I was watching a documentary about Education when, near the end, watching less-fortunate children depend on a lottery -- the drawing of names -- to determine the probability of their success, I felt the veins in my eyes burn. I was watching this documentary because I was making apple dumplings, and though I enjoy baking in sheer silence or to some mellow folky tune, I had been working on a unit plan all day and desired to keep my mind active. I tried to find something on Netflix to match the content that I was working on (First Nations Culture and Storytelling), but found nothing. I happened upon Waiting for "Superman", which I had thought was something about kids not going out and getting it like we used to. Not only was I wrong, but, unknowingly, I had even watched the preceding documentary in class which focused on emerging teachers in American schools in the eighties, I believe.

This documentary was not so optimistic, revealing just how dire the Education system has become. We simply cannot adapt to the changes around us, sticking to a model that once worked (the post-Industrial-Revolution model, one I have heard can even go as far back as ancient Greece), and cannot put the future ahead of the past. Perhaps one of the points that struck me most profoundly, in light of the fact that "professionalism" has been hit so many times in the course of my education ("Are teachers professionals?" etc) were the following stats: in America, 1/57 doctors lose their license (for breaching the code of professionalism), along with 1/97 lawyers, but only 1/2500 teachers lose their right to teach (Waiting for "Superman"). There is something very wrong here. Due to tenure, it has made the firing of a teacher an extremely difficult and long process.

The obvious evidence has been presented that students, no matter what background they come from, learn better when they're being taught by a "good" teacher, and yet the teaching career has not become sacred or respected enough to give the appropriate accountability. While some teachers may not try, other teachers just aren't good at what they do -- and they shouldn't be given protection for jeopardizing the future of students. Good teachers should be rewarded, at the very least, not even to provide incentive to be the best, but to discourage those who know that if they sit tight and do okay for a while they will be guaranteed a great pension and rewards for doing the least amount of work.

As it is, the schools with the best reputations are loaded with teachers who ensure their students' successes, while those located in low-income areas suffer not only in resources but (stereotypically) have burned out teachers with little support. When will the rural kids have as much access to the arts as the rest? When will teachers not only within the same school district but within the whole of Canada be held to the same standard of teaching (and students to the same standard of learning)? When will teaching be seen as a professional career where those who are bad at it are not welcome and will not succeed, just like in any other professional career?

It breaks my heart to know that kids who have no choice of their background, income levels, or place of residence are punished -- largely due to the protection of adults, lack of accountability, and the inability of the government (and union) to get rid of the split ends.