First off: a few disclaimers. My wife is a teacher. I am a former teacher. No, I did not retire. I chose to leave the profession that I deeply loved. I chose to walk away from a permanent position that I held for nine years. You see, the writing was on the wall for me when I stepped away in 2014, and while I miss my interactions with my students, I do not miss the destruction that this government (and previous governments) has done to our school system. I knew at that time, that I would have to sell my soul and all of my core beliefs if I were to remain in the education profession. Instead, I chose to exit.

I am one of those parents that is completely fed up with the drivel that Stephen McNeil and Karen Casey have been spewing. You see, they have absolutely NO clue what today’s teachers are facing. And let’s get one thing straight folks, what the teachers are facing, is exactly the same thing that your children are facing on a daily basis. We are living with a system that is completely broken. Teachers are attempting to cope with more and more crap-policies that are being downloaded onto their backs by the Department of Education. While McNeil and Casey will have you believe that it’s all about teacher wages and benefits, that is not what has truly awoken the giant. What you are seeing are thousands of passionate individuals who are exhausted. They are tired of having to implement bone-headed policies that are passed down from people in glass towers who have not been in a classroom in decades. They are tired of being slaves to data input/management. They are tired of feeling like they aren’t accomplishing what they want to accomplish in their classrooms, due to idiotic decision-makers in Halifax who are living in la-la land, some (or many?) of whom have children that attend private schools in the city.

So here is what I’d like to do. I’d like to offer McNeil and his crew something totally free. They do not need to pay me to write a fancy report. They don’t need to hire their buddy to start up another task force to blow more of our tax dollars. All they need to do is read a little further, and get a picture of what life is truly like for today’s educators AND students. Oh, and please forgive me if anything said here offends you. It is my opinion only, and it is certainly not politically correct. It is real.

Let’s start where it all begins…elementary school.

Today’s elementary classroom is not like an elementary classroom from twenty years ago. No. Today’s students are arriving to school tired. They are arriving hungry. Many of them are exhausted – both mentally and physically. Their parents (if they live with two) have been working multiple jobs trying to make ends meet, while the kids have been home inside, entertaining themselves on iPads and other devices. These children are not outside playing and problem solving with other kids (that would be WAY too dangerous for many modern-day parents). Instead, they are inside, protected, watching TV and playing video games, while their parents update their Facebook statuses, text their friends and check out the latest developments on Pinterest. You see, today’s kids are not learning basic social skills like they used to. Often times, they are coming to school without any abilities to problem solve with their peers. Many can’t even figure out what shoe goes on what foot, let alone lacing up the shoes. Some arrive without knowing how to hold a book “right side up”. Others can’t count to ten and don’t know their ABCs. Some aren’t able to talk because the only conversation they have at home is when their parents tell them to turn off their devices and go to sleep. These children then show up to school lacking so many basic life skills that were always taken for granted. These children are showing up to school exhausted because their single-parent mom or single-parent dad left early in the morning and they had to look after their younger siblings and get them ready for school. They are showing up without healthy lunches, and often times without any lunch at all. Some students are fortunate because schools, staff and volunteers (with the assistance of community groups) bust their butts to provide free breakfast programs for all so no child starts the day off hungry.

The morning bell goes, and then the chaos really begins. You see, teachers are no longer really able to discipline students. First of all, many children aren’t being taught how to “behave” at home, so this is up to teachers to look after. You know what I’m talking about. Back in the “good old days”, kids resolved their conflicts with their peers at home or on the playground and they learned problem-solving skills. Parents enforced those behavioural expectations. (Elbows off the table. Respect your elders. Be polite. Clean up after yourself. You’re not going outside to play until you eat your supper. Once you clean up your room, you can go back in the woods.) These basic behaviours are often not being taught at home anymore. Let’s get back to discipline. Many of today’s parents have the attitude that their children are perfect. Today’s conversations with many parents often go like this: “Mrs. Smith. I’m calling you about Johnny. He punched another boy in the face today.” “Well Ms. Teacher. Tell me. What did the other kid do to my Johnny? He would never hit someone unless he was provoked. Did you see it all happen? Who else saw it? I want to talk to someone else who saw it, because surely you didn’t see the whole situation.” We all know what the comment would have been 20, 30, or 40 years ago. “Well Mrs. Teacher. I can assure you that this will not happen again. Whatever consequence you feel is appropriate, I will support you, and there will be consequences at home for Johnny.”

So we have these kids arriving at school, unable to follow any rules or routines, since by and large they don’t exist at home and they are no longer being taught these basic skills by their parents.

Today’s inclusive elementary classroom would look a bit like this: You’ve got a few rule followers – classic “good students” – who are often labeled as the “high achievers”. (They usually become “helpers” in their classrooms to assist the teacher with other kids who need extra support.) Then you have the kids who need various adaptations, just to get by. A handful can’t read, and since there’s not enough time/support to teach them to read, there are fancy programs on devices that will read to them directly. Often times, there’s a runner, along with a kid who likes to throw chairs at his peers and his teacher. There’s the girl in the wheelchair who among other things requires tube feeding, and the other child who has frequent seizures. (The teacher – with no medical training – was told that it’s ok if he has seizures, as long as he doesn’t turn too dark-a-shade of blue.) There’s the kid with high sensitivity to sounds so he needs to have special ear phones in order to cope throughout the day. In some areas, you’ve got your two kids who don’t speak any English at all, and the other four who have no interest in school and don’t want to complete any work at all. Oh, and don’t forget the two who only come to school two or three days a week. Sometimes, if the teacher is extra lucky, there is a teacher assistant who helps jump around between 5-6 children who require her help the most. This is today’s classroom. This is the inclusive classroom, where everyone learns the same watered-down thing. You see, it’s the only way for the teacher to survive, because it is impossible to be everything to everyone.

Let’s fast forward to the junior high years. Hormones are going crazy. Kids are now always on their devices, often times playing shoot-‘em-up games during any free moment that they have. They don’t really know how to talk to each other in person; instead they text or snap chat back and forth. Bullying has always been a problem. Back in the day, children fought and argued on the playground. They used vicious words with each other, but typically they resolved those situations with the help of friends, parents and teachers. Today, children prefer to harass each other online. Sometimes anonymously, but the one thing in common is that these attacks happen behind a screen. They don’t need to face each other to hurl their insults. Instead they can sit at home on their computers and send hateful and hurtful messages to their peers on social media and through text messages…Messages that are permanent and never disappear. The next day, these children arrive at school wanting teachers and administrators to help them sort out their problems. You see, the job of administrators and teachers does not end at 3pm when the kids leave the school. They are now apparently responsible to resolve problems that developed online long after school hours that have carried over into the school day.

The other amazing fact is that these kids have often figured out the modern day “Nova Scotia School System”. They learned a long time ago, back in Grade 2 and 3 that you don’t really have to do anything to “succeed” in school. In fact, you don’t even have to show up to pass! No, today’s school system believes that it’s important for kids to always be with their friends. If a parent feels that their child just isn’t ready to move on to the next grade, even they have plead and fight with the powers that be, to retain their children. No one out there advocates having bearded 16 year olds in classrooms with 10 year olds; but what is wrong with holding a kid back who could benefit from more time in the grade 3 classroom to grasp the concepts that they just couldn’t grasp in the 10 months that they had? Especially if that child has all supports necessary AND the ability to succeed?? Unfortunately, today’s system just pushes everyone through, all the way out the door at grade 12, even if kids haven’t met a single outcome at any of the grade levels.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s go back to junior high. My first year teaching was at a junior high school. I’ll never forget the boy in grade 7 who refused to complete a test that I had given him. He crumpled it up in front of me and told me that he didn’t have to do it, because “you can’t fail me”. He was right. My hands were tied and he knew it. This kid was smart. He had figured out the system at an early age, and knew that he didn’t need to a darn thing, and that he would still get his social promotion onto grade 8. (He did not end up completing school by the way.)

Now let’s jump ahead to high school. This is where I spent eight years of my teaching career. You see, one of the things that I loved about high school, was that it was the first time in 10 years that there were actual consequences for students who didn’t complete their work!! High School has a credit system, whereby if you don’t complete your work, then you don’t get the credit. Now don’t get too excited, because it is still pretty darn tough to fail a course in high school, because we were told that we had to provide students with many, many opportunities to complete work if they had not been successful. Teachers were encouraged to have re-writes on tests. Students were allowed to re-submit assignments if they didn’t do well the first time around. I could swallow that, because at the end of the day, there was still a consequence available if the student had not met the desired outcomes. Let’s fast-forward a few years… Back in 2013 or so, things started to change further. We were suddenly told that we were not supposed to assign zeros anymore. (So if a student completed two out of ten assignments and averaged 75% on those two assignments, then that would be his mark. Yes, really. I’m not kidding.) We were also starting to see decisions coming down from the Dept of Education that were affecting homework policies and attendance policies. You see, it was not necessary for students to come to class if they didn’t want to. You could now miss 40 or 50 days per semester if you wanted to, and there were no consequences that could be enforced.

Fast forward a bit further, and that’s when the late assignment policy was put into place. This is the policy that states that students don’t have to bother meeting deadlines. In fact, if an assignment is due on October 15th and the student passes it in on the very last day of school, the teacher is required to mark it. (Even if the assignment had been passed out and corrected in class…. Yep, that’s right. Let’s let kids copy assignments from other kids and pass them in as their own and assign full points for the completed work.) So at the end of the semester, teachers now often receive a huge pile of assignments that need to be corrected and marked without a single point being deducted for it being months late. Those are real life skills being taught eh? “Sure Johnny…. You can pass it in whenever you want. You can show up late to every single class if you’d like, and there’s no consequence. “ … and people really wonder why kids don’t understand consequences when they get into the real world?! The government also threw out any ability for schools to enforce dress codes. Walk into any high school today on a warm day in June, and you could swear that you’re walking onto a beach in the Caribbean.

So here’s where we are folks. We are “graduating” (ha!) many students who are functionally illiterate. Many of these graduates have been pushed through a system where they are probably only functioning at a grade 5 or 6 level. Many of these students do not understand that quality work matters. They think that completing an assignment means that they should get a 100%. They expect their parents or teachers to do everything for them. You know, the whole “entitlement” thing. Many guidance counselors are stressing trying to help grade 12s complete application forms because they aren’t able to do it on their own. Some students don’t bother to apply for programs or scholarships that might be available, and guess who gets blamed? The teachers… of course it’s the teachers’ fault that 17 year olds didn’t take it upon themselves to apply for college, university or for scholarships.

Our education system is broken and that is why ALL PARENTS and ALL CITIZENS of this province who want to see a bright and prosperous future need to stand with the teachers and call on the government to make drastic changes to a system that does not work. Piling on a few more math pilot programs or literacy interventionists is not going to fix the system. The only way this system can be fixed is if it is completely overhauled and recreated from scratch.

Here’s the good news. There are many things that can be done that won’t cost the taxpayer a dime. Here are a few ideas:

1) Bring back some forms of streaming. First off, I’m not advocating 100% streaming or full time streaming. Perhaps for half the day you could group kids into appropriate classes for specific skill building time. Put those kids who are functioning at or above grade level in a larger class (30) kids in elementary where they can work at a similar level. Separate the other half of the kids into two smaller classes… Maybe 12-15 kids who are average students who just need some specific, targeted instruction to bring them up to the next grade level. Then you could have a class of 10-12 that focuses purely on the basics to teach kids how to function in school. To help them develop social and emotional coping mechanisms. Take those kids who are never going to be able to function or thrive in the regular classroom, and teach them skills that will be practical to them in their daily lives. You know, how to handle money. How to buy groceries and plan meals. How to be good citizens.

2) Bring back retention policies. If a student doesn’t meet outcomes, it’s not the end of the world for them to be held back to have another shot at it (especially if they have all supports necessary to succeed). If a student misses 100 classes per year, chances are pretty good that they haven’t met the outcomes. Make them repeat the year. (This is the case in some Nordic countries such as Sweden. If you miss a certain number of classes per year, you are not eligible to move on to the next grade.)

3) Bring back late policies. What’s wrong with having consequences for passing things in late? In the real world, if you have a task to complete and you tell your boss that you don’t feel like doing it and you’ll get it done a month or two late, chances are good that you won’t have your job for long. Why should it be any different in the school system? What are we teaching them or preparing them for if they can’t even respect basic deadlines?

4) Allow early-tracking for community college programs. Some kids know by the time they’re in grade 8 or 9 that they want to go into the trades. Why are we forcing them to take all of these mandatory courses in high school when they could start trades programs when they’re 15 or 16? This would get them into the workforce at an earlier age and it would allow them to focus on the areas that they are truly interested in. This is often where you see kids thrive…when they are truly engaged in what they are learning.

5) Let’s give school uniforms a shot. Radical, I know… but this is the ultimate ‘equalizer’. School uniforms will take pressure off families to “keep up with the Joneses.” They allow schools to have clear dress code policies and students will look and act prepared to learn. (Plus they look pretty darn smart!)

6) Parents: Get off your devices and start parenting. Let your kids explore the world without being a helicopter or “snow plow” parent. Allow your children to make mistakes and let them learn from those mistakes. Your kid isn’t perfect and the only way they will learn how to cope in life is to learn at an early age that they will make mistakes. Don’t try to fix every problem for them, and don’t do all of the navigation on their behalf. Let them explore and interact freely with other children.

7) Stop making everyone feel like they’re a winner. Sorry, but in life, there are winners and there are losers. Not everyone will always win. Not everyone will be a star athlete. But I can guarantee you that EVERY CHILD is good at something and they should be allowed to shine in that area. Giving everyone a trophy for participating, only makes these problems worse down the road. Failure is something that all students need to learn to cope with, and learn from.

8) Speaking of words, let’s start marking spelling and grammar again. Just because the class is Social Studies, doesn’t mean that children shouldn’t have their spelling/grammar corrected. It is a duty of all of us (teachers and parents alike) to ensure that our children can spell and construct basic sentences. Only through consistency will they learn how to spell. Oh, and by the way…memorization isn’t a bad thing. (Not only for spelling words, but also for knowing basic math facts).

9) Bring back report cards that make sense. Report cards should be written in a way that parents know how their child is doing. Parents just want to know the following: What are they good at? What areas do they struggle? What can WE as parents be doing to help our children improve.

10) Let teachers teach. This is probably the most important thing. Teachers want to educate and help all students. By dumping more crap onto their plates, and removing every resource that is at their disposal, their job is becoming more and more impossible every year.

Premier McNeil and Minister Casey, it’s time to go back to the bargaining table. Go back in good faith, with an open mind and open ears to hear what teachers are trying desperately to tell you.