Winnipeg Parent Magazine February 2017

The following will appear in the February 2017 issue of Winnipeg Parent Magazine.

Choosing the Right School

Choosing the right school for your children is no easy task, but it could be the most important decision you make this year! The Manitoba Federation of Independent Schools (MFIS) can help. The mission of MFIS is “To support and encourage high educational standards and the values unique to our various school communities and to represent the interest and concerns of independent schools in Manitoba.” MFIS represents a community of schools that share a common commitment to parental choice, diversity, and excellence in education. Currently 50 of Manitoba’s funded independent schools are members of MFIS. Member schools reflect the diversity of the Manitoba population: Anglican, Baptist, Canadian Reformed, Catholic, Christian, Islamic, Jewish, Lutheran, Mennonite, Seventh – Day Adventist, Sikh, non-denominational and non-faith based. Collectively, these schools currently serve over 14,000 students and their families.

The member schools of MFIS value the pursuit of excellence for the students we serve. Our schools strive to encourage all aspects of our students’ intellectual and personal capabilities by providing challenging learning environments where students strive to reach their full potential as individuals and as contributing members of society. We know that parents are looking for schools that foster and provide their children with the kind of critical thinking, creativity, and persistence required for future success. In today’s rapidly changing society with its complex challenges it is more important than ever to also provide our students with a solid ethical and moral footing to help guide them throughout their lives. Our member schools strive to see our students well prepared for the very different future that awaits them where they will help to contribute to the common good.

At MFIS we believe that we can strengthen the educational system in Manitoba by promoting parental choice, diversity and excellence. Find the independent schools and explore open houses in your neighbourhood by visiting the MFIS website at www.mfis.ca. 

Bruce Neal
Executive Director

Redefining Excellence

The pursuit of excellence has long been a defining pillar of the mission of MFIS. Member schools value the pursuit of high moral and academic standards for the students we serve. Our schools strive to encourage all aspects of our students’ intellectual and personal capabilities by providing challenging learning environments where students strive to reach their full potential as individuals and as contributing members of society.

Traditionally, much of the focus of our academic programs has been on the three Rs - “reading ‘riting and ‘rithmetic,” appropriately enriched with ample opportunities to develop critical thinking and problem solving skills. Our students have been well served by such a model, but as we contemplate the sort of education required for the 21^st century - in post-secondary studies and beyond - is this enough?

Robert J. Sternberg, Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Tufts University, has proposed that the criteria for excellence needs to be expanded to include not only the traditional three Rs, but also to include “the other three Rs:” reasoning, resilience, and responsibility” (2008. “Excellence for All,” Educational Leadership, Vol. 66, No. 2, 14-19)

Reasoning refers to the “set of thinking skills that a person needs to be an engaged, active citizen of the world (Sternberg, P. 17).” Not only does this include the critical and analytical thinking long valued by our schools, but it also places renewed importance on creative thinking that helps to generate new ideas; practical thinking for implementing ideas in real world situations; and wise thinking that focuses on caring about the common good and the impact of one’s actions on others.

Resilience refers to instilling in our students the attributes needed to develop “persistence in achieving goals despite the obstacles life places in our way (Sternberg, p. 18).” Resilience is a necessary component of academic excellence because it braces children for the challenges they will face in school and in life. Resilient children develop a belief in their own self-efficacy to achieve goals, are willing to think independently, and pursue their goals with passion. We know that true learning often emerges from taking risks and learning from both successes and failures. This ability to pick oneself up, dust off, adapt and get back at it is more important than ever in a rapidly changing world

Responsibility refers to the ethical and moral development of our students. Our faith-based schools have done a terrific job of paying attention to this critical element of the development of the well-rounded person. This brings to mind the famous excerpt from the original Deed of Gift of New Hampshire’s Philips Exeter Academy written over 200 years ago:

[I]t is expected that the attention of instructors to the disposition of the minds and morals of the youth under their charge will exceed every other care; well considering that though goodness without knowledge is weak and feeble, yet knowledge without goodness is dangerous, and that both united form the noblest character, and lay the surest foundation of usefulness to mankind. (http://www.exeter.edu/)

This central dimension of schooling reminds us that private education has a public purpose to instil in our students a caring attitude that balances one’s own interests with those of others and the ability to clearly distinguish right from wrong - and to act accordingly. In today’s rapidly changing society with its complex challenges it is more important than ever to provide our students with a solid ethical and moral footing to help guide them throughout their lives.

An expanded view of academic excellence in our schools will see our students well prepared for the very different future that awaits them. A successful program of academic excellence will contribute to the common good by graduating those who will know how to make the world a better place.

Bruce Neal

Executive Director

Parental Choice: A Statement of Rights and Commitment

A Statement of Rights and Commitment

At MFIS we have long believed that parents have a right to choose the type of schooling that is best for their children. In 1997, the Board of Directors of MFIS adopted the following statement with respect to this belief: 

A STATEMENT OF RIGHTS AND COMMITMENT

The parents of Manitoba who opt for an independent school education for their children are exercising rights defended by the United Nations Universal Declaration of Rights, the Supreme Court of Canada, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

The United Nations Universal Declaration of Rights under article 26, (to which Canada was a signatory) states, “Parents have the prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.” In its definition of “LIBERTY” the Supreme Court of Canada acknowledges that it is “a parent’s right to bring up his/her child(ren) in accordance with her/his conscientious beliefs.”

Furthermore, the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (to which Manitoba is a signatory) explicitly affirms the “liberty of parents to choose for their children schools other than those established by the public authorities, which conform to such minimum standards as may be laid down or approved by the State,” and “to ensure the religious and moral education of their children is in conformity with their own convictions.”   The signatories of the Covenant also agreed that elementary education, which is from Kindergarten to grade 8, “must be free and available to all.” In this international Covenant, the provinces of Canada also promise to adopt “such legislative or other practical measures that are needed to give force and effect to these rights.” It is reasonable to assume, then, that access to tax dollars is one of the “measures that are needed to give force and effect to these rights.”

THEREFORE:

The MFIS is committed to the goal of defending and promoting the parents’ right to choose the education for her/his/their child(ren) as guaranteed to them in Declarations of Rights and other international covenants.

The MFIS recognizes that Government has a role to play in protecting the right of the child to an education and to ensure that the minimum standards set by the Province are met.

The MFIS member schools are unique in that they reflect and serve particular constituencies with a particular philosophical/religious perspective. That uniqueness must be acknowledged and respected.

The MFIS member schools seek to serve the public good; the MFIS member schools prepare students to take their place as educated and responsible citizens in a democratic and pluralistic society. 

[Adopted by the MFIS Board of Directors in January, 1997.]

This Statement of Rights and Commitment still lies at the core of our Federation’s beliefs. The principles outlined here guide me in my actions as your Executive Director and the deliberations of your Board of Directors. We in Manitoba are fortunate in that the government of Manitoba through the funding agreement of 1996 has recognized the right of parents to exercise choice in selecting the school best suited to their children’s needs, faith, hopes and aspirations.

While not perfect, the current funding agreement with the province of Manitoba provides funding to our schools at the level of 50% of the per pupil public school divisions’ net operating expenditures - $5,447 per eligible student for the 2015-2016 school year. In return for this recognition, MFIS schools have agreed to comply with a number of regulatory and curriculum requirements set by the province. We at MFIS work closely with the province’s Independent Education Unit and the Finance Branch to ensure that both the spirit and letter of the funding agreement are maintained. For example, members of your Board and I will meet on an annual basis with representatives of the Finance Branch to ensure that we have a clear understanding of the calculation of the provincial grant.

While we accept in the Statement of Rights and Commitment above that “Government has a role to play in protecting the right of the child to an education and to ensure that the minimum standards set by the Province are met,” we also believe that we must be constantly vigilant that the regulations and standards set by the province continue to allow our schools to exercise their independence and thereby preserve their unique philosophy and perspective. We must continue to remind those in government that not all regulations and mandates need to apply to our schools. The Board of Directors will continue to work on your behalf to assist in maintaining the independence of our schools.

Serving Manitoba’s Funded Independent Schools,

Bruce Neal

Executive Director