Jill Brothwell - Blog 4

Ch. 4

This chapter discussed the education system in Canada—in how it’s structured, how it varies provincially and throughout the different jurisdictions and the different types of education throughout the province (Robson 88).

There were a few things that stood out to me while reading this chapter. One thing was that Canada is the only country in the world with no federal education department (89). 

Another thing was the portion about private schools. For high school I attended a private school in Winnipeg. Robson explained that private schools not have to abide by provincial regulations, therefore unlike public schools they are able to restrict access based on certain criteria (105). This was interesting to me, but not surprising. The school I went to was a Private- Christian school (primarily Baptist), although my school didn’t restrict access based on race (as far as I knew anyway, as it was very ethnic-diverse), I know that my school could restrict entrance based on behavious and values. Not only could my school refuse admission, they could (and would) expel students without much warning if behaviour didn’t comply with expectations. I began attending this school in grade nine, and from grade nine to grade ten, SEVEN boys in my grade were expelled! All of those boys made it to the end of the year, but were not allowed to return in the fall. Some of them were formally expelled and others applications were rejected and told they could not return (some of this information was provided to me from the guys themselves, so it may not all be completely accurate). I do know for certain that two of those six boys got expelled, and their expulsion was justified, as they did not demonstrate suitable school-appropriate conduct (moral or otherwise). As peeing in bottles and spraying it at/on the vulnerable, going to the bathroom inside soap dispensers (and not pee), steeling school trophy’s and much, much more, definitely was grounds for expulsion, but they others, I feel were just caught up in the system, and because their behaviour didn’t perfectly comply with the moral code our school followed, they were restricted access.

Another topic that caught my attention was this idea of “unschooling” (106). Unschooling meant home-based education that is not a replica of the classroom experience, but rather “child-led” and structured in a way that uses the child’s interests to generate learning (107). This is a concept that I think must receive a lot of criticism, as it does go against curriculum standards, but I think that it could work until a certain age. This approach seems very similar to the “emergent curriculum” approach, which is the approach that allows the structure or the class and the lessons that are taught, to “emerge” due to child-interest and engagement.

Discussion question- What is your opinion on the “unschooling”, home schooling approach? 

-Jill