What's happening to public education?

Sep 12, 2007

To the Editor:

Because I am conservative by nature, I don’t recall the last time I voted Liberal in either a provincial or a federal election — it’s been 30 years at least. But that’s about to change.

It galls me to hear that John Tory and his provincial Conservatives are prepared to take a page from the federal Liberal platform and squander $500 million of our tax dollars by taking it out of public education and diverting it to private religious schools in an obvious political move to buy the immigrant vote.

Are they so desperate that they will say or do anything to get elected, regardless of the cost or disruption to our public school system?

But that’s only one reason for my discontent – and not the major one.

Unless you’re blind, deaf and stupid, because of what’s happening nationally and worldwide, you must realize that Muslim immigrants in particular are of concern – and they should be.

Because of the differences in culture, I don’t think that there is a hope in hell that I am going to embrace most Muslims (regardless if they are so-called moderates or not) and I don’t think that they are going to learn to love me anytime soon either.

But, I think there is hope for the children: ours and theirs. Are we really going to deprive ourselves of the opportunity of having the children intermingle and learn from each other – and maybe even learn to like each other – by shipping the immigrant children off to a separate school when they reach four or five years of age? I don’t think that’s a good move.

I think if there is any hope at all for any sort of cultural harmony, it rests with the children.

Mel Dunford
South River