Sandecki writes from Terrace, B.C. This item was originally published in the Terrace Standard.
In British Columbia, high school students’ education is being corrupted to satisfy business. It demands that schools turn out grads ready for the workplace, like fryers processed for chicken takeouts.
Never mind if grads can’t read fluently, comprehend written instructions, correctly spell everyday words or write legibly. Can’t spell? Trust spell-check.
I’ve just read Nellie McClung’s second autobiography, The Stream Runs Fast, and was struck by her ability to quote appropriate lines from classic poetry.
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Born in Ontario in 1873, McClung didn’t begin school until she was 10 years old, living in Manitoba. Yet by the age of 16 she received a teaching certificate and taught school. She went on to become an author, a member of the Alberta legislature and was one of the five women who fought to have Canadian women declared persons, with the right to vote.
Despite limited schooling, McClung’s autobiography is peppered with quotes from poets and notable writers such as Winston Churchill. For instance, covering her 1938 trip to Mexico, she remarks on the burro, “a poor, burdened little creature who carries everything that can be piled on him – wood, straw, charcoal, ore. Perhaps his fortitude is explained in Chesterton’s fine fancy, that every donkey remembers that great hour of his ancestors, ‘when there were shouts about his ears and palms beneath his feet.’ ” How many of today’s B.C. grads would recognize that line from G. K. Chesterton’s poem, The Donkey?
It’s been 50 or more years since I read Clearing in the West, but I’ll bet it, too, features quotes from enduring poets. No doubt that’s one of the reasons McClung’s books were my mother’s favourites. She relished poetry and at 70 could still recite Longfellow’s The Village Blacksmith.
My mother attended only the first three grades in a Saskatchewan homestead school her father and two neighbours organized.
How did these pioneer women learn math, spelling, penmanship and a broad spectrum of worthwhile literature in so few classroom hours? And at a time when one teacher taught multiple grades without the help of visuals, computers or parent volunteers?
These days students bypass classic literature so they have time to practice filling out a job application. They may never read Robert W. Service, Bliss Carman or Robert Frost.
Sure, they can quote funny lines from Homer Simpson or current movies, but will those lines comfort them when they retire to a rocking chair?
