The Montreal Gazette – July 3, 2008
Re.: “Parents threatening to withhold fees till textbooks arrive,” (West Island Gazette, June 26). Understandably, parents are very angry, frustrated and outraged because their children will not have all the textbooks to follow properly the curriculum reform. So, what happened?
Considering the reform has been in place for years, Pearson board chairperson Marcus Tabachnick claims: “We’ve been making noise at the ministry level. We are pushing the government and that’s how we got where we are today.”
Exactly! Now, let’s backtrack and look at three comprehensive reports that were presented by the Quebec English School Boards Association: Advisory Council on the Future of English Public Education; the Bouchard-Taylor commission report and the forum on the Future of School Boards.
The number of words in these documents: 26,000-27,000. The number of detailed recommendations: 58. The number of words, thoughts, concerns and deliberations regarding the lack of English textbooks: 0.
Chris Eustace,
Pierrefonds
