Is this 1792?

Re: Teacher cancelled for speaking truth, Barbara Kay, Nov. 26

Reading Barbara Kay’s excellent column, I wondered if I had somehow entered a time machine and found myself transported back to Salem, Mass., 1792. As depicted in Arthur Miller’s superb play, The Crucible, for a period of several months, young girls in the community were encouraged to name their neighbours as “witches.” Those accused of witchcraft were put on trial, and in many cases, imprisoned and summarily executed.

Now we have students in schools (and not just the high schools) calling out teachers whom they do not like for whatever reason, labelling them “racist” and other such incendiary terms, with usually no basis in reality. And, it should be noted, this is happening not only in Abbotsford, but in the Greater Toronto Area.

As a former high school teacher and a retired teacher-educator, I have been hearing stories that make my hair stand on end: teachers accused of racism, being summarily marched out of schools and not heard from again (at least the Salem witches had a trial); teachers fearing not only every word they say, but even what they don’t say; where there is no evidence of racism, students accuse the targeted teachers of “tone policing” (meaning “I don’t like your tone, therefore you’re a racist”); students roaming the halls when they should be in class, answering that they don’t “feel safe” in class when told by a teacher or administrator to return to class.

It is an appalling comment on our schools that this is happening and does not bode well for our country. Well-qualified candidates will think twice about a career in education, and with students being promoted out of fear, even when they have not mastered the necessary skills, it means that as a country, Canada will not be able to compete on the world stage. E. Joan O’callaghan, Toronto