Thompson says walkouts a political stunt staged by teachers’ unions

By Barb McKay

Hundreds of Kincardine students walked out of their classrooms on Thursday afternoon as part of a peaceful provincewide protest against changes to Ontario’s education system.
Students from Kincardine and District Secondary School, Huron Heights Public School and St. Anthony’s School gathered in Victoria Park at 1:30 p.m. with signs that read ‘Our Education Matters’ and ‘Cuts Hurt Kids’.
McKinna Colley, a Grade 11 student at KDSS, organized the high school walkout with a few fellow students who shared her concerns about the introduction of mandatory online courses and larger class sizes.
“Even though we can’t vote we do have a say in this province,” she said. “We are the future.”
McKinna said she will be taking specialized courses next year in preparation for university and is worried that if she is required to take any of them online it could impact her marks because she will not have access to one-on-one help. She said other students are also worried about taking online courses, and she discovered through research that there is a 70 per cent fail rate among students who complete courses online as opposed to in the classroom. Requiring students to complete some courses online puts some students at a disadvantage, McKinna added.
“Not everyone has Wifi or computers.”

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