Sask. NDP accuses Dustin Duncan of disparaging public education
“The Minister of Education refuses to admit the Loch Ness is not real”
Jeremy Simes -
Education Minister Dustin Duncan speaks to reporters about enhanced regulations for qualified independent schools in August.© Provided by Leader Post
Education Minister Dustin Duncan says he isn’t ragging on public and Catholic schools after the NDP accused him of doing so for his remarks on student grades.
House Leader Nicole Sarauer grilled Duncan on Thursday during question period in the Saskatchewan legislature, accusing him of dragging the publicly funded systems “through the mud,” after he suggested qualified independent school students have better marks than kids who attend Catholic or public schools.
Duncan had told the chamber on Tuesday that 57 per cent of students in qualified independent schools scored higher than 80 per cent on their departmental exams over the last year, whereas 54 per cent of students in Catholic or public schools scored higher than 80 per cent.
Duncan pointed to the marks as evidence students in qualified independent schools are receiving a “good education.” He re-affirmed that the government supports parents being able to send their kids to independent schools.
On Thursday, Duncan told the assembly he wasn’t criticizing public education when he made his comments.
He said he was trying to demonstrate that, regardless of where students attend school, they are “performing at or near the same mark.”
He said 68 per cent of students in associate schools, which are religious schools that have an operating agreement with public schools, had a mark above 80 per cent for their departmental exams.
“Students, even in independent schools … are learning the curriculum and can score near where public school students are when it comes to departmentals,” he said.
Sarauer told the chamber qualified independent schools aren’t held to the same standards “and that their marks are inflated.”
She said public and Catholic schools don’t get to pick and choose their students.
“I hope this minister really realizes he’s not the minister for qualified independent schools. He’s actually the minister for all of education,” she said.
Duncan has been under fire over the past two weeks over allegations of abuse at some qualified independent schools, including Legacy Christian Academy, as well as for some of the material that has been taught at these schools.
Former students of Legacy said they had learned from a biology textbook that stated people and dinosaurs co-existed. It citied the Loch Ness Monster, which is a mythical creature, as proof dinosaurs exist today .
Stefanie Hutchinson, Caitlin Erickson and Coy Nolin, former students of Legacy Christian Academy, speak to the media after raising concerns about allegations of abuse at the school and what they call unacceptable learning material.© Provided by Leader Post
Advocate considering investigation into Legacy Christian Academy allegations
While Duncan says it’s possible the independent schools weren’t fully following the curriculum prior to 2012, he said the textbook is no longer heavily used as a resource for qualified independent schools.
He told reporters on Tuesday there are a couple of chapters in the book that are not considered problematic, including ones that deal with genetics, photosynthesis and evolution.
He said the ministry worked with qualified independent schools in 2013 to ensure they were following the curriculum.
Caitlin Erickson, who has filed a lawsuit in regards to alleged abuse at Legacy , has said controversial teachings continue to persist, noting many of the resources are listed on the Saskatchewan Association of Independent Church Schools (SAICS) website.
Duncan said he would have to look at the website again, but added the ministry has reviewed the workbooks being taught by schools that follow SAICS.
“For the most part, aside from the faith-based elements, I think the ministry is comfortable that the information that is in the workbooks and the information that is part of the curriculum could likely be used in any school in the province,” he said.
He said the Accelerated Christian Education workbooks that were used prior to 2012 were deemed unacceptable. The ministry worked with schools to rewrite their workbooks to align them with the curriculum, he said.
He noted the government doesn’t have much control over what’s being taught in registered independent schools, which don’t receive government funding. He said they don’t receive the same level of oversight.
However, Sarauer accused Duncan of not being harsh on the teachings.
“The Minister of Education refuses to admit the Loch Ness is not real,” she quipped.
Education Minister Dustin Duncan speaks to reporters about enhanced regulations for qualified independent schools in August.© Provided by Leader Post
Education Minister Dustin Duncan says he isn’t ragging on public and Catholic schools after the NDP accused him of doing so for his remarks on student grades.
House Leader Nicole Sarauer grilled Duncan on Thursday during question period in the Saskatchewan legislature, accusing him of dragging the publicly funded systems “through the mud,” after he suggested qualified independent school students have better marks than kids who attend Catholic or public schools.
Duncan had told the chamber on Tuesday that 57 per cent of students in qualified independent schools scored higher than 80 per cent on their departmental exams over the last year, whereas 54 per cent of students in Catholic or public schools scored higher than 80 per cent.
Duncan pointed to the marks as evidence students in qualified independent schools are receiving a “good education.” He re-affirmed that the government supports parents being able to send their kids to independent schools.
On Thursday, Duncan told the assembly he wasn’t criticizing public education when he made his comments.
He said he was trying to demonstrate that, regardless of where students attend school, they are “performing at or near the same mark.”
He said 68 per cent of students in associate schools, which are religious schools that have an operating agreement with public schools, had a mark above 80 per cent for their departmental exams.
“Students, even in independent schools … are learning the curriculum and can score near where public school students are when it comes to departmentals,” he said.
Sarauer told the chamber qualified independent schools aren’t held to the same standards “and that their marks are inflated.”
She said public and Catholic schools don’t get to pick and choose their students.
“I hope this minister really realizes he’s not the minister for qualified independent schools. He’s actually the minister for all of education,” she said.
Duncan has been under fire over the past two weeks over allegations of abuse at some qualified independent schools, including Legacy Christian Academy, as well as for some of the material that has been taught at these schools.
Former students of Legacy said they had learned from a biology textbook that stated people and dinosaurs co-existed. It citied the Loch Ness Monster, which is a mythical creature, as proof dinosaurs exist today .
Stefanie Hutchinson, Caitlin Erickson and Coy Nolin, former students of Legacy Christian Academy, speak to the media after raising concerns about allegations of abuse at the school and what they call unacceptable learning material.© Provided by Leader Post
Advocate considering investigation into Legacy Christian Academy allegations
While Duncan says it’s possible the independent schools weren’t fully following the curriculum prior to 2012, he said the textbook is no longer heavily used as a resource for qualified independent schools.
He told reporters on Tuesday there are a couple of chapters in the book that are not considered problematic, including ones that deal with genetics, photosynthesis and evolution.
He said the ministry worked with qualified independent schools in 2013 to ensure they were following the curriculum.
Caitlin Erickson, who has filed a lawsuit in regards to alleged abuse at Legacy , has said controversial teachings continue to persist, noting many of the resources are listed on the Saskatchewan Association of Independent Church Schools (SAICS) website.
Duncan said he would have to look at the website again, but added the ministry has reviewed the workbooks being taught by schools that follow SAICS.
“For the most part, aside from the faith-based elements, I think the ministry is comfortable that the information that is in the workbooks and the information that is part of the curriculum could likely be used in any school in the province,” he said.
He said the Accelerated Christian Education workbooks that were used prior to 2012 were deemed unacceptable. The ministry worked with schools to rewrite their workbooks to align them with the curriculum, he said.
He noted the government doesn’t have much control over what’s being taught in registered independent schools, which don’t receive government funding. He said they don’t receive the same level of oversight.
However, Sarauer accused Duncan of not being harsh on the teachings.
“The Minister of Education refuses to admit the Loch Ness is not real,” she quipped.
CBC/Radio-Canada -
Dinosaur history has been a hot topic in the Saskatchewan Legislature, leading the provincial education minister and Opposition critic to jaw at one another over the questionable facts of an independent curriculum.
The debate surfaced after former students of Saskatoon's Legacy Christian Academy demanded its curriculum — called Accelerated Christian Education, or ACE — be banned.
The government opposition read from a biology textbook used at an independent Saskatchewan school that read, in part, "scientific evidence tends to support the idea that men and dinosaurs existed at the same time."
The Loch Ness monster was also referenced in the textbook read by the Opposition as "proof that dinosaurs still exist today."
When CBC requested to speak with a paleontologist from the Royal Saskatchewan Museum to clear that up, that request was routed through to the Education minister's office who said the minister wasn't available, despite him not being requested.
Instead, Stefani Langenegger, host of CBC's The Morning Edition, spoke with paleontologist Graham Young, a curator of geology and paleontology at the Manitoba Museum.
The following transcript has been edited for clarity and length.
A: Dinosaurs inhabited the planet for a very long time, from about 230 million years ago to about 66 million years ago. So, well over 100 million years: far longer than the time since they became extinct.
We're able to do very good age dating on rocks using a variety of methods. Of course, dinosaurs are in sedimentary rocks, but sedimentary rocks, especially in geologically active regions, often have volcanic layers in them and you can date the age of a volcanic rock or an ash using chemicals in it.
They're getting to know quite a lot about human evolution because there's been such a focus on it but it depends how you define "human." We're homo sapiens.
So our first relatives who belong to that group of species are from right about two million years ago. So to contrast, the last dinosaurs were 33 times as long ago as the first human relatives.
I'm not going to talk about biblical evidence, that's far outside my area of expertise, and I'm not going to involve myself in Saskatchewan politics, but there is absolutely no scientific evidence for that.
Yeah, that's been something that's been going on for many decades.
Basically, there's a dinosaur trackway site in Texas and it seems that people have periodically added human footprints to that by carving them in and there's been some quite detailed analysis that shows that any of the so-called human footprints there do not have the characteristics of fossil footprints.
Fossil footprints deform sediment, so the human footprints are something someone wishfully added.
We know quite a lot. The Loch Ness monster is something that developed from old myths and, in the 20th century, apparently from hoaxes.
North Americans may not realize Loch Ness is not a huge lake by our standards. It's not like Lake Winnipeg, it's not an expanse of water, it's a long narrow lake and if there was anything that was at all like a plesiosaur in there, it would be observed on a daily basis.
A view of the Loch Ness Monster, near Inverness, Scotland, April 19, 1934. The photograph, one of two pictures known as the 'surgeon's photographs,' was allegedly taken by Colonel Robert Kenneth Wilson, though it was later exposed as a hoax by one of the participants, Chris Spurling, who, on his deathbed, revealed that the pictures were staged by himself, Marmaduke and Ian Wetherell, and Wilson. References to a monster in Loch Ness date back to St. Columba's biography in 565 AD. More than 1,000 people claim to have seen 'Nessie' and the area is, consequently, a popular tourist attraction. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)© Keystone/Getty Images
I think it's really important that all of us get a really solid grounding in general Earth science so that people understand the deep history of the planet, that they understand things like where fossil fuels have come from and the causes of earthquakes so that they know not to build in places that are most likely to be affected by earthquakes or by tsunamis.
There are so many aspects of Earth science that are critical to being a good citizen and I think that's the important thing is that people need that sort of solid grounding in this sort of science.
A: Dinosaurs inhabited the planet for a very long time, from about 230 million years ago to about 66 million years ago. So, well over 100 million years: far longer than the time since they became extinct.
We're able to do very good age dating on rocks using a variety of methods. Of course, dinosaurs are in sedimentary rocks, but sedimentary rocks, especially in geologically active regions, often have volcanic layers in them and you can date the age of a volcanic rock or an ash using chemicals in it.
They're getting to know quite a lot about human evolution because there's been such a focus on it but it depends how you define "human." We're homo sapiens.
So our first relatives who belong to that group of species are from right about two million years ago. So to contrast, the last dinosaurs were 33 times as long ago as the first human relatives.
I'm not going to talk about biblical evidence, that's far outside my area of expertise, and I'm not going to involve myself in Saskatchewan politics, but there is absolutely no scientific evidence for that.
Yeah, that's been something that's been going on for many decades.
Basically, there's a dinosaur trackway site in Texas and it seems that people have periodically added human footprints to that by carving them in and there's been some quite detailed analysis that shows that any of the so-called human footprints there do not have the characteristics of fossil footprints.
Fossil footprints deform sediment, so the human footprints are something someone wishfully added.
We know quite a lot. The Loch Ness monster is something that developed from old myths and, in the 20th century, apparently from hoaxes.
North Americans may not realize Loch Ness is not a huge lake by our standards. It's not like Lake Winnipeg, it's not an expanse of water, it's a long narrow lake and if there was anything that was at all like a plesiosaur in there, it would be observed on a daily basis.
A view of the Loch Ness Monster, near Inverness, Scotland, April 19, 1934. The photograph, one of two pictures known as the 'surgeon's photographs,' was allegedly taken by Colonel Robert Kenneth Wilson, though it was later exposed as a hoax by one of the participants, Chris Spurling, who, on his deathbed, revealed that the pictures were staged by himself, Marmaduke and Ian Wetherell, and Wilson. References to a monster in Loch Ness date back to St. Columba's biography in 565 AD. More than 1,000 people claim to have seen 'Nessie' and the area is, consequently, a popular tourist attraction. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)© Keystone/Getty Images
I think it's really important that all of us get a really solid grounding in general Earth science so that people understand the deep history of the planet, that they understand things like where fossil fuels have come from and the causes of earthquakes so that they know not to build in places that are most likely to be affected by earthquakes or by tsunamis.
There are so many aspects of Earth science that are critical to being a good citizen and I think that's the important thing is that people need that sort of solid grounding in this sort of science.
