Re: ‘Social justice’ as indoctrination, B.C. Views, Oct. 16)
If any columnist is qualified to speak about “indoctrination,” Tom Fletcher fits the bill. He is quick to attack the B.C. Teachers’ Federation as promoting one-sided arguments, yet fails to point that same accusation at himself.
Weekly, readers are subjected to Fletcher’s pro-B.C. Liberal, right-wing, anti-union, anti-environmental stances. He chastises the BCTF for using anti-Enbridge pipeline sources for an environmental unit students can explore in the classroom. Fletcher fails to add that one of the sources included in the lesson is the Enbridge corporation itself. Is not the addition of the Enbridge pro-pipeline perspective allowing students the chance to look at all sides of this issue?
As far as poverty increasing, StatsCan, a neutral body that is neither “biased or progressive,” states: “Since 1995, the after-tax income of the top income group rose much more than the income of other income groups. Consequently, income disparities increased in Canada between 1995 and 2010. In 2010, the highest income disparities between the top 20% and the bottom 20% income groups were in British Columbia and Ontario.”
Is this “indoctrination” according to Fletcher? Why should our students not be made aware of this fact? Since Fletcher seems to like quoting from Orwell’s 1984, he must be aware of the concept of “double-speak”? Breaking unions, smashing the middle-class, ignoring environmental degradation are not the answers to challenges staring us in the face.
Paul Waterlander
Victoria
