Contested Classrooms

Education has become a battlefield, the classroom the arena where the contest is fought. The 1997 Ontario teachers' strike, the federal government's Millennium Scholarship, and a wave of protests across the country are among the signals that the war is heating up. Alberta stands as a Canadian model of radical education reform, propelled by economic necessity. But is all reform necessarily right or good?-and who decides? A range of commentators-teachers, scholars, parents, and others-discuss the conflict in Alberta's schools.

Trevor W. Harrison is a Professor in the Sociology Department, University of Lethbridge, and former Director of the Parkland Institute. His areas of specialization include Canadian society, political economy, and public policy.

Jerrold (Jerry) Kachur (1955-2020) was a professor of international political economy, social theory, and political philosophy. He taught undergraduate courses in the sociology of education and graduate courses in social theory and education, development theory and education, research methodologies, and policy analysis and education.