About that curriculum

Dear MLA, Minister LeGrange and Premier Kenney,

I, like many Albertans, am absolutely flabbergasted at the proposed curriculum. When I started looking at the content my grade 1 student will be expected to learn next year (if implemented) I was astounded. This is simply a list of facts that will bear no meaning whosoever on her life. Minister LeGrange and Permier Kenney keep mentioning declining educational performance but I only find the opposite. 

In 2018 CBC reported that 

"Results of a global education survey that found Alberta students rank among the best in the world in reading, math and science, show that education funding pays off, according to the president of the Alberta Teachers' Association.

Students in the province rank third globally at reading and science, and eighth in math, according to the ATA's summary of the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment, which was released Tuesday."

So it seems really surprising that we would want to move from that to an American style education model with outdated methodologies such as rote memorization before kids have the ability to comprehend what they are learning.  

I have so many issues with this proposed curriculum it is hard to know where to start. Beyond destroying the love of learning for kids by forcing them to memorize useless dates that they could access by yelling "hey Google" it's the fact that none of this is tailored to Albertan and Canadian History. It is pure and simply American Curriculum repackaged with a bit of Wikipedia plagiarism. 

The wordle created by pulling all the words from this K-12 curriculum references the USA more than Alberta or even Canada!  I keep looking for Alberta and can't even find it. How is this a "made in Alberta solution?" 

This was our previous curriculum wordle:

No noticeable mention of the USA, heavy focus on things relevant to Albertan kids, like Alberta and Canada. Even just looking at these two images is enough to bring me to tears as I think of the foundational education that is being taken from our kids.  

And the fact that now school boards will be expected to purchase American Created text books to follow this curriculum with no local indigenous perspective, no local history relevant to Albertan families and no French translation for kids going to French immersion or Francophone schools.  

This is an issue that is galvanizing Albertan parents who appreciate our world class system and will fight hard to protect it. You may gather from this letter that I lean left, but I'm speaking with my friends and neighbours who voted for you and they now all say they regret it. I will keep speaking out, writing letters, attending protests and doing everything in my power to ensure that Alberta is not added to this map in the near future. 

Sincerely,

An Albertan Mother.