Canada must consider war with great caution

I read with interest, an excerpt from a story in the Winnipeg Free Press on the weekend.

“The Manitoba Human Rights Commission published the long-awaited results of a probe into how schools are teaching children to read—or failing to do so—at the end of October.

The 70-page report represents Phase 1 of a special project that’s become known as “Manitoba’s Right to Read.” A followup on the implementation of investigators’ recommendations is expected in 2026-27.

Local investigators concluded many teachers do not have training in structured literacy, a neuroscience-backed philosophy founded on explicit instruction in phonics, which stresses recognizing the connection between sounds and letters/letter combinations.”

Nothing in those three paragraphs surprised me but one phrase really caught my attention, namely “explicit instruction in phonics”. Actually, the part about a followup in 2026-27 doesn’t actually surprise me but it greatly disappoints me. The phonics part only outlines what many of us have known for years. Phonics is very important. I know that our kids didn’t get as good an education as we did over all 12 years, our grandkids didn’t either. 

It’s now 71 years since I started school and trust me, back in those days it was “Old School”.

Talking out in class without being asked was frowned upon. Reading out loud, standing by your desk was both common and demanded. So was printing and cursive writing. Fast forward to a time a couple of decades ago and, many students were not taught how to write or read cursive. Apparently, many students are not taught how to read well at all.

Don’t get me wrong, it was a long time ago, but our version of school was also fun back in those days, seven decades ago. And yeah, I knew you would ask, did students get the “strap” for misbehaving. Yes, they did but it didn’t happen often and I never got the strap. If I had, I would have been in more trouble when I got home from school.

Let me reminisce for a minute. I took all twelve grades in a two story brick school that was built in 1913, just one year before WWl. It had a big old coal furnace and huge electric lights, large windows and the biggest doors ever. If you slammed one of those doors it reverberated through the whole school. We had baseball and soccer at recess and noon. We had curling, hockey, football and baseball teams. There was an annual Christmas concert and a Christmas, Valentine’s and Halloween party. We had school dances with live bands. There was an annual track meet or field day.

It was a pretty darned good school AND, we learned how to read, write and do arithmetic. We studied European and world history as well as Canadian history. And yes, we memorized poems and plays, math tables and historically significant dates. I hope I am wrong, but I doubt that many students can rattle off the dates that each Canadian province joined Confederation. I think I still can.

If kids today are having trouble reading, I fail to understand why seven decades ago Manitoba schools could teach kids how to read but not now. I have some suspicions. I suspect that somewhere along the line that discipline slipped a bit. Students didn’t mouth off to their teachers back in the day or at least they were smart enough to do it quietly. That said, I think discipline, and I don’t mean yelling and screaming teachers who might haul off and hit a kid, needs to be pursued a bit harder.

It takes discipline to memorize, it takes discipline to study and it takes discipline to encourage students to carry through and finish their work.

Generally speaking, I am greatly encouraged by what I see in today’s students. They know about a lot more stuff than I do but if they can’t read well, they can get sucked in by every bit of false news and information out there. Because it’s on the internet is no guarantee it’s the truth.

Reading is the pathway to knowledge and wisdom so you can know the truth and the truth sets you free. That’s pretty important.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this column are the writer’s personal views and are not to be taken as being the view of the newspaper staff.