New Brunswick author gives provincial education system a C minus
A new book by a Canadian education expert says education in New Brunswick is in a state of crisis.
Paul Bennett is the Director of the Schoolhouse Institute, an education columnist for Brunswick News, and an adjunct professor at St. Mary’s University in Nova Scotia. Bennett also holds his PHD in Education, is a senior fellow for education at the Macdonald–Laurier Institute, and has taught in six different schools in three different provinces.
Bennett’s book, Struggling In Class: A Report Card on Education in New Brunswick, is set to hit the online marketplaces and local bookstores this September.
“Struggling In Class makes the case that New Brunswick has a school system that has not only faltered but is in a profound state of crisis,” Bennett explained, calling it “a prolonged crisis of as long at 15 or 20 years when you go back over the last two education plans [which when] you take a look at the goals and objectives against what was achieved you find that very few if any were achieved.”
Bennett shared a few key facts about the current system, such as New Brunswick’s dismal performance in reading, math, and science and that, according to his research, the average New Brunswick student is one and a half years behind other children.
“What [I’m] proposing is that we start with immediate changes, the reverse of what [the government] is suggesting,” said Bennett.
“All the major changes should come in the first three years to restructure the system and then get it straightened out before you proceed, the exact reverse of what the government is doing,” he added.
In his book, Bennett proposes a variety of changes that some may see as radical, such as ending New Brunswick’s policy of total inclusion in classrooms.
Under the current system, all children are to be included in the public education system and to be taught in the same classroom.
“I’m arguing in favour [of a] multi-tiered system of support, that is a fully evolved inclusive education system, where the focus is first and foremost on educating students in the mainstream classroom to the highest degree possible,” said Bennett.
“When they fall behind, and they are incapable of keeping up, then you offer them intensive support, either one-on-one or in small group settings, and then when you realize that a small percentage of students cannot cope with any inclusion, you have to have options.”
Bennett noted, however, that he was not arguing for separate schools but for separate rooms and areas within the same school for different students.
He also believes French education in the province should begin to follow the Bathurst model, with half English and half French for all students, thus ending French immersion.
The foreword to the book was penned by Former UNB president Paul Mazerolle, who argues that the school system is in crisis and that a book like Struggling in Class has been needed to call for a shake-up.
“He also says in the introduction that… you may not agree with everything in this book, but it’s essential reading,” Bennett said.
