With Chris Spence's departure, the Toronto District School Board could get even worse

One of the ironies of the humiliating plagiarism scandal at the Toronto District School Board that led to the resignation of Education Director Chris Spence is that it need never have happened.

Spence got his EdD. degree at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, a place with such ridiculously low standards that he could have written a 120 word essay about his feelings and still have been awarded an advanced degree from them.

Naturally, as is her style, OISE Dean Julia O'Sullivan has not commented on the controversy. But it is interesting that it took a Globe and Mail researcher one day of inquiry to find Spence's plagiarism, while it went unnoticed by OISE professors and thesis advisers who are supposed to be experts in the field.

But those who think Spence's resignation is a victory over the TDSB's ludicrous so-called social justice agenda are wrong. The people waiting in the wings to take over from Spence are no better and in all likelihood may be even worse. These same people participated in the TDSB and Ministry of Education's "Futures" conference, where all the ills in the education system were blamed on white privilege. At that same conference, keynote speaker Uzma Shakir, a woman who once wrote that Muslim immigrants don't owe full loyalty to Canada because of the government's pro-Israel policies, condemned Canada as a paternalistic, racist society while lavishing praise on her native Pakistan.

Spence's successors will still push race-based nonsense in classrooms, plus neo-Marxist activism disguised as education.

The only way change will happen is if pressure is put on politicians at the provincial level, because ultimately it is the provincial Ministry of Education that is responsible for the school curriculum. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't continue to also pressure your local school Trustee, because they are politicians too and need to be reminded they can be removed from office at the next election.




See also: Chris Spence's Golden Parachute