Floored by Bill 44 | Writing | Vancouver | Musings, Tangents, Rants

Tuesday, June 02nd, 2009 | Author: stinkwallet

Floored By Bill 44

I was raised in a loving and structured environment that was founded on the ideals of exploration and education. Aunts, uncles, and my mother have all found themselves as prominent players within the educational infrastructure of Alberta. Each of them have toiled to not only achieve the positions in which they now hold, but time and time again, have also struggled to somehow complete their jobs on a daily basis under the ever-increasing set of standards, requirements, and obligations that have been enforced upon them on a daily basis.

I’ve always imagined being an elementary student in one of the schools in which my mother has held a position. I imagined her to be the type of hard-assed educator that expects nothing less than excellence from every one of her students. I’ve imagined the students grumbling under their breath when they discover that they’ve landed in Mrs. Ellestad’s section in the upcoming year, knowing that she will be pushing them harder than the other teachers in school and knowing that they aren’t in for as free of a ride as some of the other teachers might have allowed. It’s only until years down the road that these same students will realize the diligence, courage, and persistence that such educators have instilled in them at such an early age.

And as much of a hard-ass as my mother has always been, pushing her offspring and students to achieve everything that she knows they can, she’s always allowed for the sort of clarity and open-minded thought that this world not only allows for, but also has come to expect.

So when I started hearing the whispers of Bill 44 coming through the news feeds, I immediately thought of the effect that it would have on my family’s employment. And to hear of Bill 44′s approval this morning, has not only brought a sense of fear to me for the future of education in Alberta, but also despair about the potential of educators in our country to do the best job possible preparing future generations of young folk for the diverse world in which they are a part of.

My mother returned to school in the early 90′s, a time in which the economics of Alberta were not feeling so gracious towards a hard working couple with two young children. It was a time in which my self-employed father struggled to not only keep food on the table, but also to keep his wife in University. But through it all she emerged at the top of her class with optimism towards her change of vocation and a bright outlook on the influence that she could have toward a group of young Canadians that would be at the forefront of a bright new future for our progressive nation.

Since that time I have seen my mother struggle and succeed in her position as an educator. I have come home many late nights to find her sleeping amongst a pile of half-graded papers. I have seen her spend long sunny weekends inside developing lesson plans, while still balancing all the work that goes into raising a family. We have learned so much from each other, her strength and diligence has given me the courage to grow into the independent, intelligent gay man that I’ve become, and I’ve hated to see the pressure that she has felt from parents, superiors, and her province when it has come to what she is allowed to say and do. I have seen my mother retreat into her position, prepared to more comfortably act as a pawn of her government, than the dynamic, creative, and loving individual that she is.

I have always believed that some of the most important education that I have received in my lifetime has come to me through my family. And although I was lucky enough to be a member of a family that embraced and supported diversity, we were never without our faults. My mother and I struggled through the worst of my teen-angst, but slowly we learned to come to terms with the fact that neither of us were without our faults. But for all that my family provided me, it was my environment that taught me to not trust the first thing that you hear. I ask myself now where I would be if I hadn’t had an extraneous network of strong educators to help me expand and open my mind. Before I even came out as a gay man to my parents, I had a strong back bone of support that not only came from my peers, but also from the most incredible set of educators that the Calgary Separate School system could have provided me. Not once did any of them fear that they might have been overstepping their bounds by providing me with the independent adult thought that I so needed at the time.

We are all a part of a network of incredible connections. We grumble when we are pushed harder than we would prefer. More than once I’ve grumbled at a professor whose workload has prevented me from partying as hard as I would like, but I’ve always emerged at the end of the term with a greater understanding of the course material and the world around me. If we allow our education system to be dictated completely by the diverse set of family values that permeate our lives, how are any of our educators ever going to feel free to take a risk, to push their students to question the world around them, or to cultivate the attitudes of acceptance that our world demands?

And perhaps this is why I find Bill 44 so insulting to Alberta and Canada as a whole. To see a province of teachers once again be restricted in the ways in which they are allowed to operate, not only takes a blow to me personally because of my mother, but also because I pride myself on the free and progressive society that I continue to believe I reside in.

It’s easy to sit back and relax out here in B.C. and consider ourselves unscathed. It’s easy to look to our eastern neighbors and scoff at the silly conservative structure that they continue to reinforce themselves within. It’s easy to think that we have it better without their snow and their structure. But are we really?? Are we really so immune from the attitudes that reside in the places outside of B.C.??

I guess I can only hope that we are. And I guess that I can only hope that the youth of Alberta who are most in need of an open-mind and an open-ear find what they are looking for in places outside of the school system, because their teachers may no longer be able to provide for them what they need.

So to every educator who ever forced me to push my limits, to every educator who ever threatened to fail me, and to every educator who ever provided me with a fresh outlook on the world around me, this one is for you.

And to my mother…

The most hard-assed educator of all.