Education in Ontario is in crisis and every day brings news of fresh turmoil. Depending on what you read or see or hear, the villains differ. Some blame the teachers, the boards and trustees, Others blame the provincial government. With an election expected in the spring, it is imperative that all be fully informed because education will play a critical role in the life of this country.

First you need to be aware that there have been more radical changes in education in the past year than any other time in the history of the province. Consider:

• School Boards have been reduced from 129 to 66. Trustee salaries have been reduced to a limit of $5,000 a year.
• In Toronto, six boards have been amalgamated into one as of January 1 1998
• School Boards no longer have the power to raise taxes to fund education in their boards. This power now lies with the province.
• The province has now brought in a new funding formula which prescribes how mush space each student should have. Boards with excess space according to this formula will not be given new funds to build schools until all excess space is utilized.
• New curriculum and report cards have been introduced and new report cards have been provided
• Teachers in high schools are expected to teach another class of instruction.

The impact of these changes, in particular the rapidly of change has been traumatic. For instance:

• Amalgamation has forced boards to merge in haste with no time to plan for such massive change. Boards including the Toronto District School Board are still dealing with the ramifications of this.
• The new funding formula took away from local boards the power to deal with local problems. This resulted in numerous strikes and lock outs across the province at the start of the 1998-99 school year. Although boards were expected to negotiate with teachers, their hands were tied because real power rested with the province.
• In Toronto, the formula resulted in a severe reduction in funding (about $300 million over three years).

This put specialized programs such as ESL and Special Education at risk. The problem is that the need for such programs in Toronto will not go away since about 85% of the budget is spent on salaries, it is plain to see that people will lose their jobs.

In addition, the excess space issue hits Toronto very hard because the formula does not include gyms, cafeterias and foyers. The very wide hallways in Toronto schools are also not include in the province's formula. As a result, many neighborhood schools will be forced to close. To province has recently acknowledged the problem by allowing a one year delay in implementing closures but this only delays the inevitable. Small neighborhood schools are particularly vulnerable. Schools are often the hubs of their community. They serve as meeting places for community activities, they house daycare centres, they provide along with the city Parks and Recreation programs and host classes in international languages and church services on weekends. Vital community resources will be lost if these centres are closed.

The new curriculum and report cards has been revised nine times in the last five years. Many teachers still have not seen certain documents. Teachers were given a very short time to order the new text books and other materials. The number of P.D. days have been reduced; as a result there is very limited time in which to train teachers. As a result, teachers all across the province have been scrambling to keep up with the pace of change.

Undoubtedly, it could be argued that change is good and that radical change was necessary because the system was not producing students of consistently high quality. The question that you must ask yourself is this: Will these changes to the fabric of education bring about the desired effect? Or will we in the next few years be forced to admit we made a serious mistake? There is a slogan that states "A mind is a terrible thing to waste". Doodnauth Hetram in Latin class used to quote the Latin proverb "Festina lente" or "Make haste slowly".

In the context of education in Ontario, I believe that both sayings are applicable. Changes take time and children's minds are too precious to be wasted in social engineering experiments rooted in current ideologies.