Editor, The News:
Like your columnist, Jack Emberly, (Along the Fraser, July 4), I have been mystified as to how the B.C. Liberals have been able to reconcile their claim of “putting families first” with their seemingly wilful attacks on our public education system.
Surely, I thought, when they understand the importance of class size and composition to the well-being of our children, they will become fervent evangelists of restoring, even improving upon, reasonable standards.
But maybe they won’t.
After watching her interview with PBS’s Bill Moyers, I am now reading a book by Diane Ravitch called: Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools.
I think anyone who has an interest in education should read it.
The book is well-researched, and although it is about the U.S. school system, we know that our borders are very permeable with regard to education trends.
According to her findings, there is a concerted effort in the U.S. to down-grade public schools in order to privatize them.
Scary stuff but evidence shows that there are many influential Americans behind the movement, and I recently have seen signs of a similar approach in B.C.
I find it preposterous to even think so, but perhaps Jack Emberly is correct when he says, “Liberals don’t like teachers or public education.”
All of us must educate ourselves so that we can defend against this systematic erosion of our children’s future.
Patricia Palomino,
(retired teacher)
Maple Ridge
