is an assumption of mythic proportion.

Not surprisingly, the government is now bleeding “customers”. Recent polls have them in third place. My hope is that this emerging political calculus will encourage some who continue to publicly support very damaging decisions to grow a spine and note privately within Cabinet —maybe even publicly—that enough is enough. For me, I will have zero tolerance for any member of this government’s Cabinet who will claim, during the next election, “I fought hard against this and that. It would have been much worse.” Save your breath, because what we are witnessing couldn’t be much worse….until tomorrow, that is, when we hear of the latest act of damaging political myopia.

Charles E. Pascal is a former Ontario deputy minister of education and college president. Currently a professor of human development at OISE/University of Toronto, Charles is member of the Order of Canada and resides in Sophiasburgh.