5 minute read
A Little Island of Freedom
A Conversation with Dr. John R. Wiens
John Sushelnitsky, Chair, Political Advocacy
Following are excerpts from an interview with Dr. John R. Wiens, Dean Emeritus at the University of Manitoba. He has been a lifelong educator, serving as a teacher, counsellor, work education co-ordinator, principal, school superintendent and university professor. He spoke with the RTAM Political Advocacy Committee on November 21, 2019.
When the RTAM Board gave the Political Advocacy Committee the task of monitoring developments in the Government’s K-12 Education Review, a sub-committee was set up to do so. In its research, the sub-committee became aware of a series of op-ed articles written for the Winnipeg Free Press by Dr. Wiens. The PA Committee invited Dr. Wiens to share his viewpoints on the government review. The opinions and viewpoints expressed are Mr. Wiens’ and we thank him for his candor and a very enlightening and engaging presentation. His views are food for thought, but do not express any official RTAM position at this time.
On Manitoba: We are “a little island of freedom in education” in Canada because we have never had a labor disruption and we have an unusual amount of local authority. Teachers gave up the right to strike in favour of arbitration. Today, some politicians are pushing us in the direction of labour unrest because of their desire for more control and power; fewer bargaining units and less democracy with fewer school divisions, ie. less dissent.
On decision-making:
With Indigenous councils, I have sat through three-hour meetings that would take us fifteen minutes but at the end of it people present have all convinced themselves that there is a decision because everyone has had equal opportunity to speak. They may have said what others have said, but they have said it out loud, and there is something about doing that which is really powerful. If you say it, you are “on board.” That is what I think consultation means to Indigenous peoples.
On dissent:
Don’t worry about the fact that people will try to use your stuff for their own purposes. Governments will try to say to our organizations, ”Well, you don’t represent, because there are a couple of dissenting voices in the group. That is exactly where the MTS and MASS seem to be at the present; they have sentenced themselves to silence because they are trying to bring some dissenting voices on side, and it’s not going to happen. They have made themselves increasingly ineffective because governments know that not all members agree and some just seem to be afraid for their futures, and governments use this knowledge to their advantage to reduce dissent.
On negotiations :
The negotiation table is one of the few places where we can legitimately, as teachers, get into conversations about things that are important to us. That is one of the most important parts of collective bargaining. That is where you can put on the table things that are important to you and they have to be heard.
On political ideology:
The political scene right now hammers us with the idea that you have to choose sides. I refuse to do that on a partisan basis. How do I not choose sides? I focus on education, children and young people and democratic participation. There are consequences to choosing sides. If one is automatically expected to choose a position before going into a dialogue with someone, there can be no open discussion or reasonable disagreement, both of which are necessary to democracy.
– John Wiens
On freedom of speech:
The essence of freedom of speech is that you should keep your mouth shut unless you have a thoughtful contribution to make. Some people focus on the right rather than why we think freedom of speech is important, the content of what you have to say.
On Winnipeg School Divisions:
If we look at Toronto, we see basically one big school division and, if we want to talk about systems where decisions are usually made far from where they are to be implemented, it is representative. So, I would say generally that we are better off with small enough school divisions where people have an opportunity to interact responsibly and responsively. But, I think that we can almost bet that Winnipeg School Divisions will disappear in its present form. The rumour is that the rivers will decide the boundaries, and that there will be four divisions in Winnipeg. On the other hand, I think this government is quite unsure with what to do with southern Manitoba, and rightfully so, as we do not need large systems to educate people and we are still feeling the reverberations of the last amalgamation.
Here are some recommendations Dr. Wiens made in his submission to the K-12 Review Commission:
That Government
1. commit to the public purposes of education and public schools, and their role in renewing democracy; 2. encourage the school system,to explore and organize visitations, student exchanges and inter-school collaboration, such as professional development opportunities between public schools and First Nation
Schools and school systems; 3. do further study of cradle-to-grave educational tracking and the role of parents, caregivers, teachers and students in its implementation; 4. initiate negotiations with faculties of education, school divisions, First Nations and MTS, MSBA and MASS, to introduce and implement teacher education internship and residency programs in rural, northern and
First Nation communities; 5. develop an annual report on education, including the Ministry of Education’s activities of the past year and plans and priorities for the next year, and rationale for same; 6. reaffirm the importance of the role of local school boards in the governance of the public school system in Manitoba; 7. re-create the inter-organizational advisory committee on education finance with expanded representation to regularly review the education funding regime; 8. undertake an in-depth review of taxation policies and practices; and, 9. renew its commitment to education as an investment and to the pursuit of reducing unwarrantable inequities. §
John Wiens
