Dear Editor,
It’s not the teachers or the government, it’s the system.
Attempts to take sides or attach blame do not get anyone closer to resolution, as long as we continue to operate within our archaic, increasingly irrelevant system of education.
Frustrations will continue as long as we try to impose a factory model, requiring every child to jump on a conveyor belt of generic learning that meets the needs of a relatively few “average†children.
With more and more so-called “special needs,†traditional teaching can’t function. We need to change the focus: start with the children, empower them to discover their own gifts, and follow their innate passions for learning.
Teachers need the freedom to tap their own genius for teaching, instead of being restricted to a one-size-fits-all set of learning outcomes. The founders of Amazon.com, Wikipedia, and Google were thus empowered in the Montessori system.
What is required is a fundamental shift in attitude, a shift in approach to children, and a lifting of the increasingly restrictive requirements of a government that is out of touch.
After 10 years attempting to meet children’s individual needs in a public system, I founded my own school.
I regret having to limit our enrolment to those who can afford to pay extra fees, but I hold to the hope that one day the thousands of successful students who have benefited from our school over the past 28 years will eventually leaven enough thought to create the shift in the system required to prevent continuation of our present frustrations.
Kristin Cassie, Langley