Re: After terror attacks teachers face tough questions from students, July 9

After terror attacks teachers face tough questions from students, July 9

During my teaching career I was tasked with introducing my students to the wonders of literature, architecture, art and history. It was subject-based curricula in which the liberal arts prepared teenagers for the rigours of post-secondary education, or simply to enrich their lives. But for the past 40 years the line between teaching and parenting has become increasingly unclear.

Over time, teachers have been directed to provide classroom instruction time on the dangers of smoking and date rape, religious and cultural tolerance, bullying, and differences in sexual orientation. During the spate of school shootings in the U.S., teachers were had to give instruction on safety procedures. In the 1990s, some teachers also provided career counselling for 40 minutes per week. (Getting rid of trained counsellors saved money.)

In addition, the Ontario government has rewritten the sex-ed curriculum so that teachers, not parents, are the first source of information for some children. We now find that teachers are also expected to counsel their students on violence and terrorism. All of this is to be accomplished without lengthening the school day.

Surely much of this should be done at home, by parents. Would that we had a politician brave enough to state the obvious; that too many parents have abrogated their responsibilities, and downloaded them on to the shoulders of the classroom teacher. At some point educators are going to cry “Enough!”

Simon Jensen, Cobourg, Ont.