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There We Go Arousing People Again
I suspect if Premier William Aberhart had it all to do over again, he would not have included among the legislated objects of the Alberta Teachers’ Association a call “to arouse and increase public interest in the importance of education and public knowledge of the aims of education, financial support for education, and other education matters.” [Teaching Profession Act, Section 4(c)]
Now Bible Bill, as former principal of Crescent Heights High School in Calgary, was nothing if not a champion of teachers, and in his first mandate was personally responsible for passage of the act that established the ATA as the professional organization representing all teachers in the province’s public and separate schools. But he was also a politician, and as such, he would probably have some latent guilt over what he inflicted upon successive provincial governments.
For, as ATA archivist Margaret Shane illustrates in her collection of previous public relations campaigns (on page 30 of this issue of the ATA Magazine), over the course of decades, the Association has taken to “arousing” the public to a degree that has discomfited ministers of education and governments of all political stripes. Our continuing activities have led some to ask, rather unkindly, “When will teachers ever be satisfied?”
Well, probably never: Our schools today are serving a greater diversity of students than ever before. A greater number of students and proportion of the population are being educated to a higher standard than ever before. And our public education system is having to operate within conditions of greater social, cultural and economic complexity than ever before. Given these realities, the demands being placed upon students, teachers and schools have continued to increase and the resources, of all sorts, available to meet those demands have not kept pace. As a consequence, the critical needs of students are not being met.
In response, teachers are continuing to arouse public attention to their students’ cause. And I’ll be the first to admit we aren’t being subtle about it. In October, the Association dropped a steel monument weighing five metric tonnes and standing five metres tall on the grounds of the Alberta legislature. It is composed of seven silhouettes of the faces of real students, and through the negative space in between, the iconic dome of the legislature comes into view. The monument is a daily reminder to members of the legislative assembly of the critical importance of public education and the role it plays in building up this province and preparing citizens to be active participants in our democracy.
Continuing on the theme, our Faces of Education advertising campaign reminds Albertans that public education is not some abstraction — it is ultimately about flesh-and-blood students and their teachers, some with chipped front teeth who are named Jackson; some who are discovering their identity and passions; some who need to be reminded that, in their all-too-crowded classroom, it’s time to listen.
And finally there is the Pledge for Public Education, around which this issue of the ATA Magazine is structured. Paging through articles highlighting the significance of early learning in developing the full potential of the child, the difference that reducing class size can make on students’ experiences of learning and teachers’ professional practice, the critical importance of mental health and emotional well-being, and the challenge and promise of inclusive education, I expect that you will be aroused to action by at least one of these.
Your responsibility, then, is to make the effort to make a difference by arousing in others awareness of the importance of the issues and calling them to action together with you and your colleagues across Alberta.
So take the pledge. Promote the pledge. And remember the pledge as you engage in active citizenship in the months ahead of us.
