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We asked teachers what teaching-related resolutions they’d adopted for the new year.
Shannon Rae Dube
My teaching resolution for 2018 is to do 1.5 hours of professional reading each week. Already on my list are A Knock on the Door: The Essential History of Residential Schools and The Global Fourth Way.
Letters to the editor
Claims of support for Catholic education ring hollow
While the editor is free to ask Santa for whatever he wishes in his stocking this year (Editorial: “My Christmas gift list,” Dec. 5, 2017), he appears to have a simplistic and superficial understanding of Catholic education.
Albertans have a constitutional right to minority religious schools, which in most of the province means Catholic. These were established because such parents recognized their faith to be the fundamental aspect of their identity and, in justice, wanted their tax dollars to assist in offering this formation to their children.
Religious beliefs provide comprehensive understandings of the human person and social relationships. In many ways these are shared by all people of good will; at times we find ourselves in conflict, even with those well intentioned.
In the face of such disagreement there is work to be done to find whatever best resolution is possible. Here Catholics look to their bishops as wise shepherds, with some of their authority delegated to our superintendents — hired by our elected officials to run our schools. Expecting us to turn tail and accept a less deep concern for all individuals is to betray the reason for which our schools were founded.
It is interesting that Teghtmeyer chose the metaphor of a barometer as something he wants Catholic leaders to have; after all barometers measure pressure. The whispers are becoming louder. When voices from the Association claim to support Catholic education, this Catholic father and teacher suspects Inigo Montoya had it right to state, “I do not think that word means what you think it means.”
The Association is undermining Catholic support for the ATA; don’t make us choose.
Wayne Ottenbreit
Guidance counsellor, St. Joseph and St. Michael schools, Calgary
Letters to the editor: We welcome letters to the editor. Please limit your submission to 300 words. Only letters bearing a first and last name, address, and daytime telephone number will be considered for publication. Teachers are also asked to indicate where and what they teach. All letters are subject to editing for length, clarity, punctuation, spelling and grammar.
Email managing editor Cory Hare: cory.hare@ata.ab.ca. |
