Shawn Chisholm, executive director of the Federation of Independent School Associations in BC, recently addressed St. John Brebeuf Secondary graduates in Abbotsford. In addition to offering his advice to the graduates, he shared some words with their parents on the importance of choice in education and the value of a Catholic education. Following is an edited excerpt of his remarks.
In my present role at FISA I serve the diverse population of over 320 BC independent schools – as an advocate for choice in K-12 education, rightful funding, and recognition as an integral sector of the BC K-12 system. Access to and choice in education are fundamental human rights and are identified in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights – Article 26, which states: Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.
I wish I could supply the level of acknowledgment that is deserved by the parents who choose to send their children to an independent school. This day is also a celebration of your choice – that facilitated your child reaching this important milestone. The alternative to an independent school education is a public school education – and that option is free, because as a society we recognize education as a liberating force with a strong contribution to the public good.
Tonight as grad parents you celebrate your children’s completion of their K-to-12 education and look forward to what lies ahead. You are also probably coming to the realization that you will no longer be paying tuition, making countless lunches, ensuring your child brought their homework/mask/gym strip to school, fighting for a spot in the parking lot, attending parent/teacher interviews, participating in fundraisers, and signing endless permission slips.
As a parent of children who attended a Catholic school, I must warn you that you may also struggle in the future, as I did, with the realization that you will miss the regular connection with your child’s classmates and teachers, and the times when you witnessed your children’s performances – whether it was on a stage, a gym or a playing field.
As parents of these beautiful graduating students you exercised your choice and chose a Catholic education because it was a gift you wanted your child to experience. Your choice speaks to your commitment and investment in something of great value – a faith-based Catholic education.
Legal euthanasia and assisted suicide usually starts with terminal illnesses. Then to reasonably foreseeably death, then to not reasonably foreseeable death, followed by disabilities, children with disabilities, dementia, and mental illness.
Once you legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide it keeps expanding and expanding and never ends. The number of Canadians receiving euthanasia and assisted suicide has increased every year since it was introduced because they keep expanding it. There are no safeguards once you legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide.
Dean Clark
Langley
Re “Residential school ‘discoveries’: verdict by public opinion,” May 30, by Father Jack Gallagher:
The residential school system was created to destroy native culture and was nearly successful in doing so. Pope Francis apologized recently for the role of the Catholic Church in this destruction.
If the teachers in the residential schools were in any way like most of the nuns and brothers who taught me in the 1960s, those little kids hadn’t a chance.
Father Gallagher’s article merely rearranges the deck chairs on a doomed ship.
Peter Manning
Port Coquitlam
