Dear Editor,
In the last while, our Education Minister — the Honourable Mr. David Eggen — has been sending strong threats that he plans to remove government funding, and also possibly accreditation, from Christian schools.
The reason for this is that he wishes to force Christian schools to implement Bill 24, and he also wants Christian schools to remove statements of faith saying that they believe in the Bible as being the, “inerrant Word of God” from their compliance policies.
There are a few things the general public should understand about the situation.
First, I would just like to point out that private schools get $3,000 per student from the government per year, compared to the $13,000 the public school system gets. Further, Albertans who send their children to private schools must pay all the capital costs: land, buildings etc.
That’s quite a savings to the government of Alberta!
Private schools also teach their students to respect all people with whom they come into contact, and to treat them with kindness and dignity.
As well, children are taught in private schools to respect all government officials, and obey them in as far as their demand do not come into conflict with God’s Word; to be up-building citizens of the province and country who contribute generously to their social and economic well-being; and to hold no prejudice against anyone, but to treat other people as equal to themselves.
For these reasons, I hope that our Education Minister will have it in him to respect these children and their needs, just as they are taught to respect him, and also the other people of this world.
I hope that by his actions, he will show understanding and kindness to the children in Alberta’s private schools, so that they can see a positive example in him as their Education Minister.
I hope that he will remember that there are not only children who might struggle with sexuality, but that there are also thousands of children who attend private schools and who have human rights, as defined by the Charter, that need to be recognized.
I hope he will remember that parents who send their children to private schools have always done so in a lawful manner, and that they are also taxpayers in Alberta and Canada, and as such have human rights under the Charter that need to be recognized.
Finally, I hope that Mr. Eggen will remember that if he removes funding and accreditation from private schools, he will hurt a lot of Alberta’s children.
They will have fewer textbooks and other learning resources in their schools because the parents won’t be able to afford them.
Their graduates will have greater difficulties getting into universities and colleges, which will make it more difficult for them to be contributing Albertans.
I wonder if Mr. Eggen has given all these things a lot of thought.
Respectfully submitted,
Henry Stel
Barrhead
