Woke up to news of a new "game theory" classroom. Sounds like something worth exploring, which is a problem I have with the current union/government setup. There is very little room in the system for innovation. Little bits, here and there: a nature kindergarten here and minor changes there.
As a parent of a kid with learning issues, I completely understand the concern regarding class composition. I spent many hours in the classroom as a volunteer parent (read: upaid EA) because if B wasn't off to a good start in the morning, he sat in a fog the whole day. So every morning, I was there. Every art class day, I was there. Any class with a transition (craft day, cooking day, go outside day), I was there. And I wound up, year after year, helping the same group of kids. The ones who didn't have a formal designation and some who did. Those whose parents were in denial, or those whose issues didn't fall into a "fund-able" category - like mine. I sat in the classroom and watched as the kids who needed an extra hand fall behind. Sometimes because the teachers were blissfully ignorant (I remember smiling through gritted teeth at story circle, trying to kill with my mind) and sometimes because teachers, trying their best, just couldn't meet the 6 variety of special needs plus run a class.
And just because a kid had funding didn't mean they "got" funding. The funding goes to the school, where it gets divvied up amongst all the kids with "needs." For example, a few years ago, a parent with a kid with Asperger's filled out all the paperwork herself rather than wait for it to wind its way through the system, then went the extra mile to get funding for transportation, only for the school to pull rank, take the funding and divide it amongst those "most in need." So her son received 3 hours a week of help rather than 3 hours a day. While she acknowledged the tricky situation the school administration was in, she pulled her son out of the school, took his funding, and homeschooled.
Funding was moot for us, as my son has ADHD, which folks love to blame on SpongeBob, gluten, dairy, active imaginations, too much TV, over-diagnosis and the general idiocy of any parent who is not them. The BC government does not recognize ADHD as a learning issue. They don't have to. It is not recognized as such in the DSM-IV and they can always rely on the hysterical holier-than-thou folks to deny their tax dollars to support bad parenting and an imaginary problem when we all know that "boys are like that." My kid is intelligent, funny, and has the attention span of a hummingbird. There is a range of "kids are like that" and then an outer range of "some boys are like that" and then there's "what the hell??" That's my guy. Actually, he might not even be on the range. He's a small dot on the horizon.
So I am a believer in better class composition. Fund more EAs. Give the teacher in the classroom some support for those who need it. We gave up in Grade 5 and pulled our son out and put him into an independent school that specializes in kids with learning issues. Cost $7K plus a year. We pulled him out of there for high school, in part, because the school was so small, the course options were limited. And even there, in having to meet provincially mandated requirements, there was little room for innovation. So we're back in the system this year. Sort of.
Last night, I had a Facebook back and forth with a very conservative friend. I didn't agree with his suggestion that each teacher negotiate their own contract as in private business. There would have to be limits to that. Otherwise, the lower economic areas would end up at even more of a disadvantage than they are now. How could they compete? Would the government allot them more money because they would have a higher number of learning and behaviour issues? Doubt it. The voters are elsewhere and politics trumps social justice. I did agree with one thing he wrote: "We should start treating teachers like professionals." We should. And less like glorified babysitters. And kids like mine as worth the effort. Because they are.
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