MARK-ALAN WHITTLE
Embrace change … make it work                                         CONTACT MARK
Professionals inspire students like teachers

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The Stoney Creek News
Re: More questions than answers in throne speech, May 21 SCN

So NDP candidate Jessica Brennan and militant union boss Jeff Moore consider allowing "uncertified" (read non-unionized) professionals into the classroom is an act of tokenism.

As a class "A" Licensed Mechanic, who made the Dean's List and Honour Roll at Mohawk College, on the wings of a grade 8 education, I take exception to Jessica Brennan's and Jeff Moore's amateur portrayal of my consummate mechanical skills, and I challenge Messengers Moore and Brennan to prove I lack the wherewithal to inspire a group of students who are willing to learn how to be talented automotive mechanics.

Perhaps they will take up this challenge and attend the mentoring class I'm planning to hold at a local Automotive classroom. Once the word got out at the school that a mentor would be arriving soon, a young man who recently quit school came to visit me at PartSource, where I work.

He told me that his Dad was a customer of the store and always spoke positively about the advice and guidance he received when buying car parts from Dave King's PartSource store to repair the family car.

Because of my commitment to the school, this young man said he would go back to school and finish his education because the automotive class was his best chance to succeed and have a good paying career that he enjoyed.

Inspiration and the will to succeed are just as important elements in learning and teaching as the amount of knowledge held. Many professionals like myself would love to be able to inspire students to achieve success, but are discouraged by the barriers put in place by usurious unions and their demands that I be certified by their organization, above all others.

Perhaps a professional career far removed from the cloistered and common denominator constraints proposed by NDP candidate Jessica Brennan and amply provided by Jeff Moore's militant labour union, is the refreshing change necessary for learning and inspiration to take flight in our classrooms.

I look forward to seeing Jeff and Jessica in class, right along side their peers, rolling up their sleeves with us, learning how to double flare brake lines and the proper way to torque down wheel nuts on a car. If they pass a test at the end of the class they will be awarded a PartSource cap like the rest of the successful students. No one will be allowed to fail, including Jeff and Jessica, who may have to stay late after class to get the hang of it.