Vivien Lee is running for Richmond school trustee as an independent candidate and says the curriculum should emphasize reading and math.
The Story
Vivien Lee is a candidate for school trustee in Richmond, running as an independent.
Lee listed her home neighbourhood as Ironwood, her profession as IT, and said her favourite activities include piano, swimming and badminton.
In her questionnaire responses, Lee said she is running because, as a mother of three children spanning elementary to high school, she has experience navigating the K-12 education system. She said her background includes growing up in Hong Kong and coming to Canada for high school studies, as well as spending 10 years raising her children in the United States.
Lee said she wants to bring the Richmond school district to what she described as a next level focused on academics, competition and internal motivation. She said she believes an education system can motivate students to work hard and that measurable results help students “do better.”
On specific yes/no questions, Lee said schools should teach more basics such as reading and math, describing recent research by the Fraser Institute as showing B.C. students are performing one grade lower than a decade ago and two to three years behind global math standards.
Lee also said the curriculum should not focus more on social issues, arguing that schools should focus on academics first and that “social issues” should not be confused with social studies. She said she supports social studies instruction that includes Canadian history, geography and the government system.
For other questions, Lee said elementary track meets should be more inclusive but should keep a competition component. She also said high school students should be taught drug awareness.
Lee said cellphone use should be banned in Richmond schools.
On SOGI policies in Richmond schools, Lee said she does not support them.
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