Close to fifty people attended a round table discussion on changes to the provincial education system last night in Clinton.
The guest speaker was NDP Education Critic Marit Stiles, who represents the riding of Davenport in the GTA.
Stiles believes small, rural schools are going to be hit in different ways than urban schools by the changes proposed by the Ford government.
"For example, you might have a school that's already small, now you're going to be seeing fewer teachers, so they're not going to be able to offer the same courses that they were before, which means people here are worried that they won't be viable anymore, and that means they might actually have to close more schools."
Ontario NDP Education Critic Marit Stiles (photo by Bob Montgomery)
Another change that really bothers her is the mandatory on-line learning.
"Mandatory on-line learning is just not going to work for most students. We know that based on the research, even here in Avon Maitland where they do a lot of on-line courses, they really know how it works, and how it doesn't - and it doesn't suit the majority of kids; some kids can do it – others can't."
Stiles insists it's not too late for the Doug Ford Tories to make the appropriate changes.
