{"id":65785,"date":"2024-03-11T08:01:36","date_gmt":"2024-03-11T12:01:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/?p=65785"},"modified":"2024-03-11T07:22:59","modified_gmt":"2024-03-11T11:22:59","slug":"are-ontarians-becoming-complacent-living-life-in-crisis-mode","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/11\/are-ontarians-becoming-complacent-living-life-in-crisis-mode\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Ontarians becoming complacent living life in crisis mode?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I know this is going to sound very strange, but I ask readers to bear with me a moment.<\/p>\n

No one wants to have problems in life. Most everyone would agree that problems are a total negative. But I beg to differ, at least to some degree. I can see a limited upside because problems challenge us to use our skills, knowledge and creativity to find solutions. They can give us purpose and motivate us to communicate, collaborate and cooperate. And when you think about it, the role of government is to resolve society\u2019s issues. Even when we face a steady flow of problems, we can still live healthy, happy, productive lives.<\/p>\n

Crises, however, are an entirely different matter. Crises in life are considered more severe and require urgent attention and resolution to avoid increasing levels of loss or damage. The damage may be irreparable or even deadly if a crisis is prolonged or severe enough.<\/p>\n

It is essential to clarify the difference between problems and crises because it seems that since the late \u201890s\/2000s and throughout the Ford government years, Ontarians have been facing several crises simultaneously for too long. The pandemic we experienced in the last few years qualified as a crisis, as it had an incredibly detrimental effect on our health, welfare and economy. We seem to have finally wrangled that crisis down to problem levels. However, we are still experiencing horrific effects from public healthcare and education crises.<\/p>\n

The most pressing need in education is to address the dire shortage of education workers. This includes teachers, teaching assistants, and early childhood education workers. Worse is the fact that this shortage was well known to be on the horizon even back in 2018 when Premier Ford took office.<\/p>\n

As a result of the oversupply of teachers, the government chose to reduce the enrollment spaces in teachers\u2019 colleges. An August 2018 CBC news article<\/strong> reported, \u201cIn 2015, the Ontario government cut enrolment at teachers colleges by more than half, with the number of graduates\u00a0dropping from 12,399 in 2015 to 5,480 by 2018.\u201d The Liberal government of the time chose to extend the education degree qualification from a single to a two-year program. In part, this had the desired effect of reducing the oversupply for at least a year.<\/p>\n

But even then, teachers\u2019 college administrators warned the Province that the writing was on the wall. The same 2018 CBC article said, \u201cJust three years after the Ontario government cut teachers\u00a0college enrolment in half, the Province may be heading toward a teacher shortage.\u00a0\u2018We\u2019re seeing a reduction in oversupply, and that\u2019s going to continue.\u201d\u00a0warned Richard Barwell, the Dean of education at the University of Ottawa.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 The Ontario College of Teachers also chimed in, saying that Ontario school boards would need to embark on \u201cvigorous recruitment\u201d strategies to avoid upcoming shortages.<\/p>\n

EAs were not paid a wage commensurate with the workload and responsibility. The pay was so low that many workers had to have two or three jobs to make ends meet. Who is going to work for just peanuts on a challenging job that requires patience and training? And don\u2019t forget, they are not paid when school is out. As a result, there was a mass exodus and eventual shortage in the profession. The increased staff workload led to reduced staff availability to assist students. As a result, the pupils became increasingly frustrated, and an overall trend toward acting out became more than evident. Some frustrated students became increasingly uncooperative and lashed out with physical violence, sometimes hitting, kicking, and biting staff or other children. Of course, this lowered the academic achievement of all students in the room<\/u><\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The crisis of education workers of all stripes is crippling our education system, both public and separate equally, as well as early childhood care systems. Recently, I had the privilege of meeting with Hillary Howe, principal of George O\u2019Neill Public School, Superior Greenstone District School Board and Greg Arkwright, principal of Fenelon Township Public School, Trillium Lakelands District School Board, representing the Ontario Principals\u2019 Council (OPC). They shared an OPC report<\/strong> that provided shocking statistics they see in their own schools, which included the following:<\/p>\n