Dear fellow petitioners, I am just so upset right now after learning that a principal at a local school told the parent council that the way of the future is that they will be "eliminating libraries altogether" from the schools. In its place will be "Learning Commons" an area that supports, mainly through technology, "inquiry, play and imagination." This move is to fulfill the mandates articulated in the Inspiring Education Ministerial Orders written by the former Education Minister Jeff Johnson. I ask you how can Inspiring Ed claim to value learning when they are actively dissolving the very symbol of knowledge and learning? It was upsetting enough to have seen the detrimental effects Inspiring Education agenda had on our math curriculum, and it became unbearably upsetting to realize the full extent of their proposed radical changes to the rest of the school curriculum. But for anyone who has a love of learning, dismantling our school libraries is the last straw! If you haven't already, please ask your spouse/parents/friends/neighbours to also sign our additional petition: https://www.change.org/p/honourable-education-minister-gordon-dirks-knowledge-is-power-stop-the-breakdown-of-our-children-s-education Your voices will help give us weight and credibility when I, the mathematicians Dr. John Bowman (UofA) and Cornelia Bica (Nait), Mae Chow (Lawyer), Dr. Ken Porteous (Professor Emeritus of Engineering) and Mr. Stuart Wachowicz (The Parent for Choice in Education representative) meet with Minister Gordon Dirks in the near future. Fellow petitioners have noted that Minister Dirks likes to tweet praises for Inspiring Ed despite knowing that there is a growing number of Albertans who don't want these changes imposed on our children. So, if you do tweet (Shawna suggested possibly using the hashtag #not_inspired #abed) please remind Minister Dirks that we do not want Inspiring Education to implement these unproven fads. (Please note that we are not opposing students from becoming problem- solvers, being creative, ethical, to be inspired for lifelong learning, etc. These are skills that we've always wanted from our children, even in the 20th century. It is IE's ill-conceived, illogical, unproven approaches (eg. de-emphasizing the importance of knowledge) that we want to rein in. We believe in a well-balanced education. Technology should have it's place, but not to the full radical extent that Inspiring Ed is proposing). If you would like to write to Premier Prentice or Minister Dirks directly, here are their email addresses: Gordon Dirks calgary.elbow@assembly.ab.ca Education.Minister@gov.ab.ca Prentice: premier@gov.ab.ca calgary.foothills@assembly.ab.ca I thank you to all those who have already written letters and are sending me great articles and updates on the the effects of IE on in their local school division. It is helping me immensely in understanding the enormity of the problem. Kindest regards, Dr. Nhung Tran-Davies (mrgranthd@yahoo.ca) https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alberta-Math-Petition/715037091853017?ref=bookmarks