System doesn’t give basic education

Re: “Kids with special needs struggle for education — and families suffer,” June 10. After going through our own kids’ struggles in the public-education system, I can only imagine how much more onerous it would be if we also had to contend with autism or any other special need.

One thing is clear: Our public education system is no longer equipped to provide a basic education for any child without their parents advocating for them, let alone if they require additional classroom support.

Predictably, B.C. Teachers’ Federation president Glen Hansman continues to blame the Education Ministry, even though taxpayers are now obligated to provide additional millions in funding to satisfy his Supreme Court victory.

Rather than focusing on funding, why isn’t the BCTF looking at influencing the curriculum by the use of evidence-based, systematic, structured teaching methods that would meet the needs of all students?

Even though there is no empirical data that supports how smaller class sizes improve classroom conditions, the implications of this decision affect thousands of families.

And this decision doesn’t address the more pressing issue: classroom composition, i.e. helping those kids who need it the most. All of our education leaders support our new curriculum and this Supreme Court decision, yet they overlooked the pressing needs of one crucial stakeholder: the parents.

If our education leaders continue to ignore the most basic necessities of educating our children, perhaps it’s time to do what’s best, and support parent choice in this province, rather than support convoluted ideologies and a bloated bureaucracy in our publicly funded education system. Tara Houle North Saanich