EDUCATION:
In spite of some remarkable advances in the quality and accessibility of
education in Canada, there has been in recent years a trend in public policy
to define the acquisition of marketable skills as the main goal of education.
Further, we perceive an alarming trend towards the production of docile
subjects, rather than of thinking and questioning citizens.
We see the human-centred model of teaching and learning being replaced
frequently by a production model of schooling, designed only for cost-effective
transfer of skills. The fruits of education are reduced to those which
can be measured by frequent tests. Teaching and learning are competitive
rather than cooperative, the curriculum and its content prescriptive rather
than holistic. Also, the importance of constant informal social interaction
is neglected. Music, art, literature and history are treated as frills
that can be discarded at will when budgets are cut back. The current conditions
of work are causing anguish to many skilled, committed teachers, whose
hands are tied by changing legislation and regulations. There are disadvantages
to all categories of students; of particular note is the increased marginalization
of disadvantaged and special needs children and adults.
GOVERNANCE:
Legitimate expectations of effective democratic intervention and meaningful
control have been denied by governments at all levels on many recent occasions,
not only with respect to education, schools and colleges, but also in other
areas of civil life. An effective democracy has to be served by continuing
willingness of those in power to hear and to respond to the expressed will
of the electorate, and must not deteriorate into a dictatorship of the majority
in parliament, much less of a government ministry.
Affirmation of Friends' insights:
Throughout its history the approaches of the Religious Society of Friends
(Quakers) to education and to governance have been rooted in the same religious
leadings. One of them is our belief in the Inner Light. We hold that in
every person there is something of God, capable of receiving direct illumination
from God. In terms of education, this means that we strive for and
support schools that develop in their students the God-given and universal
capacity for discernment as well as providing opportunities for growth in
knowledge and understanding. The task of educational institutions then is
to foster responsible and competent citizens, and such institutions must
be available to all in Canada.
Our long-held position is well stated in the following quotation: " If
we are to educate people for democracy, we must educate people in democracy,...
it is primarily a matter of developing and training those qualities at
once intellectual and moral which make for a democratic attitude to life.
The capacity to weigh facts and theories in the kind of temper that is
impartial without being indifferent, the capacity to argue without scoring
off opponents and to listen sympathetically without contempt, the capacity
to get beneath the skin of the other person and to appreciate other points
of view - these qualities, so simple, so obvious and yet so rare are the
fruits of a democratic education." (#443 from Christian Faith and Practice
in the Experience of the Society of Friends, 1960 ed.)
We categorically reject all authoritarian models of teaching and learning.
We continue to hold that within Canada's public education system, the
acquisition of specific skills must supplement the human development,
and not become a substitute for it. The vocation of teaching remains
for us one of demanding, community-based stewardship. It is not a skill
training assignment on behalf of the powers of the day.
Our profound apprehension about the current thrusts of public policy
and governance in Canada are similarly attributable to the use of an inappropriate
model of social relations. We are convinced that it is fundamentally wrong
for governments to see themselves in market terms, as "providers" of services
to "clients" in the social, legal or health systems. Quakers have struggled
long and hard to understand the nature of good government and the processes
that sustain it. Historically, Friends have played a significant role
in constitutional development by requiring a sensitive practice of democracy,
modifying the danger of the tyranny of the majority. Achieving a majority
government is not a licence to ride roughshod over minority concerns.
We know that only if there is well-founded mutual respect between the
citizens and their governments can a just and caring society thrive. To-day
we see in Canada a denial by governments of respect and meaningful recognition
of the views and legitimate expectations of citizens - be it with regard
to Canada's First Nations, be it in dealing with health and environmental
issues, or be it through the practice of hastily passed legislation, frequently
discounting citizens' interventions or expert advice.
In a globalized technological society, it may be easy for those in power
to dismiss the importance of ordinary people and discount their views,
their contributions to society and their need for community. But no society
will endure without individual respect and care, based on common humanity
and not on economic status or potential advantages.
We call attention to the decline of true education and to the deterioration
of the processes of good and responsible government in this country and
urge citizens to demand that the trends be reversed. We urge those in
responsible positions to examine their actions and help reverse the destructive
tendencies which have developed.
Gordon McClure
Clerk, Canadian Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends
(Quakers)
