By Staff
April 28th, 2023
BURLINGTON. ON
The Halton District School Board has set out an ambitious series of activities for each day of next week to celebrate Education Week.
Monday, May 1 – Equity and Inclusion: This area of focus shows how schools champion supportive and inclusive practices to ensure equitable access to positive opportunities and outcomes for all.
Figuring it out.
Tuesday, May 2 – Mental Health & Well-Being: This area of focus highlights how students strengthen safe and caring school environments that promote well-being, and enhance relationships and positive learning and working climates where everyone belongs and feels safe. May 1-7 is also Mental Health Week, as designated by the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), which promotes mental health awareness, decreasing stigma and helpful resources.
Wednesday, May 3 – Environmental Leadership: This area shows how students and staff take action to help create a sustainable world and will be showcased to demonstrate how HDSB schools are providing opportunities to learn about connections between ecosystems, social justice and climate, as well as elevate local environmental initiatives and practices.
Thursday, May 4 – Learning & Achievement: Examples will be shared of how the HDSB strives to create learning environments to elevate student achievement, foster a culture of high expectations to maximize student and staff achievement and promote innovative strategies.
Also on May 4, the HDSB is proud to recognize the success of students through the annual Celebration of Student Excellence event. This virtual event will start at 7 p.m. Each year, one student per school is honoured for their excellence in self-improvement, enhancing the school and/or local community, citizenship, student leadership, academics, vocational studies and specialized programs or extra-curricular activities.
A link to view the ceremony will be on the HDSB website (hdsb.ca) on Thursday, May 4 at 7 p.m.
Friday, May 5 – Indigenous Perspectives & Awareness: On the final day of Education Week, the HDSB will highlight the many learning opportunities for students and staff that help promote knowledge and understanding of Indigenous perspectives and realities.
The problem that one has at my age, and being a grandparent, is that you lose direct connection with the school system. Tales from the trenches are anecdotal and come from family get-togethers or around the infrequent shared dinner table. You lose feeling the pulse of things. The benefit, perhaps, is that things have a tendency to stand out in stark relief and become more visible, less nuanced.
When I look at the agenda for Education Week it seems to be heavily dominated by topics of social policy and orientation – inclusion, diversity, social justice, indigenous history, well-being, personal safety etc., etc. While I have no issue with these things as perspectives, I find that a concentrated ‘focus’ on them is perhaps unwise. For one thing, how accurate are the contexts provided to students and who oversees the political and social messages that are given? When the education system becomes primarily the vehicle for behavioural enforcement, which it seems to be today, rather than the means of learning necessary skills and practices, then it has, in my opinion, overstepped its appropriate boundaries. It becomes the medium for ‘the message of the day’ and the blunt instrument of the politically correct.
How far away are we from mandated behavioural modifications and a society that has not only lost its voice but the basic ability for independent thought?