What the Fraser Institute doesn't see

The CBC National News featured Roosevelt School tonight, part of a series of special features they've been running called Seven. Hosted by Mark Kelley, the episode tonight focused in on the situation at the school that the Fraser Institute has described as the worst in BC.

Kelley sat in for a week in the Grade Five class at Roosevelt to see what they dynamics are at an inner city school with some serious needs. It makes for some riveting television, as the kids struggle to learn and the staff of the school try to address their needs and try to keep them on the path of possibilities.

From the principal, to the teachers and aides of the school, the daily challenge of motivating the kids is highlighted, while the socio ecnomic factors of the families seems to work at cross purposes to the goals they have for their students.

Its perhaps something that the Fraser Institute might light to look at, it makes for a wonderful primer for life in the real world, a place that the bean counters and assessors of the Fraser Institute sometimes seem to forget exists.

It airs tonight at around 10:25 or so on the National with Peter Mansbridge. It's a gripping thirty minute mini documentary, which leaves us with a lot of questions about how we are letting kids fall through the cracks of society. It will make you mad, hopeful that things will change and thankful that there are teachers that stay dedicated to the task at hand, as daunting as it must seem at times.

If you miss it tonight, the program will be available on line for the next twenty four hours or so at the cbc.ca site, (at the moment they're still showing the newscast from last night, an update is expected shortly to tonight's show) hopefully some enterprising computer genius will load it up on You Tube for us so we (and maybe even the Fraser Institute) can look at it from time to time.