Dear Editor,
Every year we hear so much about the one percent of school children who do well on the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) and earned themselves a place at Queen’s College and other top schools.
Why don’t we hear more about those who are failing in school, are in failing schools and who are dropping out of schools?
When are we going to have a national conversation about children who are failing and dropping out of school?
Every year politicians boast about the one percent of children who do well on the NGSA and earned themselves a place at the top high schools in the country.
And, yet, we hear so little about the children who didn’t do well on the NGSA and didn’t get into the top high schools.
We hear so little about the children who are failing in school and earned themselves a place at the Community High Schools and for some of them no school.
Editor, when are we going to hear about the “forgotten” children?
The ones whose parents were unable to pay for extra lessons to help their children to earn a place in a better school. The ones whose parents couldn’t afford to pay for the NGSA study materials and didn’t have a computer and internet to do research at home.
The ones whose parents couldn’t afford to give them a proper breakfast before sending them to school. (This was my experience).
The ones who went to school scared, hungry and sick because the parents couldn’t afford to pay for school uniforms or give them lunch money. (This was my experience).
The ones whose parents couldn’t afford to pay bus fares to send them to school. The ones whose parents had to keep them home from school to watch their younger brothers and sisters while the single-parent went to work. (This was my experience).
The ones who couldn’t take the NGSA and pass it because they are “slow learners.” The ones who will eventually drop out of school because they were left behind. (This was my experience).
The ones who will finish high school but still be unable to read and write properly. The ones whose parents are unable to afford to buy a generator to use to study during blackouts. (This was my experience).
Editor, when are the policymakers and political leaders going to start focusing on these forgotten ones? It pains me to see how little the education system has changed since I left school many, many years ago.
Editor, I am writing from personal experience. I was one of the forgotten. My grades were so bad that I was placed in high school without taking the Common Entrance Exam.
As result, I struggled in high school keeping up my grades and eventually dropped out at 16.
Later, at 20, I re-enrolled in school to continue my education, and I learned that my reading, math and writing level was the same as an 11 year old. So even though I attended high school I wasn’t doing high school level work.
Today, there are many children who are finishing high school and are unable to read and write at a high school level.
Editor, when are we going to hear about these forgotten and when are we going to focus more on them?
Yours faithfully,
Anthony Pantlitz
