Restating the obvious: an education in education

Speaking to my mother-in-law in Calgary yesterday (okay, begging for textbook money!), it turned out she - a retired public-school educator, so very up on the education system - wasn't aware at all that private schools in Ontario don't receive any Ministry of Education funding. Our kids learn the same Math, Geography etc as any other Ontario student but our families pay 100% of the bill. While our taxes go exclusively towards the public system.

She did point out that the system in Alberta has been abused by money-grubbing schools, but the situation in Ontario - ten years after it first came to my attention - is simply another kind of ridiculous - in the exact opposite direction.

As I pointed out to her, if I wanted the kids to have a religious education in Ontario, with daily prayer, Bible studies, etc., the government would happily fund it... but only if it was a Catholic education. Jews and anyone else don't get those juicy "grandfathered" perks (no offense to any actual grandfathers who may be reading this).

Luckily, the Calgary family has found a way that they can probably at least subsidize the cost of some of the more expensive texts. Sigh.

Amazing - that the world doesn't know about this.

And that most people, even people in Ontario, don't care if my kids don't fit the "one-size-fits-all" education system our government has wrought.

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