The B.C Government is looking into a situation in the Kamloops School District after a parent of a grade ten student complained about a worksheet given to his son’s social studies class.
Included in the document for the in-class assignment, which aimed to show which side of the political spectrum some people sit on, were statements such as “a person who believes that women should stay at home and be mothers” and “a person who believes that convicted murderers should be hanged”.
Premier John Horgan says, the government is following up on the issue.
“It did come to my attention today. I have talked to Minister Fleming about it. He is doing his job as Minister of Education to find out at what point that became part of the curriculum. I’m not sure it is.”
The assignment was a lesson on partisan politics, with students given a list of assertions and asked whether that statement represented the political left or right.
In response the ministry of education sent us the bullet points below.
- The worksheet is not part of the curriculum.
- Every day in B.C., thousands of teachers make decisions about the learning resources and materials they use to support and teach the curriculum.
- We understand that the Kamloops-Thompson School District has spoken with the teacher and is working to better understand the context of the worksheet in the classroom to determine next steps.
- We have been assured the worksheet will no longer be used in Kamloops-Thompson School District classrooms, and that the parent who raised the issue is satisfied with the district’s response.