无奈！女儿在加拿大公校苦苦挣扎，母亲最终送她去了私校！
近日，一位母亲讲述了自己送女儿进私校的故事。
温哥华母亲Shauna MacKinnon十分相信加拿大的公共教育，但是当她的女儿无法通过公校获得学习支持时，她无奈地选择了私校。
这就是为什么Shauna从没想过会把自己的孩子送去私立学校。但是，孩子的教育总会出现意想不到的事情。
阅读对于Shauna的女儿来说，一直是一个挑战。当疫情导致学校停课时， 她亲身体验到了女儿在学校面临的一切。这也导致女儿不愉快地发现，比她小两届的三年级弟弟，都已经比她的阅读能力更好了。
女儿盯着餐桌上的学校作业时，对Shauna尖叫道：“我做不到！”女儿的眼里涌出了沮丧的泪水。她回想起过去的经历，女儿从周一到周四在家练习词汇，结果周五考试上的阅读内容，就像她从未见过的单词一样。
Shauna意识到，是有什么东西阻碍了女儿的学习，但她不知道是什么。
学校老师建议Shauna给女儿花$3000加元做一个私人心理教育评估。虽然有公共资助的免费评估，但是需要多年等待。老师警告Shauna，继续等下去意味着错过干预女儿学习的关键窗口。没有办法，Shauna去给女儿做了私人评估。评估显示，她的女儿在听觉和记忆处理方面存在困难。
这位心理学家解释说，对于有语言学习差异（通常被称为阅读障碍）的孩子，许多常见的公立学校作业、拼写测试和嘈杂的教室，会让他们难以学习。
但是，即使获得了官方的诊断，指定女儿有学习障碍，也没有什么用。Shauna的女儿就读于温哥华一所大型小学，学校的支持资源已经很紧缺。像她女儿这种学习障碍的学生，不会触发额外的资金来支持学生的需求。
接下来，Shauna让女儿忍受了三年的课外辅导，但是进展缓慢。
最终，随着女儿对落后于同龄人的焦虑情绪越来越高，事情到了紧要关头。在去了一所私立学校为阅读障碍学生举办的夏令营后，她的女儿宣布：“我想一直呆在那里！”
她的女儿喜欢音乐和艺术课，这让每天的一对一辅导变得可以忍受。女儿也很高兴地知道，这里所有的学生都面临着与她相似的挑战。
Shauna设想了女儿未来的一系列可能。如果继续不作为，那幺女儿可能会一直经历各种心理健康问题，例如焦虑、孤独、失业和虐待。然而，如果有所作为，那幺女儿也可能成为著名的艺术家、发明家和企业家。
考虑到这些可能性，尽管存在财务方面的障碍，Shauna还是决定送女儿去私立学校了。
一年过去，她的女儿有了很大的进步，可以在学校学习了。她会将关于课堂内容的故事带回家，阅读能力有所提高，落后同龄孩子的焦虑已经消失。
Shauna发现，私立学校的家庭热情好客。和他们一样，许多家长在看到孩子在公立学校苦苦挣扎后，将私立学校作为最后的选择。
如今，Shauna已经习惯了这样的常态：女儿早起，穿着校服去私校；儿子睡懒觉，悠闲地步行去公校。Shauna不想放弃公共教育。
他们仍然坚信公校为社会提供了重要的共同基础。她希望，也许会有一天，像她女儿那样的学生，也能在公共教育系统中获得所需的支持。
I never thought I'd be the parent who sends my kid to private school
As much as I believe in public education, it became clear my daughter’s school couldn’t offer supports for her
Shauna MacKinnon · for CBC First Person ·
Shauna MacKinnon, centre, with her children. Her 11-year-old daughter attends a private school for dyslexic children while her younger son attends a public school. (Submitted by Shauna MacKinnon)
This First Person column is the experience of Shauna MacKinnon who lives in Vancouver. For more information about CBC's First Person stories, please see the FAQ.
Driving from our home in East Vancouver to the west side of the city, I notice how the yards are larger and more manicured. As we approach my daughter's private school, our car — which is still coated in dust from a summer spent camping and bumping down gravel roads — follows a train of shining Teslas and Mercedes. I can't help but feel self-conscious.
"Are you ready for your first day?" I ask.
My nine-year-old daughter replies with a determined, "Yep."
She looks smart in her new uniform. While I wonder how our middle class family will fit in with this posh school community, I am thankful for her uniform. At least that gives her a way to blend in.
The 30-minute car trip across the city is a journey into a lifestyle I never expected to inhabit. We had chosen to raise our kids in a neighbourhood known for its diversity and left-leaning attitudes. The kids could walk to school, and our work commutes could be done by bike. We valued the opportunity public school provided to meet children and families with a wide range of personal experiences that differed from our own.
That's why I never thought I would send one of my kids to private school. But being a parent makes you do things you never expected.
Reading was always a challenge for my daughter. When the pandemic led to school closures, I got a first-hand experience of what she faced in school. It led to the unpleasant discovery that her little brother, two grades younger, was already a better reader than she was in Grade 3. She was furious.
"I can't do this!" she screamed, tears of frustration welling in her eyes, as she stared at the school worksheet on our dining table. I thought back to all the nights that year that my daughter practised vocabulary words at home from Monday to Thursday only to complete Friday's test like she had never seen the words before. I knew something was holding her back from learning but did not know what.
Her teacher encouraged us to spend $3,000 for a private psychoeducational assessment if we could afford it. A publicly funded assessment would be a "years long wait." Her teacher warned us that waiting to understand the root of my daughter's learning difficulties would mean missing a critical window for intervention.
The assessment revealed our daughter had difficulties with auditory and memory processing. The diagnosis made sense of her frustration.
The psychologist explained that for kids with language learning differences — commonly referred to under the umbrella term of dyslexia — much of the typical public school experience of worksheets, spelling tests and noisy classrooms is difficult for them to learn in.
But having an official diagnosis and a designation as a student with a learning disability was not a magic fix. My daughter attended a large elementary school in Vancouver where resource support was already stretched thin. Students with her type of learning disabilities do not trigger additional funding to support student needs.
Our daughter endured three years of after-school tutoring sessions with slow progress.
Eventually, with her building anxiety of knowing she was lagging behind her peers, things came to a head. "I want to go here all the time," my daughter declared after wrapping up a summer camp held by a specialized private school for dyslexic learners. She had enjoyed the music and art classes, which made the daily hour of one-on-one tutoring tolerable. She also liked knowing that all of the students had challenges similar to her own.
At that moment, I could envision an array of possible futures for my daughter. People with unsupported dyslexia are more likely to experience mental health issues such as anxiety, homelessness, unemployment and abuse. And yet, others with dyslexia are among our most celebrated artists, inventors and entrepreneurs.
Considering those possibilities, I could not say no to private school despite the financial and logistical hurdles — or my own discomfort with ditching a public institution for a private offering.
The last year has been transformational. The small class sizes, regular one-on-one tutoring and commitment to teaching using a multi-sensory approach means my daughter is now engaged in learning at school. She comes home with stories about class content. Her reading has improved and she now writes using cursive that her grandparents "ooh" and "aah" over. Her anxiety about not keeping up with other kids her age is gone. I have found that the families at the private school are warm and welcoming. Like us, many of the parents sought out private school as a last resort after their children struggled in the public system.
There are times that I feel guilty knowing that we are investing more in our daughter's education than in our son's. Since he requires less support, we think the public system will serve him well enough.
As we begin our second year of this new arrangement, I am getting used to our new normal: my now 11-year-old daughter gets up early and heads out in uniform to private school; my son sleeps in and leisurely walks to our local public school.
We don't want to give up on the public system. We are still holding onto the belief that public schools provide an important common foundation for building civil society. Maybe someday students like my daughter will get the support they need in public education.
Do you have a similar experience to this First Person column? We want to hear from you. Write to us at firstperson@cbc.ca.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Freelance contributor
Shauna MacKinnon lives in Vancouver with her husband and two children. Aside from shuttling her children to separate schools, she supports collaborative research and extension to address climate change in agriculture.
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