By Cathy Allison and Christie Tucke
Claude Levesque says his son treats essay writing like a joke.
“My son (in Grade 10) can’t even write an essay,” Levesque says. “I blame that totally on the education system.”
Levesque was one of 212 people surveyed on teacher testing in Centretown on Friday, Nov. 16.
Levesque favours the mandatory testing. “It will force teachers to keep up with new methods and it will get the lazy teachers to work harder,” he says. “They should do more writing in class…more short stories, more grammar, more spelling.”
Levesque says many of his son’s friends have similar problems.
Most Lisgar Collegiate students, gathering at a chipwagon at lunch, say they know about teacher testing but they don’t all agree it will help.
“It’s just Mike Harris’s vendetta against teachers and public servants in general,” says Gwen Gillingham, whose mom teaches in Ottawa.
Teaville Bourque disagrees. We need it, he says, “so we can make sure our teachers aren’t slacking off.” He is very dissatisfied with some of his Lisgar teachers.
“They have to make a connection with the students to be effective,” Bourque adds. “Teachers should have training in how to be sociable with students.”
Across the street from the school, Anita Lalonde, 36, is on a cigarette break from work.
She is “not the least little bit” satisfied with Ontario’s teachers. “There’s a lack of interest,” she says. “They’re just there to make their money.”
She says she has been trying to get her two “brain-dead” teenagers held back a grade for years, but says the teachers won’t listen.
She thinks today’s teachers need to be tested because “they don’t care about students. It’s not like it used to be.”
Ron Hyslop, who eats at a Chinese restaurant in Centretown every Friday, says, “My hat’s off to the teachers for what they have to go through.
“We need to give the teachers cultural training. There are some schools where 60 to 70 per cent of the class are immigrants.”
Elva Lock, a retired Centretown resident, says a teacher misdiagnosed her younger child as “learning disabled,” which stigmatized her for life..
“Teachers, like doctors, should get a second opinion on things,” adds Lock. “I had one gifted child, and one that was ruined by a teacher.”
Elevator repairman Terry O’Connell thinks teacher testing is “a waste of our money. How many millions has our government spent telling us about teacher testing that they could have spent in the classroom?”