Lunacy at the Vancouver School Board
Sergio Valdez is the son of Mexican immigrants who attended public school in East L.A. in the 1980’s. He took AP Calculus taught by the exceptional math teacher Jaime Escalante and was an integral part of NASA’s Mars Missions. Had Mr. Valdez attended high school in Vancouver today however, none of this would have been possible, due to equity and inclusion policies that have now led to the cancellation of all accelerated math programs in their District.Think about that.
Trustees at one of the largest school district in British Columbia – the Vancouver Schoolboard – paid for an educational consultant who directed that accelerated math programs should be cancelled because, in her words, gifted programs were racist, elitist, and they had to go. This stands in stark contrast to the 500+ comments which bombarded the site hours after the article was posted contradicting overwhelming evidence that clearly states the opposite is, in fact, what is best for both our students and our teachers in our schools. But for those of us who have been advocating for better math instruction for close to a decade, it’s hardly surprising. We’ve been on a long downward trajectory of dumbing down our kids in this province, amidst increasing ED budgets and declining enrollment in the public system for over 20 years. We’ve seen tutoring rates explode while all of our ED leaders fully supported the implementation of the weakest math standards in Canada, a cancellation of ALL provincial exams, and no letter grades until Grade 10. All assessment data has overwhelmingly suggested that BC students were further ahead with less funding, and with less equity/inclusion policies 20 years ago, than they are today. In fact, since the BCEd plan was implemented in 2015/16, our academic performance has dipped even below the Canadian average in all three subject areas: reading, science but most significantly, in mathematics. It’s at the lowest level ever recorded in B.C.
When examining the data even further, we also see that the equity gap between the high and low performing students has also grown significantly, which means even fewer kids will be able to compete in our expanding global economy than they did at the turn of the last century.
What was equally troubling was the overwhelming silence when the reporter reached out to the BCTF for a comment. Several years ago, while reviewing recommendations made by BCTF committees at the Board Office, there was a suggestion that all advanced math programs be cancelled as part of the BCED plan (the BCTF co-wrote the new curriculum in partnership with the Province). The math teachers in the room just shook their heads and were adamantly opposed to such a nonsensical idea. And it was the high school math teachers who demanded this recommendation be removed from the new math curriculum before its implementation several years ago. And yet…here we have teacher concerns being ignored once again through the silence of their own BCTF Executive. It’s hard not to be cynical about an organization that consistently uses children and regular teachers in their advertising campaigns and yet when push comes to shove, they conveniently lose their voice.
And then there’s the parents. The parent representative (British Columbia Confederation Parent Advisory Council) would have been part of this consultation and once again, deafening silence in response. There have been two math resolutions approved by this group in 20 years which have gone exactly nowhere. They are nothing more than a rubber stamp organization complicit in receiving government funding that ignores its own mandate to advance the concerns of parents through its resolution process. Parents have always been and will always be the only ones who can and should advocate for children – not teachers, not politicians, not union executives and certainly not the BCCPAC. And it doesn’t have to take very much to enact change, or to reverse outrageous decisions like VSB’s. Similar measures to cancel advanced math classes were attempted in New York City and it only took a few days to have the whole decision overturned by concerned parents who demanded better for their kids. Why can’t the same thing happen here? We, parents, taxpayers and citizens are the ones who run the schools…not the other way around. I cannot think of a better battle to pick than the education of our children. If this is what representational democracy and effective public policy making looks like in the current public system, maybe it’s time to rethink what public education should look like. We deserve more choices under the public banner if those running the current system ignore facts, research, data and the vocal concerns raised by parents only to label us as racist for wanting what’s best for our kids.
I’ll end with a quote in response to the VSB decision made in the comment section of the associated Globe and Mail article as I cannot say it any better myself: “…to take these opportunities to learn and grow faster from students is abhorrent. If anything, these programs *help* diversity initiatives by creating additional opportunities for kids from underprivileged backgrounds who are moving at an advanced pace. This is a tragic, stupid, ham-fisted move“
End this monstrosity by contacting your MLA. Do it today.
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