Dear Students: An Apology From A Teacher

Dear High School Students in the 21st century, 

A new semester begins next week and I find myself feeling compelled to apologize to you. Despite our best efforts, we teachers have failed to persuade the people who have the political power to change our public education system, to do so. We can't seem to convince our premier that an investment in your education is an investment that we will all benefit from, an investment that would not cost us polluted water and toxic air. 
So, until your education needs prevail over the needs of foreign corporations, please accept this apology from me...I'm sorry that many of you who struggle to cope in school do not get any learning support because prevailing economic policy does not prioritize funding your needs. I'm sorry that you have to study subjects that you are not interested in at a time when the sum total of human knowledge is doubling every 12 months...I'm sorry that you have textbooks with outdated information and classroom technology that is not maintained and practically obsolete. I'm sorry that what is being called personalized learning is not actually personal at all. Truly personal learning costs too much, you understand?
I wish you had not had your curiosity crushed by classroom conformity. I wish I could wave a magic wand to give you the kind of school that would have spaces in which you could examine and explore, experiment and experience learning in diverse ways. I wish I had the power to re-ignite the passion for learning so evident in your eyes in the weeks before your first day of school...You were born to learn. You cannot not learn...
Lizanne Foster, who currently teaches in Surrey, British Columbia, became a teacher by accident in apartheid-era South Africa.
-- Read full letter AN APOLOGY FROM A TEACHER by Lizanne Foster on Huffpost BC
-- Read CHANGE FROM THE INSIDE on Lizanne's blog