Chris Spence and His Vision of Hope

Keep your eyes wide open for the latest exciting educational initiative courtesy of the Toronto District School Board. Rumour has it 1.7 million dollars is going to be spent on Dr. Spence's brainchild, "Vision of Hope". Almost 400,000 of that will be spent on a ONE DAY EVENT st the Air Canada Centre where teachers will no doubt be brought in, awe-inspired, and sent home with glossy keepsakes outlining the wonders of the "vision" and the importance of staying faithful to the message.

Hmm. Sounds pretty evangelical, doesn't it?

Will we all stagger out of there, throats parched with ardent hope, gasping "I am healed! We are saved!"? Maybe we will all go forth from the ACC like JC and each find 12 boys to mentor who will in turn become disciples and then go on to create another monument to male hierarchy not unlike the RC church.

Perhaps the promised glossy pamphlets will distract us from the daily reminders that we don't have enough office staff, caretaking staff, youth workers, psychologist or social workers in our ever increasingly complex schools. Perhaps these shiny objects will make us feel like we're being paid for all the extra work we must now do to support all the wonderful initiatives - student success, boys literacy, decreasing suspension rates, pillars, pathways, differentiated learning...who can keep track?

It's true that giant corporations in the business of separating people from their money have in the past been able to succeed by selling glitzy style over shaky substance. But recently, many of these companies have been brought to their knees and they have been exposed as being based on nothing more than smoke and mirrors. That's why the economy is in a tailspin and people are all buckling under the pressure of crippling debt loads and reduced family incomes.

That's why I don't understand why the leaders in our educational system are content to offer Madmen 1950s solutions to 21st Century problems.

You can RAH RAH RAH, and send out as many glossy pamphlets as you please Dr. Spence, but until someone decides to actually focus on the substance of learning and not the optics of leadership, the only vision I see in our future is a dark foggy tunnel.