In a remarkable show of solidarity, students at 700 elementary and secondary schools in Ontario planned a mass walkout today to protest the government’s imposition of mandatory e-learning in high school, a ban on cellphones, and increased class sizes.
“Students have started a movement with a very clear message: Hands off our education,” said organizer Rayne Fisher-Quann in a statement.
“Students understand the importance of fiscal responsibility, they understand the importance of balancing the budget, but most importantly they also know that our world-class education system should never be a victim of cuts,” said the Grade 12 student from William Lyon Mackenzie Collegiate Institute in North York.
That will get the attention of the government!
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I grew up in Toronto and went to public schools. While I am now also a U.S. citizen, I have many relatives still living in Ontario and all attended public schools. My nephew is a teacher. There are now government officials in Canada attempting to undo public influence as is happening in the U.S. Hopefully, in viewing the results of these kinds of actions, the citizens of Ontario and the whole of Canada will realize that their overall standard of living is so much higher than in the U.S. Of course there is a price to pay…..and that’s in the form of higher taxes. However, Canadians appreciate the benefits of health care for all and outstanding public education for all which are the reasons why the overall poverty rate is much lower as are crime and rates of incarceration.
So, I hope these students lead the way. They are refusing to give up what they have come to accept as the norm. This is when “Stand Your Ground” makes perfect sense.
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If the students aren’t aware of Gates-funded SETDA in the U.S., they should take a look at the site. Similar to ALEC, the organization touts itself as non-partisan and non-profit. A difference between ALEC and SETDA is SETDA is governed by public employees from state boards of education (50 states), whereas, ALEC is elected officials working with industry. SETDA promotes digital learning and fosters public-private partnerships, helps ed tech start ups to scale up and provides pitch fests for ed tech companies. (It has “Gold, Silver, Strategic,…Partners”).
Another similarity to ALEC can be seen in the, “Digital Instructional Materials Map”, at the site which compares states by criteria like “state statute requires implementation of digital instruction materials”.
If the Canadian provinces have a similar organization, good luck in slowing the takeover of community schools.
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Students in the US watch and learn from the Canadians. If your government fails to provide adequate instruction or imposes unneeded, unwanted, ineffective cyber instruction, answer them by staging a walk-out. Students should not be prisoners of authoritarianism. They should protest to assert their right to a legitimate human, public education. I am not against technology, but it should be treated as a tool, not a replacement for a teacher.
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YES!! American students–WALK OUT on testing days–REFUSE to take “standardized” tests!!
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Banning cell phones gets my vote. The level of social distraction they are creating is alarming.
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I also grew up north of Toronto and attended a publicly subsidized Catholic high school (fully recovred). Not only are students active and organized, the provincial teachers’ union is similarly more innervated. Because the system is more socialistic (progressive taxation, national healthcare…) there are fewer privateers and bilionaires to assault the public weal. Also the racial dynamics in Canada are somewhat less incendiary even though the multiplicity of ethnicities is greater in Toronto than any American city.
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