The Alberta Branded shop in the Federal Building. File photo.
Re. “UCP branding Alberta as place devoid of art,” Opinion, Jan. 31
Personally, I love art and the arts, but I also think those things should be up to a person to provide for themselves. I would much rather see funding go to health care and infrastructure for essentials than to the “optional” things like the arts.
Arts are fabulous, (my dad is a reasonably well-known Alberta artist) but right now, I don’t know if we can afford to support them. Dad takes care of himself and so can the other artists.
Paulette Halitsky, Vegreville
Simple solution for bench fees
Re. “City reverses 2016 decision on $2.5K bench upkeep fees,” Feb. 1
After encountering objections to introduction of a new 10-year renewal fee for commemorative city benches, city bureaucrats decided to forego the fee for some existing benches.
But the 10-year fees will be maintained for benches purchased since 2016. I assume some donors may feel that they might not still be around for every 10-year anniversary and would nevertheless like to have the bench maintained in perpetuity.
This could be handled very simply if the benches are covered by an endowment with the original amount contributed by the donor determining the maintenance period for the bench, including the option of having the bench in place in perpetuity.
The city may know a high school graduate with Math 30 who could do the sum for them.
James Muldowney, Edmonton
Key component missing in education
Comments regarding Alberta’s education curriculum are both encouraging and concerning.
It is encouraging that literacy and numeracy, properly taught, are to be major focuses. Logically, history, geopolitics, economics, and the fine and practical arts will also be included.
What is concerning is the absence of a recognition that education is about the human person. The curriculum must be based on a philosophical consideration of: what constitutes an “authentic education” and the unique nature of those who are to be engaged by it — the students.
The truly educated person will have a world view that recognizes the dignity and worth of every individual including, in a particular way, themselves, their responsibility to the common good, and their responsibility to the world (environment) itself.
Given the pervasive sense of a coming dystopia, it is essential that the curriculum have the human person as the central focus. When our children are 28 or 38 or 48, we will be much more concerned about the quality of their relationships and sense of personal worth then we will be about their knowledge of the binomial theorem or periodic table.
John Acheson, Edmonton
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