Update: Thanks to those of you who voiced concerns, the Education Minister has made a minor change to the Education Act to clarify parental rights. We have yet to see the new wording. However, although he may have good intentions, as long as the new legislation still binds itself to the Alberta Human Rights Act it is very problematic.

By Marco Navarro-Génie, FCPP - March 14 2012: A diversity clause in section 16 of the Education Act of Alberta has many Alberta parents worried that the dreaded human rights commissions will crush their ability to provide their children with better content and greater values than those offered in the cookie-cutter, government-dictated curriculum.

Education Minister Thomas Lukaszuk seems to think that homeschooling parents are against human rights in opposing the bill, which misses the point.  The point is that a diversity code policed by the Human Rights Commission would clash with and ravage an enriched curriculum of education. Keep reading

ARPA Note: You can find our response to the "anti-bullying" legislation here. If you live in Ontario, please make use of our sample letters and get in touch with your MPP. If you live elsewhere, pay close attention to this issue as it is being pushed in other provinces and schools across the country. What follows is EFC's letter to the Ontario Legislature, dated January 24, that expresses similar concerns.

"Studies bear out that most children will participate in some type of bullying as well as experience victimization themselves. Bullying happens not only in schools, but anywhere that children gather such as school buses, the playground, sports field, after school hangouts and online. In November 2011, the Government of Ontario introduced Bill 13, the Accepting Schools Act, intended to “help make Ontario schools safe and more accepting places to learn.” The Bill addresses the issue of bullying and proposes several amendments to the Education Act." Keep reading

ARPA Note: We have been a part of Take Back Our Schools since it started a few years ago. We encourage you to check out the new website and like the new Facebook page to follow developments regarding the education system.

VANCOUVER, Nov. 4, 2011 (TBOS) — A consortium of groups concerned about parents’ and students’ rights wants to know why the Minister of Education won’t communicate with them. With the recent revelation that the teachers’ guide Out in Schools includes links to gay pornography as a “resource” to be recommended to students, the Ministry’s refusal to listen to parents has become critical, says Take Back Our Schools (TBOS).

From Cardus.ca, Aug 17 2011: Yesterday Cardus released the results of our Christian Education Survey (available for download here), the largest known representative study of the outcomes of Christian education in North America undertaken to date. The data provide fascinating results that portray the graduates of Christian schools as living lives that:

From EFC's Activate CFPL, June 20, 2011: Across the country, school boards are jumping on the bandwagon to implement equity and sexual orientation policies. Many of the objectives of these policies are laudable. Children should not be bullied, ridiculed, attacked or intimidated under any circumstance, or for any reason, and school boards are right to address it when it occurs.  But what happens when the policies themselves become the bullies?

Vancouver Sun, June 3, 2011: Full-day kindergarten may be hurting the learning and personal development of some children, according to new research.  Early results from a pilot study focusing on two classrooms in southwestern Ontario showed that teachers in a regular school setting were often caught in the tension that exists between meeting curriculum expectations and teaching to student interests.

The researchers argue that academic goals, focused on results and preparation for standardized tests in later years, are taking away from play-based learning that builds upon what the child already knows. Keep reading

Talking to economist Kevin Milligan on all-day kindergarten, Nobel laureate James Heckman and the purported economic benefits of universal plans (By Andrea Mrozek, Manager of Research and Communications, IMFC)

Kevin Milligan is a professor of economics at the University of British Columbia. He is the author of a number of papers pertaining to maternal benefits, employment and child care, including an assessment of Quebec’s 7-dollar-a-day daycare system....
More recently, as claims are being made in both Ontario and British Columbia that all-day kindergarten will bring untold economic benefits, Professor Milligan has been a voice of reason. His concerns stem from an examination of the research.

In a surprising turn of events, ARPA Canada has learned and confirmed that the BC government has announced that independent schools may now maintain half-day kindergarten with funding. According to a notice from the Office of the Inspector of Independent Schools "While government remains committed to the implementation of full-day Kindergarten for all five year-olds by September 2011, government also recognizes that independent schools support parental choice. After reviewing requests for continued funding for half-day Kindergarten in independent schools, government has agreed to fund half-day Kindergarten programs in independent schools."

By Andrea Mrozek, Today's Family News, May 17, 2010: In late April the British Columbia School Trustees Association, a group that oversees public school boards in the province, agreed to recommend to the Ministry of Education that public funding for independent schools be dropped and diverted back into the public system, putting school choice at odds with tight budgets.