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Joe McFarland Profile picture
@JoeMcFarland
Sep 19, 2020 • 4 tweets • 3 min read • Read on X
I'm sorry... what? Where the heck has our government been since being elected? And now you want a hero cookie for "coming to play"? We could have been light years ahead of everyone else but #ABleg scrapped the progress being made. Even in the depths of recession, #Alberta was...
...growing. People were still moving here. Why? Because they still felt this was the land of opportunity. Now, we keep hearing stories of families moving out of province. The brain-drain is seemingly underway. And yet this minister is basically saying "please come back." #ABleg
Listen, I hope #ABleg does move at "the speed of business." I hope they are able to heal their self-inflicted wounds. My baby boy deserves to grow up in a land of future opportunity. Not a land of yesterday's dreams. But so far, this government has banked on the latter. #Alberta
And where has that gotten us in their short time as government? Playing catch-up. Putting "the rest of Canada on notice" that we are "coming to play." We should have been in the game a long time ago. #ABleg #Alberta

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More from @JoeMcFarland

Joe McFarland Profile picture
Apr 6, 2022
It's been a while since I've gone on a lengthy Twitter 🧵 about #ABleg & #education, but I've been thinking a lot about the debate about the new curriculum & certain pundits who believe our kids' grades in English language arts are cratering. Before I begin, lemme preface...
...that yes, my wife is a teacher. But that doesn't preclude me from being able to articulate my opinion, which is based off my own life experiences + what I hear from her + what I've witnessed in her classroom as a volunteer in the pre-COVID days. Okay...here we go. #ABleg
Something that has bothered me about the select few who are trying to treat our illiteracy issues as a "curriculum" issue are either being wilfully ignorant or are being misleading. Does that mean the curriculum shouldn't change? Of course not. But it's not the silver bullet.
Read 16 tweets
Joe McFarland Profile picture
Mar 4, 2022
It's been a while since I've written an #ABleg 🧵. To be honest, I've just grown tired of it all. After a while, it starts to feel like yelling into the abyss. Realistically, it's all noise in what's become a really noisy space, where nuance & reason are foreign ideas. #Alberta
That being said, I did wanna put pen to paper on something that I've been thinking a lot about lately. I hate that we've reached the point where it feels like we're cheering against ourselves. Even when good news comes, it feels like it's bad. And that's not healthy. #ABleg
This has been going on for a while. I remember how Alison Redford could say the sky was blue & Danielle Smith would hold a news conference to say the sky was red. That's how ridiculous the divide in this province seemed to be. It continued with the NDP & now continues with UCP.
Read 13 tweets
Joe McFarland Profile picture
Aug 3, 2021
Looking back, 7 different people sat in #Alberta's highest office while I was in radio (Klein, Stelmach, Redford, Hancock, Prentice, Notley, Kenney). Interviewed all but one while they were in that office (Kenney, despite numerous attempts). Also interviewed numerous opposition.
I don't recall a time where a leader, a cabinet & a party had such contempt for anyone who wasn't an active cheerleader for them. I don't recall a time where asking tough questions of a leader or cabinet minster led to demonization of any member of media. #ABleg
I also don't recall a time where so many backroom people within government acted like children. Granted, never before has social media been used like it is. But can you imagine Rod Love taking to Twitter to troll Albertans who didn't agree with Ralph's decisions? #ABleg
Read 5 tweets
Joe McFarland Profile picture
May 27, 2021
Time for another patented #ABleg thread from yours truly. I went down a bit of a rabbit hole this morning, as it irritates me that @jkenney & @AdrianaLaGrange are painting people who aren't in favour of their proposed curriculum as "leftist activists." This isn't about politics.
This is about what my child will have to learn in a few years if this curriculum is implemented. As a parent, I have wanted to do my research because, at some point, I will be asked to help my child with their homework. So I went down a rabbit hole. #ABleg
If you head to the province's curriculum website, you can sort each subject by grade. Then each outcome is sorted by "knowledge", "understanding" & "skills & procedures." The latter is essentially what each child is expected to be able to do by the end of the year. #ABleg
Read 16 tweets
Joe McFarland Profile picture
Dec 29, 2020
Time for another one of my patented threads on #education in #Alberta. I couldn't let this one from @DavidStaplesYEG go unchecked. I know he tries to carry water for @jkenney but this one misses a lot of key points. Here we go... #ABleg edmontonjournal.com/opinion/column…
I don't know what it is but there seems to be a belief that if we could only slay the beast known as "discovery math", all will be good in the world. For anyone who has actually been in a classroom in the last decade, they know its more complex than that. #ABleg #education
Full disclosure (again because people tend to claim I have some sort of hidden agenda): my wife is a grade 3 teacher. I volunteer in her school fairly often. I've also covered education as a reporter & I'm a product of small town public schools. So I have observations & opinions.
Read 22 tweets
Joe McFarland Profile picture
Oct 26, 2020
Alrighty, my friends, time for another world-famous #JoeTwitterThread. I wanna give a little more background on this #ABleg curriculum review & rewrite. Firstly, yes my wife is a teacher. I volunteered in her classroom often & have seen all of the work her kids do. #Education
Secondly, I have a son who will be entering the system in a few short years. So yeah, I have pecuniary interests in how this all shakes down. Thirdly, I spent a lot of time reporting on #education issues in this province as a reporter & news director. And there's a fourthly...
And that is I have been involved in #education myself. A few years ago, I approached @JoyBowenEyre to get a pilot program going, aimed at teaching kids about game-day presentation, sports & public speaking. I ended up running it for 2 years before taking a break. #ABleg
Read 20 tweets

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