Is this how our schools should be?

Yesterday a friend of mine sent me the following email. She forwarded it to me after receiving it from another friend and it had caught her eye. In the spirit of back to school, I am sharing it with you. To be honest, it gave me pause. It made me think. I had to ask myself, “Is this how our schools should be?”

It is irrelevant, really, who the principal is or where the school is or if it is even real at all. I read it and it got me thinking and I wonder what you think about it too. Should we be stripping all of these things out of our schools to focus exclusively on why we are actually there – education? Are we muddying the waters by trying to represent everyone and everything in every way?

Or, is this essential in building awareness and empathy? Is this actually an important part of our culture as Canadians and our country?

Here is the letter. Please let me know what you think in the comments below.

From: The Principal

To: The students and faculty of our high school.

I am your new principal, and honored to be so. There is no greater calling than to teach young people.



I would like to apprise you of some important changes coming to our
school.



I am making these changes because I am convinced that most of the ideas
that have dominated public education in Canada have worked against
you, against your teachers, against your parents, and against our
country. Therefore: First, this school will no longer honor race or
ethnicity. I could not care less if your racial makeup is black, brown,
red, yellow, or white. I could not care less if your origins are
African, Latin American, Asian, or European, or if your ancestors
arrived here on the Mayflower or on slave ships. The only identity I
care about, the only one this school will recognize, is your individual
identity — your character, your scholarship, your humanity. And the
only national identity this school will care about is Canadian. This is
a Canadian public school, and Canadian public schools were created to
make better Canadians.



If you wish to affirm an ethnic, racial, or religious identity through
your school, you will have to go elsewhere. We will end all ethnicity-,
race- and non-Canadian-nationality-based celebrations. They undermine
the motto of Canada.



And this school will be guided by Canada ‘s values. That includes
all after-school clubs. I will not authorize clubs that divide students
based on any identities. This includes race, language, religion, sexual
orientation, or whatever else may become in vogue in a society divided
by political correctness. Your clubs will be based on interests and
passions — not blood, ethnic, racial or other physically defined ties.
Those clubs just cultivate narcissism — an unhealthy preoccupation
with the self — while the purpose of education is to get you to think
beyond yourself. So, we will have clubs that transport you to the
wonders and glories of art, music, astronomy, languages you do not
already speak, math, carpentry, and more. If the only extracurricular
activities you can imagine being interested in are those based on
ethnic or racial or sexual identity, that means that little outside of
yourself really interests you.

Second, I am not interested in whether or not English is your native
language. My only interest in terms of language is that you leave this
school speaking and writing English as fluently as possible. The
English language has united Canada’s citizens for more than 200
years, and it will unite us at this school. It is one of the
indispensable reasons this country of immigrants has always come to be
one country. And if you leave this school without excellent
English-language skills, I will have been remiss in my duty to ensure
that you are prepared to compete successfully in the Canadian job
market. We will learn other languages here — it is deplorable that
most Canadians only speak English . But if you want classes taught in
your native language rather than in English, this is not your school.



Third, because I regard learning as a sacred endeavor, everything in
this school will reflect learning’s elevated status. This means, among
other things, that you and your teachers will dress accordingly. Many
people in our society dress more formally for a meal at a nice
restaurant than they do for church or school. Those people have their
priorities backwards. Therefore, there will be a formal dress code at
this school.



Fourth, no obscene language will be tolerated anywhere on this
school’s property — whether in class, in the hallways or at athletic
events. If you can’t speak without using the “F-word,” you can’t speak.
By obscene language I mean the words banned by the Federal
Communications Commission plus epithets such as the “N-word,” even
when used by one black student to address another, or “bitch,” even
when addressed by a girl to a girlfriend. It is my intent that by the
time you leave this school, you will be among the few of your age to
distinguish instinctively between the elevated and the degraded, the
holy and the obscene.



Fifth, we will end all self-esteem programs. In this school,
self-esteem will be attained in only one way — the way people attained
it by earning it. One immediate consequence of this is that there will be
only one class valedictorian, not eight.



Sixth, and last, I am reorienting the school toward academics and away
from politics and propaganda. No more time will be devoted to scaring
you about smoking and caffeine, or terrifying you about sexual
harassment or global warming. No more semesters will be devoted to
condom-wearing and teaching you to regard sexual relations as only or
primarily a health issue. There will be no more attempts to convince
you that you are a victim because you are not white, or not male, or
not heterosexual, or not Christian. We will have failed, if any one of
you graduates from this school and does not consider himself or herself
inordinately lucky — to be alive and to be an Canadian.

Now, please stand and join me in singing, OH CANADA to the only flag in

Canada. As many of you do not know the words, your teachers will hand

them out to you.