In The Duel, 24 hours columnists David Eby and Kathryn Marshall battle over the issues of the day. Who's the winner this week? Fire us an email at van24feedback@sunmedia.ca. 150 words or less please.

THIS WEEK'S TOPIC - Are changes to the K-12 curriculum proposed by the Ministry of Education in fact necessary?

The B.C. Ministry of Education has big plans to make changes to the K-12 curriculum.

Recently, they announced they want the educational program to put more emphasis on ideas and concepts, and less on facts.

I'm not kidding - they want students in B.C. to learn fewer facts.

Education has always been subject to fads. In the 1970s, there were open classrooms where several teachers taught up to 200 students at once in one enormous room.

Here in B.C. in the 1990s, we had the "Year 2000" program that promised every student would learn at his or her own pace in each subject and essentially blow up the grade structure.

Now, we have a curriculum plan that promises fewer facts and learning objectives.

Read David Eby's column.

Why is it that reforms in education are often about moving away from core skills and structures that have worked for decades?

Education fads and change for the sake of change hurts kids.

Of course, the BC Liberal government has consulted with all sorts of education "experts" and insiders about this proposed change, but they managed not to get any input from teachers or regular parents.

It is always up to parents to stand up to the latest fad in education.

I find it very hard to believe that any parent would have actually told the Ministry of Education, "You know, I think my child is learning too many facts."

Taking the emphasis off factual content is a mistake. Imagine a social studies class where no one learns the essential facts about Canada's history - without knowledge of our history, creating a shared Canadian identity is much harder.

The biggest downside of fewer facts and learning objectives is the impact on testing. One of the great strengths of our high school system is standardized provincial exams. This allows all students across the province to be compared in a meaningful, measurable way.

With less focus on teaching facts, there will be less that can be examined, evaluations will become more subjective and students will suffer.

These kinds of "reforms" are likely one of the reasons that private school enrolment has been on the rise in B.C. Already 11% of students in B.C. are in independent schools. Moving away from facts will push more parents to choose independent schools that may offer a more rigorous, consistent curriculum for their children.

I hope the government ditches this frivolous plan and chooses consistent, fact-based education for all of B.C.'s public school students.

Read David Eby's column.