Professionally Speaking welcomes letters and articles on topics of interest to teachers. We reserve the right to edit letters for length. To be considered for publication, all letters must be signed and provide the writer's daytime phone number. Letters should be addressed to: The Editor, Professionally Speaking, 121 Bloor Street East, 6th Floor, Toronto ON M4W 3M5; e-mail: ps@oct.ca

Sparing the Slaughter

I think the project profiled in "From Soil To Supper: Teaching Kids Where Food Comes From" (Professionally Speaking, Dec. 2000) has the potential to be very valuable. I have some concerns, though.

For example, I think it is a great idea for children to be shown the chemical application processes, and I applaud the use of safety equipment. But telling the children that they have to wear protective gear even though the chemicals are "safe" is likely to create confusion that could last for many years.

The reality, as I understand it, is that the protective equipment is worn to protect people from toxicity, and I think wiggling past the reality of this issue is a missed opportunity. I think the world needs smart, caring young people in agriculture keen to find truly safe and effective ways for us to avoid the use of poisons to grow our food successfully.

I hope children are also taken to organic farms so that they can see how agriculture can be done without the chemicals, and why this offers advantages.

I was also concerned that "the children are spared the slaughtering process and move directly to a butcher shop where they learn how sausages and pepperoni are made."

The children were brought to the farm to learn about where the parts of the pizza come from, but "spared" being really shown.

Certainly, the children would have to be prepared beforehand and given the opportunity to pass it up if they felt unwilling or unable to be witness to the act of slaughter. The thing is, finding out where meat really comes from is a pivotal point in many people's lives, and for the many who respond by becoming vegetarians, I think they deserve to be given the necessary information as soon as possible. In my experience, the longer latent vegetarians are "spared" the reality of slaughter, the more resentful they tend to be when they finally do find out about it.

Deborah Pageau
Deborah Pageau is a retired dance teacher who lives in Gibsons, British Columbia.

Inclusion Question

Parents of children with additional needs attending school would appreciate knowing how the Professional Learning Framework for the Teaching Profession applies to lifelong learning regarding inclusionary practices.

Families need to understand how professional teachers will be best prepared at teacher's college and throughout their teaching career to be able to teach all students. The challenge of advocating for inclusion is exhausting and often demoralizing for parents. Often ensuring an appropriate education for our children is more challenging than dealing with disability itself.

A new initiative called All Teachers All Students will hopefully lead towards more supportive networks and greater professional knowledge and skills that will result in more and more children being welcomed and included in their community school.

Janis Jaffe-White
Janis Jaffe-White is the mother of three elementary school children, including one with additional needs. She is also co-ordinator of the Toronto Family Network, a support organization for families who have children with additional needs.

Not Ideal

In the December 2000 issue of Professionally Speaking, new Council Chair Larry Capstick states that we are "Canada's largest self-regulating professional body" and follows with, "We are the body through which teachers govern themselves in the public interest." Tempering Larry's enthusiasm is Margaret Wilson, who points out that we are far from self-regulating and most certainly do not govern ourselves. As long as we are required to go hat in hand to our political masters who may, depending on this week's polls or the latest political whim, decide that our professional, thoroughly researched recommendations have the worth of a politician's promise, we are far from Larry's perceived ideal.

Paul Marrow
Paul Marrow teaches Co-op and Career Studies at Grand River Collegiate Institute in Kitchener.