Following accusations that a Calgary school teacher was pushing an anti-conservative agenda to students, the founder of a new Alberta charter school says she’s not concerned her educators will start implanting their biases onto students because they’re “too busy” teaching students a fundamentally different curriculum.
Caylan Ford said the Calgary Classical Academy rejects the view that education should be seen as a means of vehicle for social transformation, a philosophy progressive education reformers began to embrace in the 20th century.
“That’s part of why you end up with a lot of this kind of thing in schools — a lot of focus on contemporary social issues on turning students into agents of change,” she said.
Ford said teachers at the Calgary Classical Academy are busy teaching students subjects like Latin, music and world history.
“We expose kids to texts in works of art and literature, and stories that have stood the test of time and are in some cases centuries or millennia old,” she said.
“Frankly, we don’t have time for much else beyond that.”
Ford’s Calgary Classical Academy opened in August 2022. After families in Edmonton began contacting her “desperate” for their kids to access a classical education, she decided to expand with an Edmonton location, set to open the 2023-24 academic year.
True North reported last week that a concerned parent posted screenshots online of what appears to be a PowerPoint slide from a Calgary teacher showing examples of “appropriate” and “inappropriate” opinions. One example of an appropriate phrase was “Black Lives Matter,” while the phrase “All Lives Matter” was characterized as inappropriate.
Another slideshow was titled “great speakers” and included photos of child climate activist Greta Thunberg, Michelle Obama and Alberta’s former chief public health officer Dr. Deena Hinshaw.
The parent further told True North that the teacher described examples of “bad speakers” as prominent conservatives like Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, former President Donald Trump, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
The Calgary Board of Education won’t comment on the issue, saying it’s an “individual personnel matter.”
Ford says she often hears from parents concerned that their local public schools may not be teaching in a way that accords with the family’s values.
“That doesn’t necessarily mean that there are circumstances like the one that’s alleged here, but there’s a general sense among a lot of parents that they can’t trust their schools,” she said.
“We just espouse a different anthropology and a different understanding of the purpose of education, about the individual dignity and equipping them with the tools of moral intellectual discernment that can apply in various circumstances.”
