Fewer choices, chances for jobs

Teenagers left by wayside quit school, found menial jobs with low pay or left P.E.I. for factory jobs in Ontario

Like so many people in P.E.I., I find it difficult to understand the provincial government’s decisions on many issues. Millions of dollars could go toward schools, psychologists, counselors, more teachers, specialized teachers. Lastly, there would be more time for education with less stress for staff.

In my school days, there were over-crowded classrooms. The brightest students got the attention. If 80 per cent of students moved on to the next grade, that was acceptable. There was no time for the students who needed extra help.

I did not receive the education I needed in my youth simply because I was forced out of school by a teacher who only liked highly intelligent students. Lack of knowledge in my teens caused less choice for employment and no personal choices for a career. Like so many youths without higher education, at age 16, I had to take a job and a job it was, for the next 30 years.

Highly-educated people told me, “There is always a choice.” However, too often for lowly-educated students, the choices are a brick wall or a cement wall with negative and long-lasting effects. If anyone who is reading this believes that politicians in my day gave a damn about my education level, they are wrong and too often that stands today.

Lack of education and low selfesteem kept my parents from protesting all the negative effects of my schooling. The teenagers who learned differently were left by the wayside, quit school, found menial jobs with low pay or left P.E.I. for factory jobs in Ontario.

I have spoken to some of those students (70 years and older) who got jobs because they missed the socialization and education of junior and senior high school, college or university.

Sixty years have passed but I do not see many changes to the educational system. Teens and young adults still fall through the cracks due to undiagnosed learning disabilities, learn differently, low self-worth, drug and alcohol problems, family poverty-line living, minimum wages and rigid rules for exams for students who do learn differently.

There is never enough staff. There are too many pressures, expectations and overloads for teachers. There are endless inclusion issues and not enough teachers, counselors or psychologists to deal with the students. They are not nurses, doctors or babysitters but teachers.

I have great difficulty accepting the many millions of dollars being spent on roundabouts and replacing highways that are not needed. The roundabouts at Maypoint and the North River causeway are excessive and for what? The Churchill fiasco and the Cornwall bypass highway are two unnecessary daydreams of politicians.

For me, the greatest gift was education. Unfortunately, for me, it came too late regarding choices in employment. At every age, education is the foundation for almost every future choice. I was more comfortable learning from peers, in subjects where I was weak. Maybe higher educated students could help in this one area.

Flora J. Thompson of Charlottetown returned to school and took Grade 12 at age 35, attended UPEI from age 40-62 part-time; and earned a BA, Diploma in Adult Ed and an MEd.