I am posting this letter which was put out on an attachment on another list
to show you the difference between rhetoric and reality. The Common Sense
Revolution of our neo con Premier who got elected on the concept of giving a
tax break to Ontarians by managing the budget from the point of view of
common sense, is demonstrating what passes for common sense within the tiny
minds of neo cons. Please note that last year those books were all fine and
please note the in the US we constantly read that there are public schools
that have no books in poorer neighborhoods and please note that we are
talking about a 100 million spending decision that had to be decided in four
days and please note that instead of supporting Canadian publishers, the new
books were supplied by American publishers which has to make a small dent in
our balance of trade. Of course, this is just common sense if you live in
One Flew Over the Cuckoo Nest of neo-con philosophy. If you have any
further doubt as to why we are in such a financial mess, other great
decisions of Trudeau, Mulroney, and Chretien could be examined to find their
common sense.
Repsectfully,
Thomas Lunde
Dear Mr. Taylor,
I am writing to you in the hopes that you will find out the details of
the little bit of information that I have and , when you have the facts
right, you will please spread them as much as possible.
This afternoon, my husband, Jim, came home from school and asked me what
I thought they were going to do with the old English books after they get
the new ones that were bought for a $100,000,000. photo-op for the Tories. I
sarcastically joked that they would probably burn them (having recently
watched a movie that showed the Nazis burning a pile of books).
Jim replied, "No, they're not going to burn them. - They are going to
SHRED them."
I screamed. I just could not believe that they could be as wicked as my
stupid joke suggested.
After I stopped shouting, Jim said that when he was told that this was
the fate of all those books not on the Tories approved new list, he went to
his principal and said that he thinks this is criminal, that at the very
least they could be used by someone. He suggested that the parochial schools
around here (we are right in the middle of a lot of old order Mennonites and
my cousin, who is a teacher in a parochial school, has told me in the past
they have obtained discards from the public system.) could be given some and
that, if we are given a bit of time, we could find some English speaking
country that is desperate for books for their school system. Of course, it
would be kind of nice to just be able to keep the books, at least as
references.
Are you as appalled as I am?! Last year, when the announcement was made
about how generous the government was with it's donation of $100,000,000.
(tax dollars!) to counteract the complaint of not enough texts for our kids,
I was on the Heidelberg Advisory Council. I was able to see the
consternation as the principal and teachers scrambled in the four working
days given them to go through the approved list and come up with books that
might suit the needs of our children. I knew that they had been researching
all year to come up with just the right books in each subject and were now
seeing all that work thrown out as they could only choose from those
publishers approved by the ministry. I was dismayed that anyone could think
that such an important job could be thoroughly researched in four days. My
husband, as a science and geography/history teacher, was discouraged by the
fact that the money was only allowed to go for class books - the teacher's
manuals to go with each book were very expensive and would have to come out
of some other non-existent budget.
Now, I am horrified that they are going to obliterate all traces of
books that came before their era. How can they possibly think that they have
come up with the ultimate learning? And who are the people who chose this
very narrow educational path? What are their credentials? They always hide
behind "the Ministry" as if that makes them all knowing, the ultimate
authority. How much did the publishers pay them to get on The List? And how
can they think that we are so wealthy that we can just destroy anything they
don't want? Taxpayers money bought those 'old, obsolete' books. How do they
dare be so wasteful? Talk about being careless with resources.
I don't know if the directive to shred the books comes from the Waterloo
Region District School Board or if it is an all-Ontario command. Would you
please ask around and find out ? And then, would you let this information be
known? Surely, if the public finds this out they will be as outraged as I am
and demand that our resources not be squandered in this way.
Thank-you, Neil, for anything you are able to do.
Sincerely,
Carol Gregory
--
MZ
