*Please Note* The post published below was submitted as all posts are on this site by a third party. We neither vet or edit them, but rather publish them as is. After this one was published a claim was made that it was created by a group a couple of years ago and had been altered slightly from it’s orginal form. They also pointed me to the original version and the Petition it was related to. I would encourage all NON Woksters to head over, read it and sign. I know I did. Thanks for your time and sorry for putting my two cents worth in. Please see the petition it’s related to by Clicking Here, thanks. If you would like to learn more about and follow the group that originally created the document in questions which I think would be a great idea you can find their website by clicking here.
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Dear Ontario Public,
The purpose of this letter is to inform you of the segregation, indoctrination, and politically-biased teaching of children at Ruth Thompson Middle Public School, 5605 Freshwater Drive, Mississauga, Ontario, L5M 7M8. We tried to do this the democratic way, via ETFO, our teacher union, but instead of support, the union representative informed the school principal, and school superintendent, who have verbally and in writing, threatened all staff with severe repercussions, if they ever speak about this matter to anyone or dare to use their freedom of speech.
Did you know these things are happening at Ruth Thompson Middle School, and many other schools in Ontario, especially the Peel District School Board? School board representatives regularly incite and promote fear and threat of dismissal in White teachers. Non-White students and staff are encouraged to be victims and see White teachers as the evil oppressors. Students are assigned into classrooms based on their racial or identity category. There are racially segregated clubs and extra-curricular activities for students. There are racially segregated meetings for teachers, and White teachers are excluded. There are racially segregated events. The superintendent of Ruth Thompson Middle School, vehemently informed staff, at an emergency in-person meeting that the success of Black students, not all students, is the primary focus for all teachers. The school principal is using her power to promote fear, hate and division, among staff, students, and parents. Students are segregated by skin colour in classrooms. School rules are based on the skin colour or self-identity of students.
Instead of acknowledging her deficits, in terms of people management, the school principal used the race card and accused the teachers of racism because they complained to the union about her lack of competence and professionalism. Instead of special education, guidance counsellor and ESL teachers supporting students of need, or replacing classroom teachers, when there is a supply-teacher shortage, support teachers act as assistants to the principal, helping her with daily administrative work. Tax-payer funded tutoring (COY) is not being used for academic remediation, but for enrichment activities for advanced students, and extra pocket money or teachers. White teachers are constantly reminded and told that they are White supremacists and should feel guilty. In addition to accommodations for Friday prayer, teachers must pause academic work for daily prayer.
Parents, students, teachers are forced to accept wokeness or risk being called a racist.
Teachers are forced to change the content of the government-designed report cards to include no pronouns, no negative comments and reflect an anti-White supremacy or anti-oppressor lens. We believe in freedom of speech and social justice, and as concerned teachers, we see the harm that an intense focus on identity and theoretical power dynamics is having on the quality of education in our school and on the mental health of our most vulnerable students. In the classroom, we see the confusion on the faces of our students, when we are forced to ignore the academic subjects of math and science, and instead teach lessons about critical race theory, White privilege, heteronormativity, wokeness, anti-black racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, White supremacy and more.
We do not consent to teaching our students that they must see themselves as either a victim or an oppressor (or as an intersectional mix thereof). We believe social progress is possible without reducing people to their immutable characteristics and imposing essentialist narratives on them with which they are expected to comply.
We do not consent to teaching our non-indigenous children that they are “settler colonialists” or oppressors.
We do not consent to them being portrayed as illegitimate occupiers of the country that is their home.
We believe there is a path to reconciliation that does not involve shaming and provoking collective guilt.
We do not consent to our children being taught that our country, and all its systems, are dominated by “White supremacy”.
We believe Canada has a broader history than simply racism and colonialism – a history of liberal democracy and social progress that must also be taught.
We believe our children, perhaps especially our Black and Indigenous children, must be free to arrive at their own conclusions about how effectively Canada’s economic, legal, and political systems create the conditions for human advancement.
We recognize that such systems, like all human systems, are imperfect and in need of improvement. Our children should therefore be taught to embrace, not reject, the liberal values that enable progress.
We do not consent to contested theories of gender being taught as absolute truth.
We support the full inclusion of every child in our classrooms, and we want gender non-conforming children to be loved and protected, but such inclusion does not require teaching every child that the connection between biological sex and gender identity is always, and only, an arbitrary one.
Importantly, we view a robust public school system as the best tool we have as a society to empower every child with knowledge, meaningful skills, and a path to pursuing their dreams.
Current pedagogies, however, are undermining that potential. As the classroom is increasingly politicised, our children are falling behind.
We write to you as a group of fair-minded citizens of different backgrounds, ethnicities, religions, and sexualities.
We are committed to fighting racism, to the advancement of disadvantaged groups, and to people’s fundamental freedom to live as they wish (and to do so free from harassment). Yet within the current landscape of political tension and culture wars, our voices are being ignored, mischaracterized, and suppressed.
We are counting on you, the Ontario public, to support the millions of Canadians who share our values.
We are unaware of any society, at any point in history, where racial essentialism, identity politics and the use of school children for political ends has proved beneficial to social welfare and progress.
Indeed, history makes a strong case that such practices have grave consequences.
We believe that the purpose of education is to help young people think for themselves so they can actively participate in democratic society.
We call upon you, the people, to support our children by refocusing the Ontario Curriculum on academic development, intellectual curiosity and free inquiry.
The Ontario government, teacher unions, and school boards have failed us and our children. We have been silenced!
We beg you to please help us by sharing this letter with as many people as you can.
Thank you,
Concerned Teachers of Ontario
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