representative province with not the
lowest teaching standards in Canada,
has an extremely large proportion of
public school instructors with one year
and two year teaching certificates. That
is, the number of teachers who have
taken teacher training at the Faculty
of Education for just one or two years

is very large. In Alberta, hundreds of .

teachers each year are allowed to
teach in spite of the fact that they
possess absolutely no teaching certifi-
cates. These teachers are granted a

"An Alberta teacher is
paid 18 cents an hour for
each one of his charges.”

Letter of Authority to teach by the
Minister of Education, upon the recom-
Mmendation of divisional _superinten-
dents. Several provinces in Canada
have the equivalent of the Alberta Let-
ter of Authority.

Too small a percentage of Alberta
teachers have B.Ed. degrees (for which
four years of training is required). This
deficiency of university training results
in not only a lack of the expertness
and specialized knowledge necessary
for providing educational leadership in
Schools. It also. means that the salary
levels of Alberta teachers, on the ave-
Tage, remain quite low since Alberta,
in common with most provinces, pays
its teachers partly on the basis of their
university training. é

As educational taxes increase year
by year, the property-owner, upon
whom the burden of school taxation
is placed, is left with a mistaken belief
that the classroom teacher is being
smothered with annual salary increases
of excessive proportions. True, the
average teacher is better off than he
Was a decade ago, but his salary in-
creases barely keep pace with the sky-
rocketing cost-of-living. The typical
teacher earns his pay increases, for
school boards are usually quite willing
to increase class loads as salaries in-
crease. The paltry nature of a teacher's
Pay may be readily realized if a per-
Son makes an effort to calculate the
amount a teacher is paid per hour for
each child -he has in his care. For
example, a typical Alberta teacher, who
calculated his hourly pay per student,
discovered that he was being paid 18
Cents for looking after, and instructing,
each one of his charges for a period
of one hour. Any teen-aged baby-sitter

AN EDUCATIONAL PLATFOKm

The above discussion of education
only touches upon some of the pressing

‘problems of Canadian education. A

host of educational problems, some of
them extremely serious, have not even
been mentionen. For example, the
whole question of educational fin:
ance has not been introduced, not
because it is unimportant—it is now
of critical importance — but because
progressive school trustees have given
excellent analyses of the problem and
have proposed many workable and
necessary solutions. The progressive
press will continue to give excellent
coverage of this problem, both during,
and after, the federal election cam-
paign.

As a teacher, I have been very aware
of the necessity of presenting an ade-
quate coverage of educational ques-
tions during the election campaign. The
following items are important parts of
a Communist education platform which
have been introduced publicly, not just
by myself, but by different Communist
speakers and candidates across the
country. These items have, of course,
been introduced in different ways by

different speakers, but all share the -

common attribute of furthering the
process of democratizing Canada‘s dif-
ferent educational systems.

WE ADVOCATE:

e The democratization of high
schools and institutions of higher learn-
ing by allowing students and instruc-
tors a major say in the making of
those decisions which pertain to the
structure and course content within

ihose institutions.

e The providing of adequate salaries
and training to teachers and professors,
much above the present undesirable
levels.

e The provincial and federal govern-
ments guarantee the payment of fees
to students at trade schools, technolo-
gical institutes, universities, and colle-
ges during the full duration of instruc-
tion, whether this duration be of two
years, or seven ‘years, or more.

e A system of stipends be paid to
all students needing such stipends at
the level beyond high school. These
stipends shall vary with the needs of
students; married students, for exam-
ple, receiving additional consideration
due to their extra financial require-
ments.

"Communist proposals to

further democratize Can-

ada's different educatio-
nal systems..."

e All high school students be grant-
ed financial aid, should this aid be
necessary to allow them to complete
their high school training. The critical
problem of high school drop-outs Shall
be nearly eliminated by providing not
just financial assistance should the
need arise, but also the vocational guid-
ance lacking in so many cases at the
present.

e The senior governments provide
assistance to all school boards so that

class loads may be radically reduced,
and all modern teaching methods and
technology may be placed at the dis-
posal of the teacher.

e The tax burden be removed from
the shoulders of the home-owner and
small property-holder, and placed much
more upon the shoulders of the large
corporations and monopolies. The muni-
cipalities and school boards be given
greatly increased financial assistance
from the provincial and national gov-
ernments, which have much better
means of taxation at their. disposal.
Reduction’ of defence expenditures
shall be one important means of ac-
quiring increased funds for education.

e A settling of Canada’s present
constitutional crisis shall allow the
federal government to participate much
more in the educational affairs of the
English speaking provinces, while, at
the same time, the governmental bodies
administrating the affairs of the
French Canadian nation shall be in a
better position to improve educational
standards among the French Canadians.

e Educational television networks,
in both English Canada and French
Canada, shall be established to provide
the maximum possible assistance to
teachers and instructors in carrying on
their educational duties. Such televised
instruction shall be carried on with
the full professional participation of
teacher organizations and professorial
bodies.

e The teaching profession shall be
given increased status, with adequate
pay, so that sufficient Canadian teach-
ers and professors may be recruited to
fully staff all schools and universities.

} who looks after a child for less than
f $1.00 per hour is a disgrace to the
} baby-sitting profession. Any teacher
; Who got paid at this rate per hour
} could retire rich, especially when it is
; taken into consideration that school
f boards like to pack from 35 to 40 stu-
; dents into a classroom—particularly at
: the elementary level.

j There is still a major crisis in edu-
} Cation. If there has been any improve-
ment in the educational picture during

the past decade, it only means that
| . €ducation has passed from the depths
, of a major catastrophe to the hardly

EEE
"Teachers, relieved of the
necessity of enforcing un-
popular and often stupid
rules, will. perform in a
more competent and pro-
fessional manner..."

improved position of being in a serious
crisis. The classroom teacher is still
Working long hours with very heavy
Class loads. He is still expected to
teach outdated curricula using archaic
Hf Methodology in the majority of cases.
Proof of this is the indisputable fact
that there is still'a serious teacher
Shortage, with Canadian hiring bodies
Taiding the public school teaching staffs
in India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Aus-
tralia, Britain, New Zealand, and a host
Of other countries which can ill afford
to part with their teachers. - me

——
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= — k= Ne, | AS

Se

PACIFIC TRIBUNE —JUNE 14,1968