The Liberals cuts to education send a clear message to the
citizens of BC. They don’t care if our children get the edu-
cation they deserve, that the taxpayers pay for. They
don’t care that they have under-funded the school system
so much that parents have to cough up money out of their
own pockets for basic educational needs, things like books,
supplies and etc. They don’t care enough to provide proper
funding to inner-city schools, where children’s ability to
learn is already compromised by cuts to income assistance,
poverty and daily survival. How about the threats to cut
breakfast and lunch programs? How about the lost support
services and teacher's assistants? How about larger class
sizes, where children can't possibly get the attention they
need.
"OECD member countries spend an average of $7,480 per
school student. B.C. spends 13 per cent less than that, or
$6,529 per student according to Ministry of Education
statistics.”
“More than 14,000 students have been displaced from their
neighbourhood schools since the B.C. Liberals came to office
and froze the funding for public education. There are 2,500
fewer teachers and 113 schools have closed since 2001.
Many of the schools closed are in rural communities.”
The cuts, chaos and destruction of the public school system
has clearly impacted all schools in being able to provide a
quality education to our children and youth. The mean-spirited,
penny wise, pound foolish Liberals clearly can’t see the future
implications of their decisions. With a substandard education
from our public school system, how easy will it be for young
people to get into university. Oops, don’t worry about that,
university tuition has been allowed to skyrocket under the
Liberals, therefore, our kids will have to work at crappy
part-time, retail and service sector jobs for $6, because
they don’t have the GPA’s, nor money to afford the price of
university in BC. The Liberals eliminated $80 million dollars
in grants, sat by and watched their university buddies raise
tuition levels as much as 300% for some programs. Clearly
the BC Liberals believe that post-secondary education in BC
should only be open to the highest income families and
international students whose parents can afford the price of
tuition.
What does this say to the rest of us? What jobs does Gordon
Campbell envision for BC’s young people? When one looks at
the employment options for youth in BC, we can see that the
Liberal government and their friends in the business community
are in need of cheap labour. And they plan to keep it that way,
however they have to do it.
So, parents, get used to paying more money for tuition and
taking care of your kids for longer periods of time, because the
Gordon Campbell Liberal government doesn't think your kids
deserve the educational and employment opportunities that
you received. This should be of great concern to all of us, with
the baby boomers leaving all manner of jobs in the next 10
years, ask yourself who will be there to fill them? Who will
be there to take care of the Elders when they are in need?
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References
BC Teachers Federation. Cuts Hurt Kids:
Neighbourhood school closures and teachers cut.
Student. Get the Facts: Statistics.
Judith Ince, (September 24, 2004). Saul Says B.C. Education
Cuts Bleed Democracy: In some of Vancouver's poorest schools,
author John Ralston Saul's message received nods of agreement.
The Tyee: A Feisty One.
Militant Moms on the Move (MMOMs). Militant Moms Manifesto.
Militant Moms on the Move (MMOMs). Campbell’s Quick &
Painful Recipe for Liberal Disaster Pie.
Parents Against Cuts in Education.
Some Examples of Funding Cuts to Education.
$45 million Cut from Vancouver School Board.
Better Schools.
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