Basically, I feel that there needs to be clarification for the article I wrote a couple of days ago titled “Fuck Alberta Bible College”. However, I do not edit posts once they are up for integrity reasons and to follow with my blog’s Code of Ethics. Once a post is up, it is up. However, I write this to hopefully eliminate any confusion about my words.
First off, the post “Fuck Alberta Bible College” was written as a criticism to the administration of Alberta Bible College and some of the faculty that decide to treat students rather poorly. I have very little respect for an organization that is supposedly christian and yet does something like that. I have met and conversed with many of the students and instructors at ABC and a good majourity of them do not share the malicious intents of a select few. The sole intention of this article is to have the staff and students take a good, hard, long look at the people administering their school and see their actions, exposed.
Secondly, I am not the only person who thinks this way, but I am the only person willing to publicly expose these people for what they truly are. I have conversed with others about ABC and they share an opinion with me. I would love to tell you their story but they told me it under the strictest of confidence. I will not violate that confidence that they have placed in me. However, the horror stories of Alberta Bible College are numerous and quantity and I honestly hope that one day, they will allow me to post these stories.
When searching for sources for this article toda, Prime Minister Abe wrote a segment in his online e-mail newsletter that really struck me:
My First School Lunch in 40 Years
Hello, this is Shinzo Abe.
The Japanese character meaning “life” was chosen as the word most representative of 2006.
On one hand, the birth of His Imperial Highness Prince Hisahito opened our eyes again to how a new life can bring happiness and hope to our own lives, giving us another chance to appreciate the preciousness and value of life. But on the other hand, this year we have also witnessed a number of heartbreaking incidents of children taking their own lives — lives that had come into this world with the blessings of everyone surrounding them — after being bullied.
I visited an elementary school in Tokyo last week in hopes of getting a feel for the educational environment children are in today and talking to them in person.
It was my first visit to an elementary school in the 40 years since I graduated from my own. Over lunch, I had a chance to hear, in their own words, what children are really thinking. Many shared with me that they enjoy extracurricular activities and sports. They also asked me unpretentious questions, such as, “As a child, did you have a goal in life?” These questions reassured me that children have hopes and dreams for what they want to pursue in the future.
I was a bit worried that the children would tense up with the press crew in their classroom, but the close bond the class shared and the warm smiles they gave me as we talked impressed me strongly.
I have kept in close touch with my elementary school friends, meeting with them frequently even now after 40 years. Exciting times spent together with friends, even if you occasionally argue, will become a precious memory later in life. It is my hope that children will possess the kindness to go over and talk to another child they see all alone. I was able to convey this message during my visit to the school.
I will never stop reminding all children that there are people who care about and love them, and that bullying is a shameful deed.
In cooperation with local communities, I will enhance even further a system through which children can seek help or advice even at night and on weekends and holidays. I will also set up places all over the country where children can play and study with a sense of security so that they will not be left alone after school.
I have renewed my resolve to do my utmost so that our children do not lose their smiles and will be able to achieve a bright future that fulfills their hopes and dreams.
[...]
Deliberations in the Diet are reaching their final stages as the current session draws to a close. The Abe Cabinet’s top priority agenda is rebuilding education. I will devote all my energy to reconsidering education from its basic principles as we take the final steps toward enactment of the bill concerning the Fundamental Law of Education.
Prime Minister Abe’s words ring true. And yet, strangely enough, Japan has a better set of rules for their education system than Canada or the United States does. These rules are called the Fundamental Law of Education.
In article 6 of the Fundamental Law of Education, it states: “Teachers of the schools prescribed by law shall be servants of the whole community. They shall be conscious of their mission and endeavor to discharge their duties. For this purpose, the status of teachers shall be respected and their fair and appropriate treatment shall be secured.” This should be true throughout the world. However, meager pay and other issues that have arosen the last decade have made people believe that they can and should get away with anything - including treating certain students, possibly the ones who need the lessons the most, with mockery and contempt. To treat certain students like scapegoats and discriminate against them. And then to try to make them feel guilty when the student tries to expose the instructor for what they are.
In article 10 of the Fundamental Law of Education, it states: “Education shall not be subject to improper control, but shall be directly responsible to the whole people.” In this situation, the education programmes at Alberta Bible College are run by people who wish to pervert the education from it’s once noble and fine goal to something that is wrong. This is an act against the public interest and it cannot be tolerated.