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David King, who was Alberta’s education minister from 1979 to 1986, addressed delegates at the Alberta Teachers’ Association’s 2015 Summer Conference. Here are a few notable quotes from his speech.
“Public education is more important than public health or anything else, because without public education there won’t be public health or anything else. I believe teachers are doing the most important work to be done.”
“We are being confronted by change, the likes of which humankind has never experienced since we emerged from caves.”
“Build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”
“Given a social licence by the community, you could, with a friendly government, see the implementation of some of the most wonderful improvements to education in Alberta.”
“Education can only be changed by a dialogue between the profession and the community. The community can’t enter into the realm of the profession as easily as the profession can and should enter into the realm of the community. That is the key challenge facing you as teachers.”
“Shake off everything you have understood about the previous political relationship you had with the government. Shake off every aspect of it, but don’t forget the experience, because you could have a government like that again someday in the future.” ❚
