. Some background: The Ontario government has announced that it will increase the average class size for high schools. It’s a cost-saving measure that many fear will lead to poorer education for children. But the Minister of Education claimed that it’s going to increase the resiliency of the students, so it’s a good policy.
Here’s my letter (which was the lead letter in the 22 March edition of the Star) :
Re Larger class sizes build ‘resiliency’: Thompson (March 21)
We should build on Lisa Thompson’s argument. Given all the mollycoddling in society, here are some suggestions to improve resiliency in the Ontario population – and, of course, save money.
Reduce the number of doctors. You shouldn’t need medical help for your brain surgery. Get a family member or friend to do it, or better still do it yourself.
Reduce the number of police. How are we going to learn to stand up to criminals if we expect the police to do it for us?
Reduce public transit. You’re not tough enough if you can’t run, walk or bike at least 20 km to your job, regardless of the weather.
Then again, maybe Thompson’s view is wrong. Maybe she doesn’t realise that when you work out how much time each child gets with a teacher, you DIVIDE by the number of students, and if there’s a bigger number on the bottom of the division, the answer is lower. But perhaps Ms Thompson missed that in math class. Was her class too big?