FSA and prorogue battle
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The annual battle between teachers and the province over whether or not it makes any sense for selected grades of students to write Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA) tests has arrived.
By and large, teachers, through their union, say the tests only establish a narrow slice of a student’s development — that there’s a whole lot more ot life than book learning.
But if Johnny can’t read, write, or do math, all the self-esteem building workshops in the world won’t help if he can’t find and keep a job.
At the same time, teachers have this lurking suspicion that the results are meant to embarrass themselves. And no one, repeat, no one likes to have real or imagined faults laid out for the world to see.
The province says these tests of reading, writing, and math skills are essential to determine what and how students have learned and to know how students fare against their peers around the province.
That’s fair enough because taxpaying parents deserve to know what’s going on.
But what is the provincial response when the results in a particular school are bad?
Nothing.
There’s no further action to determine what should happen at that particular school to correct what is obviously a bad situation.
Combine that with the bludgeoning that comes when the Fraser Institute uses the FSA results in its rankings of schools, and you have to wonder why the tests are given in the first place.
— Terrace Standard
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While Prime Minister Stephen Harper continues to be assailed for asking Governor General Michaëlle Jean for permission to prorogue Parliament for the second time in less than two years, perhaps the focus should be on the archaic office Jean inhabits.
As governor general, Jean is the Queen’s representative and has the power to deny such requests.
That she does not, that governor generals (with the lone exception of Lord Byng of Vimy in 1926) do nothing more than stand by ceremonially while prime ministers of all political stripes do as they please, should be reason enough to question the very idea of a governor general in Canada in 2010.
If the governor general has the power to refuse an inappropriate request – such as the prorogation request brought forward by Harper on Dec. 30 – yet refuses to use such power for the good of the country, what is the point of the position?
To travel extensively, to live like kings and queens, to hand out awards and medals now and again – all for about 20 million of your dollars every year?
To spend like there’s no tomorrow and remain indignant that mere commoners dare question their budgets, as was ably demonstrated by former governor general Adrienne Clarkson?
Some argue a “constitutional crisis” would be set in motion if Jean had denied Harper his request to suspend Parliament.
No. In fact, the governor general would be doing her job – the first at Rideau Hall to really do so in 84 years.
— Prince George Free Press
