EDITORIAL: Bring Back the Honours Program

Jessica Kim

ABC Vancouver and its new trustees: Alfred Chien, Preeti Faridkot, Victoria Jung, Christopher Richardson, and Josh Zhang must stay true to one of their only campaign promises, and return honours programs to Vancouver schools.

The ABC Vancouver party now has a majority on the Vancouver School Board. In a campaign promise made in a Sept. 13 press release, ABC candidates pledged to reinstate the previously scrapped honours program into Vancouver schools.

At the time of their demise, the only remaining honours programs in the district were the math and science honours programs at Eric Hamber and Magee.

In a statement made to CBC News, the VSB cited ‘inclusive education’ as their justification for the removal of honours programs.

“By phasing out these courses, all students will have access to an inclusive model of education, and all students will be able to participate in the curriculum fulsomely,” the statement read.

The VSB did not provide CBC News with any supporting evidence towards the correlation or causation between accelerated classes and educational inequity.

In the previously mentioned statement, the VSB referenced AP or advanced placement courses as an alternative for students seeking more challenging coursework.

AP classes are courses created and regulated by the American College Board, who on their website, describe the program: “AP gives students the chance to tackle college-level work while they’re still in high school—whether they’re learning online or in the classroom. And through taking AP Exams, students can earn college credit and placement.”

However, in the past, AP classes have been in the natural line of succession for honours students, and many classes either highly recommended or required a prerequisite in the equivalent honours class.

For example, AP Chemistry 12 continues on from Chemistry 11 Enriched, a class a part of the honours program at Hamber. And in order to complete AP Physics C, students must have completed AP Physics 1 or Physics 12, which requires acceleration beyond the general science stream.

It is obvious that with six new trustees, five of which are a part of the ABC majority, the VSB’s educational philosophy may now shift.

“Our children are all different. We should be pursuing policies that promote more individuality, not less,” Josh Zhang, a then-candidate for ABC Vancouver, stated in the Sept. 13 press release. “Restoring honours programs will help the VSB provide world-class education.” If the new board is sincere in their pursuit of individuality in education, the return of honours programs should be expected and de- manded.

Although in a CBC article, honours programs were described as ‘streaming’ by Treena Goolieff, the former president of the Vancouver Secondary Teachers’ Association, honours programs resemble the concept of ‘setting’ more.

As explained by Evidence for Learning, an online teaching and learning tool- kit, streaming is an education concept of grouping students of similar abilities into a distinct cohort for all or most of their classes. Whereas setting describes grouping students into classes based on their ability in that particular subject.

Streaming may have a bad reputation of extenuating inequity, however, students are not being streamed in the honours system, they’re being set in specific classes based on interest and ability.

According to the Gifted Children’s Association of BC (GCABC), a local non-profit advocacy group, honours programs are one of the few ways that gifted students can find a beneficial academic environment that suits their distinct needs. In their official response to the VSB’s announcement that they would phase out honours programs and in the resulting article in The Globe and Mail, they stated, “They often struggle for years in the public school system before their parents find an educational model that works for their child.”

“Honours and Advanced Placement classes (AP classes) are not created especially for gifted students but are often the only high school alternative for meeting the social and cognitive needs of Gifted students.” The GCABC wholeheartedly rejected the view put forward by UBC Professor Dr. Jennifer Katz in the Globe article that the idea that gifted children struggle in regular classes is a “part of racism and systemic racism.”

In a July 2, 2022 Globe editorial they state, “More importantly, cutting off opportunities for some students doesn’t mean there is greater equity for the broad- er group.” The editorial concludes with, “Equity and excellence can co-exist.”

ABC Vancouver may understand this, however, they may not understand the difficulties in the practicality of their plan.

A former long-time Vision trustee, Allan Wong, told the Globe in an Oct. 8 article, that ending honours isn’t a board decision, but an administrative one.

However, the chair of the District Parent Advisory Council, Vic Khanna, told the Globe he wished ABC Vancouver outlined their action plan for reinstating the honours program, a program DPAC supports.

“Any school-based program is an operational matter. ... So a strong answer would be ‘We will take back control of honours programs and make it a district policy’. Then you know something’s going to happen.” Khanna said in an interview.

When the honours programs were newly cancelled, a delegation of Hamber students attended a school board meeting. During the June 14, 2021 meeting, trustees at the time appeared to be uninformed of the issue.

The Editorial Board calls on the new Vancouver Board of Education to reinstate honours programs in the district.