Saturday, March 3, 2012

BC Teachers And Students UNITE!

Next week British Columbia's teachers will be walking off the job for a 3 day strike because they won't be getting the 15% wage increase they are demanding. In what has been heralded by local media as a show of solidarity, a few hundred BC students walked out of class on Friday. While listening to certain journalists making a big deal out of this, I couldn't help but laugh. How many students wanted to show "solidarity" with their teachers, and how many wanted to leave school early on a Friday afternoon (and/or get their face on the evening news)? Public opinion is solidly against the teachers salary demands, and yet, here we go again with a work stoppage. I recall being in high school when Ontario's teachers walked off the job; and 97% of us were excited to get an unexpected holiday. The students who showed "solidarity" were a minuscule minority, often the sons and daughters of teachers.

The Premier should bump March break up a week, one of the teachers many paid vacations, so that it coincides with the work stoppage. Won't happen, but it's an idea.

5 comments:

  1. yeah I wish the students would not fall for the teachers trap. funny how the teachers are the only ones that don't ever get contract settle ments. after arbratrations since 1995. all the other unions were solved and had contracts. but noooo not the teachers. sounds to me they want more money. I wish I made 40,000 dollars a year after my first couple of years of teaching.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I had a lot of great teachers in the BC school system growing up, and my dad was a teacher. That said, as a group they're completely out to lunch.

    A teacher at my father's former school regularly fell asleep in front of the class at her desk. Despite complaints, nothing could be done, and the school feared a lawsuit if they disciplined her.

    Another teacher regularly drank at school. Again, nothing could be done. I've heard first-hand stories about teachers stealing funds from the school, showing up late, engaging with inappropriate (though not sexual) relationships with kids, not teaching the curriculum, etc, etc. One of the teachers at my father's school showed up for photo day (and, presumably work) wearing a t-shirt that said *fcuk* on it. He hadn't shaved in a week, and looked like someone you'd avoid in a dark parking lot. The janitor, bless him, wore a pressed shirt.

    One of my teachers in highschool in the 90's confessed to me that "my classes go to sh*t during basketball season...I'm not here to teach...I'm here to coach basketball." For 70,000 a year.

    Another teacher I know that is nearing retirement age got a note from her doctor saying she is 'stressed' and so qualifies for medical leave. "Those bastards are going to pay me out for every sick day I've got" she recently announced. She golfs every day she can, so severe is her medical condition.

    I spoke to a principal that works in the largest school district in the Province, and he told me that the average (the AVERAGE!) teacher in Surrey takes 11 paid sick days a year. The school year is less than 200 days. Do the math. He also told me that if they could get sick days down to just 9 per year they wouldn't have to cut a single program.

    Here's a fun game: ask any waitress what they think about teachers.

    If Christy Clark fired every teacher in the Province tomorrow they could be replaced in 18 months. That's just the reality. As a group, they're not in possession of a particularly rare set of qualifications.

    Despite my ranting, there are a lot of good teachers out there, but there needs to be drastic, fundamental change in our education system. Merit pay schemes won't ever work, and are too easy to abuse. I had professors at university that everyone loved because they handed out B+ no matter what you turned in, while the real scholars that made you bust your ass were loathed.

    I'd love to see teachers, and all other civil servants have their salaries tied to the provincial economy, like the rest of us do. Come up with a formula. Economy's roaring? You get a raise. In the tank, you get a cut. Boy would you see fundamental changes in education happen then.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Someone should let the students know that they will be paying for these wage increased in years to come -- worse, the whole thing significantly ups pension costs. This is how cities/provinces/states go bankrupt.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Tired, so very tired of this nonsense. The Liberals will cave, give them a raise by another name (everybody gets a bump in grade or some such)and teachers union wins.
    I saw a stat, something like 96% of education money goes to salaries. No wonder teachers complain about schools run down, lack of equipment etc.
    My kids go to private school so they do not have to listen to all the lefty dreck being regurgitated by the union stooges. Also, no striking.

    ReplyDelete
  5. BCTF Naaaa how bout' BCWTF
    Cheers Bubba

    ReplyDelete