General Voting Day is next week (May 14) and School District 51, the Boundary District Teachers’ Association and the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 2098 sent an education-related questionnaire to Boundary-Similkameen candidates.
Candidates were asked the following questions:
1)How will you/your party/government work to strengthen the co-governance relationship between boards of education and government?
2) Will you/your party/government commit to predictable and stable funding, which includes the annual addition of dollars to address costs for negotiated salary increases, increasing infrastructure expenses and provincial program implementation?
3) What is your position on free collective bargaining for the public education sector?
4) How will your government recognize and support education workers such as education assistants, custodians, bus drivers, maintenance and clerical staff in terms of a) funding whole jobs that support families and communities and b) allow for a high level of collaboration between teachers and classroom support workers?
Here is the response from Independent Boundary-Similkameen candidate Doug Pederson:
There are some real problems in the education system.
In all the years of computing at the highest levels, there wasn’t a job that I couldn’t have taught a Grade 8 student.
I made that statement in 1993 to a class of 5 and 6 students. They cheered me, knowing I wasn’t lying to them. How much does the average citizen remember of their schooling? Maybe five per cent.
Years ago at a company Christmas party, I was seated with two new staff both PhDs that had taught computer science. I had 15 years consulting, they had just taught computing. They knew that there was no way they could hold a candle to me as a consultant.
When I was a kid, I told my mother that a friend of mine was so dumb he was in the dumb class and didn’t even know it. I didn’t tell him. This kid was made to feel inadequate for the rest of his life over information that was of no use in the real world.
My dad had a Grade 3 education and was the smartest in our family. Only one or two of my teachers would be in the same category as him. Education does not make one smart or better.
A friend of mine was smarter at 20 than when I met him at 40. He spent most of his life around children. I’d sooner have a discussion with a 60-year-old barber than a 60-year-old grade school teacher.
One engineer at the pulp and paper mill I was working at said, “Everything I know about pulp and paper I learned here.” We need way more master apprentice education for those that don’t fit in. At the same pulp mill, they replaced all the pulp testing staff with technical staff.
The new staff would take samples to analyze and be back in 15 or 20 minutes with the results. The old timers would pick up some in their fingers and know the results by simply rolling it around. A trapper friend of mine knows more about the wildlife than any of the Fish and Game folks – hands down.
I could go on and on but you get my point. And would be open to debate any of these issues on video.
The most important course I took in grade school was typing. I was very fast and it made me look good wherever I went.
These are facts that most people that aren’t in the education system know.
As for your questions, yes, I support you.