Dear Editor,
My name is Jackson Hooimeyer and I am a private school student. I have a bit of concern about Doug Neuman’s article that focused on ending funding to private schools in the Barrhead Leader. I find that Neuman does not know how the private system works.
Money becomes a factor; our parents pay 65 per cent of their own money for each of their children meanwhile the parents of the public school pay 0 per cent out of their pocket. In the private school system our parents pay $4500 and then the government pays $2500 (these numbers come from the most recent AISCA website). In the public system the government pays for all of the public students. Our parents pay taxes for our education. So should they not be able to choose where that money is going? They should have the right to choose.
Our school also gets involved in the community such as coaching Barrhead soccer teams; a few students and parents have volunteered their time to coach those soccer teams. It is a blessing that they volunteer their time. On Canada Day our school also volunteers its property for that event. Our school also takes their time to help out the seniors that are not capable of shoveling snow or raking leaves, we take our time to help them. We are willing to give a helping hand to the community around us. Our school also likes to host volleyball and ball hockey tournaments and we encourage the community to be involved in those. Once students graduate from our school they are most likely to get more involved in school and government activities. According from the CARDUS 2012 Education Survey it says that people who graduate from a private school are more likely to be involved than if they were from a public school.
The private school would be a more reliable choice and I would be very proud of our education system if they would start fully funding our private school also. I am also very grateful to be going to a private school. It is a blessing from God that we are able to go to a private school.
Jackson Hooimeyer, a Grade 12 student from CCRS, Neerlandia
