Individualism Run Amok
Betsy DeVos would be thrilled to have a [school] system like yours,” says Diane Ravitch, research professor of education at New York University, about Alberta. Donald Trump’s secretary of [...]
K-12
K-12
On Track to Graduate
If you come on this side,” says Keyshaun Mountain Horse, “one of our students drew a design to intimidate our opponents.” The profile of a skull wearing a feather headdress is drawn in black felt [...]
By Doug Horner
Artist in the Classroom
Most jobs ask you to do practically the same thing every day, but do it more efficiently, make it prettier, survive the mundane. Most jobs do not ask you: If you could change the world, what [...]
Private Schools
Should Alberta—or any other province—provide funding for private schools? A discussion of this question can quickly become heated. Some people frame the issue as being about parental rights or [...]
By David King
Chilling Effect
I was in my classroom marking essays in October 2010 when the phone rang. The guidance counsellor told me she had two very upset parents in her office. Apparently, their daughters had seen a film [...]
By Dale Wallace
Going Public
The Morinville revolt began on March 1, 2010, at Donna Hunter’s kitchen table. The mother of three was looking through school registration materials for her oldest daughter, Scarlett, who would [...]
Testing, Testing
In March, a delegation of 13 Finnish high school principals and ministry officials visited high schools in the Crowsnest Pass, Calgary, Edmonton and Grande Prairie. While in Alberta, they joined [...]
School Principles
These days, I enjoy being a citizen. But for 29 years I was a citizen politician, managing campaigns, working as the research assistant to the leader of the opposition, serving as a government [...]
By David King
On the Block
The stands in the gym at Sherwood Park’s Salisbury Composite High School are packed. Parents, students and fans wave signs urging their teams to give their all for that one last victory. This [...]
MOST READ
MOST READ
The Lesson of Lougheed
For 100 years, between 1905 and 2005, Albertans changed their government only three times (1921, 1935, 1971). The last of these elections, the most portentous, happened 50 years ago this August. Alberta has now changed government twice in the past six years. The next election may see yet another new government—meaning ...
The Assault on Higher Education
The Kenney government proclaimed in fall 2019 that Alberta’s post-secondary institutions were “overly dependent” on government funding—which is an odd thing to say about a public good. Then it declared that the province’s grant to the schools should be reduced by 20 per cent by 2023. The rationale for this ...
Rediscovering a River
The Cree called it Kisiskâciwanisîpiy—the swiftly flowing river. For the Blackfoot, it was omaka-ty—the big river. It starts in the Columbia Icefield, at the toe of the Saskatchewan Glacier, and cuts the province in half as it flows through Banff and Jasper national parks, northeast to Edmonton, then east-by-southeast across the ...