The Spa of the City

It's a warm and sunny August afternoon. I sit in a cafe on Vancouver's Granville Street. The windows are wide open, allowing the breeze to freely wander the tables and chairs inside. I lazily nurse a strawberry ice cream fruchillo while pedestrians meander up and down the sidewalk in front of me. Smells from nearby restaurants waft by enticingly while hot dogs in hot rods vie for the attention of their prey. Pigeons and drifters compete for handouts, while the sun gleams powerfully off the condo towers overhead. I savour this moment.

The June crush of lesson planning, marking, meetings, and report cards feels like ancient history. The physical demands and mental fatigue of the school year are distant memories. My mind and spirit recharge daily, and my imagination flickers with fresh vision for the year ahead.

I am almost ready to return.

In Defense of Independent Education

Independent education in British Columbia has had a hard time of it recently. The move by a local Catholic school to suspend Lisa Reimer, a lesbian teacher who made her sexual preferences public, has complicated matters immensely. Hard core advocates of public-only education have taken the opportunity to pile on independent education, calling for a complete rollback of public funding.

Polls and surveys playing off of these calls have popped up in various media outlets. Typically, the questions sound something like this: "Should taxpayer money be used to fund private schools?"

At first glance, the question seems reasonable. The query may even agitate casual observers who may have not otherwise given the matter any serious thought. Independent schools are wealthy enough, one might think. Why should they receive additional funds? Isn't that a drain on the public system?

In order to answer these questions, it is crucial to unwrap the subtle misconceptions loaded into the initial question: "Should taxpayer money be used to fund private schools?" I believe the following essential understandings about this issue not only clarify - but greatly strengthen - the case of independent schools.

1. Parents of students attending independent schools usually pay double the amount paid by their public school counterparts. It's important to note that independent school parents pay their property and provincial taxes, just like their neighbours. These tax streams form the basis of revenue for all public schools in the K-12 system. Independent school parents don't receive a benefit from one cent of these tax contributions directly, however, since their children don't attend local community schools. Instead, these parents make the sacrifice to pay additional tuition (in effect, they pay taxes twice or thrice) in order for their child to receive a different sort of education (often faith-based).
2. Independent schools save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars in capital costs. The taxpayer dollars spent on each public school student must cover all capital expenses (buildings, facilities, and bus costs). By comparison, independent schools are an absolute bargain. Taxpayers contribute absolutely no separate funding for private school capital expenses of any sort; building campaigns and the like must be supported entirely from the private sector - often the same parent community that is already paying high tuition.
3. Independent schools only receive a portion of the per-student provincial funds made available to their public school counterparts. We've just established that independent schools receive no separate capital funds toward buildings or buses, but the disparity becomes even more apparent when one compares the ratio of funding per student. Most independent schools receive 50% of the per-student grant received by public schools; the more affluent independent schools only receeive 35%. Once again, this is not "extra" taxpayer money going toward a private system; instead, each independent school student represents a significant savings for the province.
4. In no way do independent schools siphon money from the public system. If it hasn't been made sufficiently obvious already, it's important to make this final statement. Independent schools do not threaten the public system in any way. Remember, parents of independent school students pay taxes just like any other citizen. Technically speaking, a portion of their tax dollars goes not only toward the education of their own child ... but also their neighbour's child; tuition payments are then paid in addition.

Parents of independent school students make enormous financial sacrifices. The result is a healthy, efficient, hybrid education system. It's one that penalizes no one, protects the public system, and allows all parents the freedome of choice in education. I'm thankful that we live in a society where such freedoms still exist.

Champion of the Poor

In verses 9 and 18 of Psalm 9, David reaffirms God's heart for the poor and disenfranchised: "The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble ... But the needy will not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish."

In today's all-school chapel, a Major from the Salvation Army shared with us some of the overwhelming needs in Vancouver and across Canada. He reminded the kids that Christ rarely (if ever) judged the poor; that He was all about addressing their physical needs first, meeting them where they were.

It's a challenge to me, because quite frankly I'm usually low on the compassion meter when it comes to Vancouver's poor.

The Demise of the Factory Outlet

The new school year is approaching, and with it come certain annual expectations of fashion. Namely, students and teachers are expected to appear on the first days and weeks of school in the finest collections of apparel that they possess. The idea is to send a message of sorts; you are the real deal, you mean business, you will succeed ... reinforced because you dress for success.

These expectations are embraced and honoured with delight by the vast majority of those who frequent school halls, with few exceptions.

I, for better or for worse, consider myself an exception. Not that I dislike a sharp new shirt, or a spanky new pair of shoes; I simply regard the ordeal of The Shopping Trip to be mildly torturous - sometimes severely so.

So it was with some relief that I looked forward to my visit to Washington state's factory outlets, which spread northward from Seattle to Everett to Bellingham, with the odd Wal-Mart or Fred Meyers thrown into the mix for good measure. Surely, I thought, the factory outlets - most famously, the ones located at Tulalip - will greet me with quality merchandise and insanely low prices. I'll be able to find absolutely everything needed for the school year in one fell swoop, and The Shopping Trip will quickly fade into the oblivion of past memory.

I wasn't so lucky.

Together, my wife and I stopped at several factory outlets, most of them grouped in complexes of so-called big box stores. Seldom, if ever, were we greeted with low prices. Instead, we braved crowds of grumpy families and teeny boppers to explore all the well-known brand names: Old Navy, Banana Republic, Ambercrombie & Fitch, The Gap, etc. Failing at the well-known, we tried the low-profile stores. No luck there either.

You know you're in trouble when the prices on apparel look even higher than they would in Canada. And that's before the exchange.

That's when I realized it. 'Factory outlets' no longer exist. They've simply become extinct.

A little web research confirmed what I thought 'factory outlets' were supposed to be:

1. "A manufacturer-owned store selling that firm's closeouts, discontinued merchandise, irregulars, and canceled orders."

2. "A shopping center with factory outlets or close-out outlets selling discounted merchandise. Often located along the main freeway outside of a major metropolitan."

3. "Shops, often outside town centres, selling ‘seconds’ and end of line goods at discounted prices."

All of the definitions listed above rang familiar. At least, they jive with my vague (former) notions of factory outlets. Yet as I compare these definitions with my occasional run-ins with factory outlets over the last few years, it's easy to see the incongruity.

Here's the reality. Factory outlets were, I'm sure at one time, an efficient way for major brands to dump their 'end-of-line' and 'irregular' merchandise. Factories and retail outlets would ship off their ugly ducklings in bulk, thus dealing with embarrassing merchandise in a somewhat profitable way. The savvy bargain hunter would snatch these goods up, willing to buy a pair of shoe two sizes too big in exchange for steep discounts, etc. Call it a win-win situation.

It's my suspicion that over time, the major retailers started to notice the high traffic, attention, and (most importantly) dollars that these factory outlets were attracting. Perhaps subtly at first, and in small amounts, they began stocking high-end merchandise. The less savvy shoppers snapped up these items, encouraging the big brands to up the portion of high-end stock. Not to be outdone, their competitors did the same.

This spiral continued and continued until you have what we have today: 'factory outlets' that are really nothing of the kind. These stores are no more connected to their parent factories than mall retailers. Tulalip, by the way, is really just that: a large outdoor mall.

So it was with some sadness and irritation that I drove out of Washington. After half a dozen stops, I hadn't bought a thing. I felt humiliated and disappointed, like a high school senior stood up on prom night. I had high hopes for the factory outlets, and they hadn't delivered.

The bad taste is still in my mouth, but I feel enlightened. Factory outlets are simply a myth, and I won't be back.

Really Living

1 Thessalonians 3:8 (New International Version)
"For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord."

I can't say for sure whether or not I've read this verse before ... but on Saturday, it really made an impression. These simple but profound words of Paul challenge me for the following reasons:

1. They reveal Paul's disregard for the pleasures of this world.
2. They reveal Paul's heart for other believers.
3. They reveal Paul's passion for the kingdom of God.

Two weeks ago, I joined my students in a poetry assignment. The task was to select a phrase that begins with the word 'I,' and then finish that phrase at least twenty different ways. I chose the phrase 'I feel alive when."

In light of Paul's words in the verse above, I'd like to critically revisit my work.

What are my highest priorities?
What am I passionate about?

Most importantly, do I feel "truly alive" when believers in my care are "standing firm in the Lord?"

Obama in Cairo

I was greatly encouraged to hear President Obama firmly oppose Israel’s reckless settlement expansion program. As settlement buildings, infrastructure, and residents continue to carve up the West Bank into an unintelligible patchwork of regions and municipalities, the prospects for peace in the region grow bleaker and bleaker. Any talk of a ‘two-state solution’ to the conflict – an eventual outcome rightly supported by the President – will require the allotment of sovereign territory to the Palestinians. Logically speaking, such a territory would include the West Bank, with Ramallah as its capital. The Israeli settlements, however, make such a realization well near impossible.

Counting Crows

We got a kick out of these crows this afternoon. Sha was impressed by how they all seemed to line up in order. The two on the outside seem to be listening to the one in the middle. Fun times in Horseshoe Bay!