Ontario school board ‘cultivates’ vapid verbiage while its students and teachers suffer
‘In the new education world, everything counts except real teaching’
School boards are where English as a glorious instrument of meaningful, and even beautiful, means of communication goes, sadly, to die.
Joseph Brean very recently wrote an excellent article about a school in crisis in Mississauga, Ont. The substance of his article was a cri de coeur about rampant violence in the hallways, threats against staff, and the school board’s heavy-handed response to a teacher who dared to speak out. It is a frightening account.
The article included comments from a Peel District School Board spokesperson. It is these remarks I’d like to deal with, particularly the jargon-infested, warm-dough language, non-substance reply to Brean’s questions.
Here’s the first inspirational phrase from the school board’s spokesperson: The board is “committed to cultivating safe and inclusive learning and working environments for students and staff.”
Just what is this?
It is the plasticine, flavourless static verbiage that every school board pumps out from its vast cliché vat to stuff every one of the flaccid, sterile yawn-incantations it “issues” to cover some patent malfeasance, misfeasance, disorder, or parent complaint over behaviour in its schools.
Safe. Inclusive. Environments. The tag-stickers of the woke. All that’s missing is a hymn to recycling and non-meat diets.
