A new book co-authored by a former Yorkton resident takes aim at North America's flawed public school systems.
Michael Zwaagstra, a 1993 graduate of Yorkton Regional High School, has been teaching high school in Manitoba since the late '90s. Zwaagstra says that his book, What's Wrong With Our Schools: And How We Can Fix Them, found its origins through a combination of his experiences as a teacher and his research on education policy issues for the Frontier Centre of Winnipeg.
"Through my master's program, I got to know two professors quite well: Rodney Clifton and John Long. The three of us together, we talked about the different issues that we thought were important, and we decided two years ago, enough talking-let's write a book already and put it out there."
Targets of the book's criticisms include teachers' unions, no-fail and no-deadline policies, integration of special needs students into standard classrooms, and a so-called "anti-knowledge bias" that permeates public schools.
"What I mean by that is that curriculum guides don't expect much specific knowledge," explains Zwaagstra. "If you go to an ELA curriculum guide, you will not find a single book or a single author that everyone is expected to read and know about. Basically, there's a focus on process instead of a focus on specific knowledge."
"The processes are important," he adds, "but if you have the processes without the knowledge to go with them, it's sort of like the process of eating a meal without any food."
The book also derides "meaningless edu-babble" utilized by teacher's colleges and policy makers.
"'Authentic assessment'-that's one that they use a lot. Basically, it's a de-emphasis on tests, and particularly standardized tests. It's saying they're not authentic."
"They use the words in such a way that you can't disagree with them. But we do disagree with them, and we point out why. We just have a problem with words being used in that way."
Education issues around the continent are similar enough that the book's points should hit home nearly anywhere in North America. However, Zwaagstra says that the authors' Canadian background will be apparent.
"The book is marketed in both Canada and the US, and so we made it so that it's applicable to both countries. But you can definitely tell that it's got a Canadian emphasis in terms of the types of issues that we deal with."
What's Wrong With Our Schools calls for broad systemic reforms, but it is written for a mass audience.
"We targeted the book specifically to be read by parents and other concerned citizens, as well as teachers who want to see changes in the system."
"We're trying to give a tool that parents can use-a book that's written at a level they can understand that shows that actually their common-sense understanding of education is supported by evidence. And they can use that when they're lobbying for changes."
What's Wrong With Our Schools: And How We Can Fix Them is sold in Yorkton at the Parkland Mall Coles bookstore, and is also available through major online retailers.
More information can be found at the book's website, www.fixingourschools.com.
