James Wallace covers this quite nicely in "Grits offer 71 New Promises" (Sun). A comment in a previous post brought this column to my attention.
Grits are notorious for assuming that if they keep throwing money at a problem, it will be solved. Never mind analyzing the situation and making sure there are checks and balances and reliable strategies for determining successful results.
Wallace notes:
Results from the province's Education Quality and Accountability Office show that despite $4 billion in new education spending over the past four years and a watering down of tests, student scores for reading, writing and math in Grades 3, 6 and 9 have plateaued for the past two years and fallen short of government targets.
No amount of money is ever enough if you don't fix what's wrong in government.
My reader adds:
However that's because the lion's share of the money spent went to ballooning a bureaucracy rather than on effective reading and math programs.
Ontarians should be very afraid that with yesterday's promises the education premier is looking to bloat the ranks by billions more.
Quite so. The Atlantic Institute for Market Studies, which has just released a report on the influence of teachers' unions in Canada, would likely agree:
Among the report's recommendations are that teacher compensation be tied to performance and that strikes and lockouts no longer be allowed as ways to resolve disputes in the public school system.
Despite its aggressive arguments aimed at Canadian teachers' unions, the report is not meant to attack them, said Charles Cirtwill, the institute's acting president. "This isn't about killing unions,'' Mr. Cirtwill said. "This isn't about removing gains that have been made to protect individual teacher's rights."
According to Mr. Cirtwill, the simple, focused mandate of unions is to represent the interests of their members, which may or may not match that of the public. "The unions have the ability to use the dues to influence politicians. They have a bully pulpit from which to comment very aggressively on policy changes and they've been very effective at stopping policy changes which they do not support."
Compensation tied to performance? Are they crazy???
Where's that good old-fashioned entitlement ethic?
Seriously, can we really afford four more years of a left-leaning, union-pandering McGuinty government?
Just so you're warned.
* * * *
Update: Please check out this new watchdog: Working Families Coalition Watch.
Michael Coren - Public Education in the Buff:
Michael Coren - Public Education in the Buff:
"The system does not need to be tampered with, it needs to be destroyed."
This is the only way to remove the destructive power of the teachers' unions, allow bad teachers to be fired and empower the better ones to promote excellence.
8 comments:
Hmmm, which one of these dozens of Liberal promises is going to be broken within first year of the election?
kai - don't make me laugh. Some of them are hold overs from the last unkept promises. I think we should be actually adding these 71 to the last what was it 250? Is there a Guinness World Record for the politican who has broken the most promises?
Perhaps we can write to Guinness and enter McGuinty for the top-prize?
Joanne - you asked "where's that good old-fashioned entitlement ethis?" In the Liberal Lemming Land. We're the laughing stock of Canada by now I'm sure.
We're the laughing stock of Canada by now I'm sure.
Oh, yes. We are the enablers.
The problem isn't necessarily with the Grits. The problem is that the voting population in general view price tags as progress. If a politician promises to overhaul our education system to improve grades without adding a cent, voters will say "but how can you improve something without increasing funding? that's illogical"
Even conservatives do it. "Nothing is free" mentality forces us into expecting that money will bring progress.
"Nothing is free" mentality forces us into expecting that money will bring progress.
What ever happened to streamlining and getting rid of 'dead wood'?
In the private sector if you have an idea that does not work you go out of business. In government you get a bigger budget next year.
Anon at 07:22:00 - That's why Tory will be a great Premier. He has been in business and private enterprise. He is grounded in reality.
The people of Ontario should accept nothing less than 1,000 promises from Premier McLiar!
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