'There are good Independent (private) schools in Saskatchewan.
Ehrlo and Eagle’s Nest do crucial, important work with vulnerable teens. Some are art-based (like Montessori schools), others land and nature-based.
Further, Christianity is neither the problem nor a victim here, nor is it about attacking faith-based education.
Taxpayers’ dollars should not be funding most Independent schools in Saskatchewan on basic principle, given the bigotry they display, in God’s name at that. It’s disgusting.
But if you think the manner in which they reject, punish and ban their students is a problem, you should see what these schools are teaching them.
Or not, as the case may be.
IMO (that’s why we’re here), these schools are pumping out not just bigots but fools. I should not be paying for that, thank you very much, and neither should you. Especially when the K-12 system we actually want to pay for is grossly underfunded.
But first, let’s talk about the other provinces and whether they factor human rights and dignity into private education.
Ontario does not fund private schools. Easy peasy.
Quebec funds them at 40%.
In Manitoba there are three different groups that qualify as Independent Schools: Funded, Non-Funded and Homeschool.
The difference?
“Funded independent schools must be legally incorporated, employ certified teachers and teach the Manitoba curriculum… to be eligible for funding, the Department requires schools to comply with the requisite regulations and policies for a two year waiting period… for every year thereafter.” - Manitoba.ca
A Non-Funded school in Manitoba is not required to do any of that… hence they’re non-funded. The Manitoba Ministry of Education still monitors them and many if not most of their Independent schools are Catholic.
In BC there are four Groups of classifications for private schools. Only Groups 1 and 2 are funded. Groups 1 and 2 essentially have to abide by the provincial curriculum, standardized testing and both teachers and the principal have to be certified teachers. BC is similar to Saskatchewan in some ways, but spends more time and resources regulating its Independent schools than this government ever would.
In Saskatchewan, instead of being required to follow the provincially approved curriculum, the Saskatchewan Association of Independent Church Schools (SAICS) was tasked with coming up with a hybrid.
As the name suggests, SAICS does not represent all Independent schools; it represents nine of the province’s twenty-two.
What those schools and some of the other 22 have in common is the infamous, cult-compared Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) curriculum.
To meet basic Grade 12 graduation requirements for any student, the ACE curriculum in Christian schools is supplemented by courses developed by SAICS, which have been approved by the Ministry of Education.
ACE is an American organization, therefore its primary curriculum is centred around, well, America: history, literature, units of measurement etc. The company is a network of subsidiaries, including a Canadian arm. ACE’s Math, Phonics and English courses from K-12 are pretty normal. Even its elementary-level Literature courses aren’t terrible, though the “Literature” is basically only about dead missionaries.
Social Studies and History, unsurprisingly, is where the eyebrows start to go up, whether the curriculum is ACE’s American or Canadian version.
From the Canadian version of the Social Studies curriculum, which isn’t replaced by SAICS version until Grade 6:
“Expands knowledge of Canadian history—Louis Hebert, First People in the Americas, First Europeans in Canada, and our government.” - Grade 3 Social Studies, ACE Curriculum Scope and Sequence, Canadian Edition
“Continues to learn about early Canada—colonial life, a new nation is born, and the Pilgrims.” - Grade 4 Social Studies, ACE Curriculum Scope and Sequence, Canadian Edition
Feels like flatout anti-Indigenous propaganda to me.
ACE’s Science curriculum is also replaced by SAICS beginning in Grade 6, but til then Independent school kids are learning:
“Studies Bible topics such as Jesus’ return; sin, death, and the curse; man’s freedom to choose to love and obey God.” - Grade 3 Science, ACE Curriculum Scope and Sequence, Canadian Edition
Science!
“Discovers the Bible to be the final authority in scientific matters.” - Grade 5 Science, ACE Curriculum Scope and Sequence, Canadian Edition
Well then.
I asked Saskatchewan elementary and high school teachers to have a look at the SAICS’ courses which have been approved by the Ministry of Education.
The general consensus, comfortingly, was that SAICS’ high school Science courses are very close to the Saskatchewan “regular” (public) school curriculum. Biology 30 pleasantly surprised a few as it tackles both genetics and evolution.
This line from that course jumped out at almost everyone, however:
“Explain the controversy that exists between those who support evolutionary theory and those that support creation as a direct act of God, and list resources that identify with the latter position.” - SAICS Biology 30 course outline
It’s nice to see SAICS evoking critical thinking and research skills on evolution science in Bio 30, until you realize their educational directive is to discredit it.
The bullet point that says “Examine sex determination and sex-linked traits in the context of human genetics” from that course sounds rather suspect too, but that’s just my opinion.
A general observation from an educator on a theme that runs straight through all of the Saskatchewan Ministry of Education-approved SAICS humanities courses:
“First thing that jumps out at me is the teaching of biblical scripture as history. I mean. Even church scholars will tell you that’s both impossible and ludicrous.”
These three bullets are from SAICS’ History 10 course:
“Define the scientific method and analyze the limitations of science…
Discuss the difficulty in reconciling Christian teaching with the tenets of socialism…
Explain the connection between the imperialistic movement and the spread of the gospel…”
Here’s a Saskatchewan public high school history teacher’s take on that:
“Reading between the lines, it appears they have a limited focus on the negative side of imperialism, instead focusing on the religious imperative to convert non-Christians.”
Another Saskatchewan teacher had thoughts on that as well:
“The irony of asking students to study The Age of Reason from a Biblical point of view is on brand. I also love the first bullet that asks students to analyze the limitations of science. Why not ask the opposite question “what are the limitations of religion, scripture, faith… etc when analyzing science?””
Both imperialism and colonialism, in my opinion, are outright glorified by both the SAICS and ACE curriculums.
Both ACE and SAICS’ Grade 12 History course references the term “Amerindians” repeatedly. It’s a phrase coined by the American Anthropological Association in 1902, which was also the year it was first deemed racist by many scientists.
Another Saskatchewan teacher said this regarding SAICS history courses.
“Same historical topic, significant deviation in how the topics are studied. Ie “Summarize the causes of World War I…Evaluate these causes in light of Biblical teaching concerning the origin of war.””
That teacher elaborated on their perspective on “significant deviation”:
“…what we teachers would call praxis, or how a curriculum is realized. I can only imagine how a devout ideological parent or teacher COULD deliver the curriculum.”
Here’s what another Saskatchewan public system teacher said about teaching the origins of WWI through the lens of “Biblical teaching”:
“Yikes! I’m all for looking at religious connections, if there are any. But having this as an exclusive outcome for their course is outrageous.”
From a Saskatchewan high school teacher on SAICS’ Grade 12 English course:
“Literally holy hell… ONLY mention of Indigenous voices is comparing the biblical flood to “Indian legend”. “Indian legend”!!!!! …all (public school Saskatchewan English) classes are to be infused with FNIM voices… grammar pieces are years behind where the regular curriculum is… There is so little variety, depth or opportunity for individuality it is shocking.”
Another super-smart Saskatchewan individual’s comment on SAICS’ Grade 11 English course:
“Interesting that they’ve chosen “Silas Marner” and “God’s Smuggler” as novel studies for English 20… the latter is a nonfiction work about a Dutch Protestant reformer who illegally took religious propaganda (bibles) into communist countries. The former is arguably a solid work of literature. The latter is not.”
I spoke to at least two dozen Saskatchewan teachers (thank you!). There wasn’t a ton of consensus between them on the overall value of the SAICS courses. Some were pleasantly surprised that at least the high school sciences and math courses seemed very similar to the public system’s, with the glaring exception of teaching Creationism as fact.
Other Saskatchewan high school teachers weren’t as generous.
“For a large swath of society this wouldn’t/shouldn’t register as education. Go to Sunday school or go talk to your pastor if you want a bent worldview on historical events. Let the educators take care of education in schools.”
Amen.
Another Saskatchewan educator summed it up nicely:
“(The Saskatchewan public curriculum) teaches kids TO think, the (SAICS curriculum) teaches them WHAT to think.”
Let’s not forget these schools promote bigotry and banishment, targeting the 2SLGBQT+ community.
Then add the lack of Indigenous voices, the complete elimination of residential schools and the Truth and Reconciliation process from “Independent” schools K-12 humanities classes and the liberal use of the terms “native” and “Amerindian” - it’s all racist as shit.
The Sask Party must stop using the public purse to fund organizations promoting bigotry and racism levelled at two of the most currently and historically marginalized groups in Saskatchewan.
WHY did I even have to write that??
Look, you want your kid taught Bible scripture as Grade 11 history?
Fill your boots.
You want your kids taught the Doctrine of Discovery in Grade 12 social studies?
You’re a racist raising racists, but that’s not exactly new in Saskatchewan, is it.
Truth is IDGA single F what you do with your Bible and your kids… but you can pay for it yourself.
All of it.
The Saskatchewan government must stop funding these schools with tax dollars immediately. This is simply well beyond the limits of what’s acceptable, in school and in life, in 2022 - and that’s just what we are able to witness from the outside.
This province’s current culture, which starts at the top, is a slow-burning tire fire. If we don’t get it under control, Saskatchewan people are going to be cleaning up and rebuilding our infrastructure and our communities, for decades.
Note 1: I’m not ignoring Hutterite or Muslim schools, which I’m told have issues with curriculum as well as female teachers and students. I don’t know enough about them right now to write about them. The research I would have to do in addition to what I’ve already done, to comment appropriately on those groups as well, is unrealistic - I’d never get anything published. I likely will still look at them, but I think there’s plenty wrong with Saskatchewan’s private Christian schools, which comprise the majority of Independent schools, to focus on for now.
Note 2: The weekend turnaround to publish on Friday and then again on Monday wasn’t particularly well thought-out on my part. Therefore, starting next week I am going to move Monday’s Memo to Tuesday. “Tuesday Morning Memo” doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, but it’s also the most blah day of the week so maybe some spicy commentary will perk things up. For me anyway. :)
Enjoy your weekend and call your MLA. About anything, really - you’ve got a lot of choice these days.
