Dear fellow petitioners, Today, I received a letter in the mail from the College of Alberta School Superintendents requesting that I publicly retract and apologize for the statements I made in my last post, wherein I questioned the credentials of a visiting math educator, a known discovery math proponent. The fact that this letter was written, sadly, only reinforces my perception, as a parent, of how minimally important our children's lives and future are in the educational bureaucracy's scheme of things. Two years, we have banged on all their doors to convey our concerns on how thousands of children, as supported by low standardized test scores, are being harmed by the discovery/new math curriculum and the growing evidence of harm by the Inspiring Education/inquiry-based learning initiative, yet not one word written from the Superintendents/School Boards to acknowledge our concerns or the harm afflicted on our children. Last month, upon learning about a talk in Calgary, I wrote a posting questioning the credentials of this discovery math educator, and now the Superintendents are up in arms that I have insulted this ONE adult and are requesting that I apologize. Perhaps it's just me, but I see a great moral imbalance in this when thousands of case reports of harm to thousands of children did not move any one of them to seek apologies from their educational peers for pushing the new math or discovery-learning agenda. I do not know how mathematicians are accredited or how many hours of research are necessary to be respected as a mathematician by your peers, but if you're not fully respected by all as a mathematician, perhaps, it is a matter within your own profession. Do not expect a mother to apologize for what other mathematical professionals think about your credentials. Moreover, an educator who allows his team to go onto our Facebook site to vindictively and personally slander and relentlessly taunt all the parents and teachers on our site by disparaging us all as "losers stuck in the dark ages" does not earn my respect or apology, especially when all we're fighting for is the well-being of our children. As a mother concerned about the state of our children's education, I will not apologize for expressing the frustration and worries of parents. A good educator is one who respects that parents are the voices of our children. The fact is what we've been asking for --- to preserve the gold standards of practice in math and education -- is far from unreasonable. The superintendents, school boards and education ministry have no right to force this mother to apologize for trying to guard her children's knowledge, skills and future. If there were hurt feelings, then I am sorry for that, as it has never been my intention to personally tear anyone down. However, I doubt that it is feelings that were hurt. I will consider apologizing if and when: 1. The said educator publicly apologizes for letting his men insult all of us parents and teachers. 2. All the discovery math proponents apologize for being self-righteous and closing the doors on thousands of children's future by, among many things, depriving so many children of something as simple and eloquent as the times table. 3. The Superintendents/School Board apologize for having ignored/dismissed all our concerns regarding the new math curriculum and the Inspiring Education initiative. 4. Alberta Education/Superintendents/School Boards apologize for not stopping the Inspiring Education initiative sooner as thousands more children's knowledge and skill base are weakened in every subject. 5. Alberta Education/Superintendents/School Boards apologize for taking Libraries away from our children. 6. Alberta Education/Superintendents/School Boards apologize for putting the interest of software companies ahead of our children's wellbeing by pushing the excessive use of technology in the classroom. 7. Alberta Education/Superintendents/School Boards apologize for pushing the less effective inquiry/discovery methods of teaching on our teachers (self-directed learning, guide by the side philosophy). 8. Alberta Education/Superintendents/School Boards apologize for wasting millions of our hard-earned tax dollars on Inspiring Education and the new math curriculum when money could be put to better use to improve our children's education. 9. Alberta Education/Superintendents/School Boards apologize for squandering our children's education opportunities by subjecting them to unproven educational experiments on our children, eg. open classrooms, whole language, new math, inquiry-based learning, discouraging memory work/practice, etc... Kindest regards, Dr. Nhung Tran-Davies p.s. Apparently, the Calgary School Board didn't host/fund the math educator's talk. The CBE Director of Learning only helped spread the news of his talk. pps. The Calgary Board of Education, however, did direct $579,800 last year to the Galileo Network, a for-profit organization pushing inquiry-based learning. What justifies that amount when children are forced out of these Inspiring Ed/inquiry-based schools in search of costly private schooling in order to get quality academic education?