Editor’s Note: Why violence has declined

By John Macfarlane

Published in The Walrus

May 2012

http://walrusmagazine.com/articles/2012.05-editors-note/

 

In the May Editor’s Note John McFarlane puts public schools in the category of things that people think may be getting worse over time.  To be fair, he freely admits that this may simply be nostalgia and that one should reserve judgment unless one has real evidence.  The Facts in Education team (factsineducation.blogspot.com) was created precisely to ensure that media reports on education are factual and to provide evidence that will help people come to informed views.  Walrus readers might like to know that a great deal of international evidence shows that Canadian students are among the best educated in the world.  While real challenges remain in public schools, and we should never feel that our education system is as good as it can be, the evidence strongly suggests that we are educating more students to higher levels than ever before, and doing it better than most other countries.  Please consult our website for evidence for this claim.

Sincerely,

• Ruth Baumann
• Harold Brathwaite, Executive Director, The Retired Teachers of Ontario
• Ron Canuel, CEO, Canadian Education Association
• Gerry Connelly, Co Director Education Sustainability Development Academy, York University
• Lorna Earl, Director, Aporia Consulting Ltd. and President of the International Congress of School Effectiveness and School Improvement
• Sue Ferguson, Coordinator, The Learning Consortium, Ontario Institute of Studies in Education
• Michael Fullan, Special Policy Adviser in Education to the Premier of Ontario 
• Kathleen Gallagher, Professor and Canada Research Chair, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
• Avis Glaze, President, Edu-quest International Inc.
• Joan M. Green, Former Director of Education, Founding CEO of EQAO, International Education Consultant
• Sue Herbert, former Ontario Deputy Minister of Education
• Bill Hogarth, Retired Director of Education, Education Consultant 
• Ken Leithwood, Professor, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
• Ben Levin, Professor and Canada Research Chair, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education 
• Penny Milton, former CEO Canadian Education Association 
• Charles E. Pascal, Professor, University of Toronto, Former Ontario Deputy Minister of Education
• Jim Slotta, Professor and Canada Research Chair, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
• Charles Ungerleider, Professor Sociology of Education (The University of British Columbia) and Director Research (Directions Evidence and Policy Research Group, LLP.)