Dear Editor,
I am writing this letter to illustrate two points. The first is that I am disheartened to see the way this government is toying with our educators. This amounts to abandoning our youth, specifically with regard to their education.
The intellectual development and attitude toward learning that children acquire from preschool through high school is essential. It will determine their ability, as adults, to fully and properly contribute to our communities.
Without the critical thinking skills that are developed in social studies (especially history and geography), these young people will be less able to thoroughly consider policies and decisions that will be required of them. For example, decisions about which political policy will best serve their needs as individuals as well as community members. They will never have a full appreciation of the benefits, risks and proper use of creit and/or investment. All of this should serve as an underpinning of whatever employment skill they choose to pursue.
Education comes at an initial cost to the community in which these citizens will, in turn, support with their tax dollars. Educating our children is not an area where cost-cutting is a practical or even advisable policy. To whit: keeping the salaries and benefits of all those who are directly involved with the education of our youth is essential.
Point two: I would not hesitate to suggest that educators in any capacity, be it a principal, administrator, teacher, teachers’ aid or janitor, be paid at a rate commensurate with the responsibility placed on them to successfully deliver enthusiastic, clear-thinking and well-educated high school graduates into the world at large.
The term “young people are our future” is not a cliche. It is a call to action.
Wilson Southam
Okotoks
