Rant

What kind of sick joke is our government playing on the people of Nova Scotia with its talk of a 22% cut in Education over the next three years? Did I just wake up in some kind of ridiculously absurd nightmare topsy-turvy world? Yes, after wiping my eyes a few times in disbelief, I actually read this heading in the newspaper this morning while seated at my kitchen table trying to eat my breakfast in peace; that the NDP (of all parties!), the government that I voted in, wants to axe almost a quarter of the education budget. The NDP! The supposed union friendly/worker friendly party led by Darrell Dexter, the party which has only been in power for about a year and a half now, actually wants to pull out their scary apparatus and BLAM! – Out of the blue they decide to drop an anvil on our egg shelled maritime craniums? Again: has the whole bloody world gone mad?

Yes they have a majority. True, they are not your traditional NDP party. But where on earth do they get off even suggesting to cut a massive portion of one of society's vital essential services by that much. No doubt, every part of government should be fiscally responsible. If there is a wasted piece of the pie that we may cut out, by all means, cut it out. I understand. These are tough times. But with a percentage like that, what do they suppose we should cut out? Surely teachers, educational assistants, and specialists will not be included in those cuts, right? This is 2011 after all. Our children and youth need all the guidance and help they can get. We have moved past those decrepit days of the teacher standing at the front of the room spewing out facts while the student copies and regurgitates it on paper to receive a mark. What we have today is a more dynamic, by no means perfect, but a more rounded education system. We in the education community can at least recognize the need for educational program assistants in the classroom to help meet the needs of those with learning disabilities. We are aware that by stimulating young minds with the help of literacy experts one-on-one, that a child that once had difficulty with reading or writing might one day feel confident navigating the world out there and becoming self sufficient. Teachers today are equipped with more knowledge and more resources than 50 years ago. This coupled with such advancements in technology, teacher training, and overall philosophy of education, should place us in a privileged category amongst other leaders in the western world. So what will a cut of 22% mean to this so called advancement? Such a cut would surely damage a system many think is broken.

And who the hell is our education minister anyway, staying quiet about all of these future cuts? Why on earth hasn't she spoken for us all? I haven't heard jack from her on this issue. I was listening to the CBC radio program interview on the way to work a few mornings after this headline came out, and I swear to God, there was more outrage, more passion by the radio host Don Connolly than our friggin' education minister. Shouldn't somebody with such a title, such an important position, be speaking for the students of this province? Why aren't parents up in arms over this issue? I mean it's only their kids that get affected by this! Honestly, to many parents it's as if school is just a drop off centre to put their children when they go to work. We seem to live in a very complacent society when the only group that seems to be speaking out on the issue is a small group of HRSB members and radio host, or maybe a few teachers. Maybe that is part of the overall problem: the more complacent we are as a society, the easier it is for a small elected few to start hacking away at a nuisance expenditure that – if hacked away – would free up more cash to spend frivolously on bullshit projects like convention centers or personal items like electrical generators.

We talk about all of these cuts we need to make, yet when we have a snow day many people want us to be at school even if their kids are not, but why waste electricity keeping the school warm and all of the lights on. On that subject of utilities, nobody seems to mention how all of these things have gone up over the years – water, electricity, gas, oil, and so on. Of course costs have risen in this case, therefore budgets will cost more. Again, nobody from the school board mentions this. Where are all of these highly paid, intelligent professionals when you need them?

Whether this ends up being a political game of football with large percentage of cuts being thrown around by opposition as ammunition, or whether our government gets down to serious business of cutting, we need to start putting education on the top of our priority list. I want to be proud of our education system. I want our province to be innovative and bold with regards to moving education forward; I want our leaders to take our educational system seriously and realize how important and essential and integral our schools are in our society. The children of Nova Scotia deserve it.