COLUMN: Think Again – Academics, not activism, should be the priority

“Resistance to colonialism is not terrorism.”

This quote was shown to more than 5,000 Winnipeg School Division (WSD) staff last week at a professional development session delivered by Dr. Chris Emdin from Teachers College, Columbia University. Not surprisingly, many teachers found this quote offensive, with more than a dozen walking out.

The teachers who walked out did the right thing. Whatever their political views might be, there is no context where intentionally murdering innocent civilians, which is an act of terrorism, is acceptable.

Even more offensive was the fact that this presentation took place only two days after the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s brutal attack against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. More than 1,200 Israelis were murdered that day, with many others wounded or taken hostage.

Considering how often Hamas apologists justify their antisemitism by reframing it as “resistance” to colonialism, it’s not surprising that a quote minimizing the evils of terrorism wouldn’t go over well with many teachers, particularly Jewish educators.

WSD Superintendent Matt Henderson was quick to engage in damage control. In a letter to staff, Henderson apologized for the quote and explained that “the speaker’s view does not reflect the views of the WSD in this context.” He also said that he planned to speak with his team and with Emdin to ensure that this type of mistake doesn’t happen again.

However, Henderson shouldn’t be let off the hook so easily. No competent superintendent would organize a division-wide professional development event without carefully vetting a keynote speaker, reviewing the PowerPoint slides, and knowing exactly what message that speaker was going to deliver to his staff.

Simply put, Emdin might have taken his presentation further than Henderson expected, but there’s no doubt that bringing him to WSD was a deliberate choice on Henderson’s part.

The fundamental issue here is how this incident exposes the divide between two different visions of public education. On one side we have the traditional view of education, which emphasizes the importance of knowledge acquisition and skill development in school. On the other side is the progressive view, where teachers engage in social justice activism and seek to liberate students from colonialism and oppression.

This is not a new debate. In her 2000 book, Left Back: A Century of Battles Over School Reforms, education historian Diane Ravitch chronicled the long struggle between traditionalists and progressives for control of Teachers College, the most influential teacher training institution in North America.

In the end, the progressives won the power struggle and took effective control of Teachers College, which is where Emdin currently teaches.

In other words, by inviting a well-known political activist to be the keynote speaker at this WSD event, Superintendent Henderson signaled his desire to take WSD schools in a more progressive direction, where teachers focus more on activism than on traditional academics. This won’t come as a surprise to anyone who has read any of Henderson’s many articles over the last decade or so. His left-wing political views are hardly a secret.

Not surprisingly, many parents are uncomfortable with this approach. Most parents send their children to school because they want them to learn basic facts and master important skills—not to be indoctrinated into an ideology that conflicts with what they are taught at home.

A far better approach would be for all schools to focus on the fundamentals of teaching and learning. Help students become knowledgeable and skillful and leave political activism out of the classroom.

If teachers want to be political, they should do it on their own time. A school division’s focus should be on academics, not on activism.

Michael Zwaagstra is a high school teacher and deputy mayor of Steinbach. He can be reached at mzwaagstra@shaw.ca.