What should Schools Teach?

I recall going to a YMCA gym in downtown Toronto years ago. It was small and its layout was compact. When I went to the spin room to do some cycling on a stationary bike I was at first taken aback at how close the bikes were to each other. The sweat from the guy next to me hit me in the face. Not pleasant. But what really bothered me the most was the lack of music. There was none. I asked around why was there no music. The gym I normally went to (JCC - Jewish Community Centre) played music constantly which added a great vibe with which to work out to. They told me that some months prior, some members got into a squabble about the type of music that should be played. Some liked rock, others classical. Since they couldn't settle their debate, they decided that no music would be played in the end.

Certainly it wasn't the perfect solution but sometimes we must settle for an imperfect solution.

In our schools today, a lot of focus has been on sex. Ie. transgender studies, gay studies and a myriad of other sex based topics. Some many might view as legitimate. Some might be as so over the top, they are considered obscene. 

Here, where I live in Ontario, Canada, our school board has become a sad joke to the world. A male teacher who identifies as a woman, has been wearing huge, prosthetic breasts while teaching in a public school. I would have thought that the principal, school board, government officials, parents and students alike (ie. everyone) would agree that this was not appropriate 'attire' for a teacher. But then I would be wrong. Because the school board sided with his right to wear them. I know, I can't be making this up can I?

Here is the full article about him. I'm not sure what his preferred pronouns are (perhaps 'it'), nor do I care.  https://www.blogto.com/city/2022/09/ontario-teacher-prosthetic-bust-school-board-defends/

Of course a topic near and dear to my heart is the decades long attack on Jews and pro-Israel students and teachers within our school board and universities, especially in Toronto. I have blogged about this repeatedly (In My Own Backyard). It appears that despite our best efforts to stop this sort of discrimination whereby only anti-Israel views are acceptable in our education system, we are no further ahead in this fight. Believe me, I'd love nothing more than true, open debate about Israel and the Arab states at large but since it's blatantly obvious that this is not happening, hasn't happened and doubtful that it will, it's best just to keep politics out of the education system. 

We have all read so many articles on what's going on and I'm sure we all have an equal number of diverse opinions as to what should be permitted and what should not be. I can guess that whatever solution one school board or parent might propose, it would most likely be shot down by another school board or parent.

So I propose another imperfect solution. Let's focus instead on teaching our children the basics. The core studies that have been the fundamental learning subject for our children for thousands of years. It began with reading and writing. It then went on to include subjects like arithmetic, science, history and geography. Most schools includ art, music, gym and shop. At higher grades, accounting, chemistry and computer science and other subjects.

In North America we spend billions of dollars on education every year. Yet studies year after year show that our children are near the bottom in the academics, world wide. Countries much poorer than ours are teaching their children at a much higher standard than we are. Could it be because we have lost our way? Could it be that we are fighting amongst ourselves on topics that should really be taught by the parents of the children if at all?

I think so.