So the teachers aren’t on strike. The picketers I saw were for the public employees sector in general. I don’t know who they were representing specifially.
But it reminded me of when I was in high school and the teachers were on strike. The time I’m thinking of in particular they were on a work-to-rule campaign. Very clever, really. A strike being declared illegal (education being a right, not a privilege) they chose instead to do nothing not expressly in their job description.
So many people get upset when teachers go on strike. Partly this is because it seems to happen a lot. We wish teachers would just shut the hell up and do their jobs. They get paid well, right? They work in a comfy union and they get more vacation time than any of us do. Right? A five-day, forty-hour work week. Weekends off and done by 3:30 every day, with two months off every year not counting spring break and Christmas. Right?
Well, this is what they chose to illustrate to us, the ignorant public.
At 3:30 or so they went home. No more basketball coaching and no tournaments. No more personal tutoring. No more marking essays overnight. No more field trips. No more choir and no more Christmas plays. Every year in my junior high the grade tens got to go on a hike to Mt Robson, something every kid in that school looked forward to as their reward for slugging it through. My grade ten class didn’t go.
And the public was angry.
With teachers doing their jobs, exactly as writ, the public somehow still felt justified in crying unfair.
“But we’re doing exactly what you pay us for.”
“That’s not enough! Go back to doing all the extra stuff too! We expect that of you!”
“Well, we’ll go back to doing all that extra stuff if you agree to letting me give your kid a higher quality eduction.”
“Sounds great! What do you need?”
“Smaller class size so I can give your kid the attention he deserves.”
“That makes total sense. My kid deserves the best education possible. What’s the problem?”
“Well, we’ll need you to pay another twenty bucks or so a year in taxes so we can build more schools and hire more teachers.”
“What? That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard! Screw you!”
“No, sir. Screw your kids.”
And so forth. It’s always the same story. The work load teachers are expected to put in amounts to way more time than they get paid for by contract. They take their jobs home with them every day. If there isn’t grading to be done it’s prep for the next day’s classes or coaching your kid’s volleyball team. They do this (ALL of this) on their own time. They do it because they love your kids. They spend more time with your kids than you do. They can see the simple fact that if you would just shell out a few bucks they could make sure your kid’s performance went up at least a letter grade, if not two. His entire future is brighter just because you made it possible for his teachers to spare a few minutes to help him when he needed it.
And yet when they go on strike demanding smaller classes and realistic wages you think they’re just the typical union whiners.
I’ll leave it up to you do do the math, but in a class of thirty-five students how much personal attention is your kid going to get?
But hey- it’s your twenty bucks.
as usual.. compelling. . well said, mischiff.
COMMENT:
Hmm, what can I say other than I agree BUT…
I don’t think you will find many parents unwilling to spend an extra twenty bucks a month let alone an extra twenty a year to give there kid an A-1 education.
The problem often lies within the coffers of ‘our’ government and ‘their’ budget. Money collected under an education tax for example does not always get spent on education. Take federal road tax for example. BC has received a third back what it has paid into federal road taxes.
Besides when does the union ever negotiate directly with the parents? Well I know, this is what the government is elected for, to represent us. We the public SHOULD be telling OUR government representatives what we want.
My problem has always laid not with paying taxes, but rather where those tax dollars go. If a parents extra $20 in taxes went to pay for school decisively and conclusively I wouldn’t be typing this right now.
I get upset when Moe Sihota collects $28,000 for Capital City Living Allowance. This is designed for out of town members of the legislature who are in town on business. Moe fucking LIVES here! We let our legislature, the one right down the road, eat, shoot, drink, and tan away a hospital or a school every year.
I agree with the teachers and I agree with what mischiff said, BUT strikes just piss me off. My problem is I rarely have the patience to read a picket sign when all I want to do is shove it up someone’s ass.
I could go on, but this isn’t my blog. You may return to djmischiff.com now. Thanks for the soapbox dj.
I’m not going to disagree with what you’re trying to say, Neil, but the fact remains that the population as a whole riots in the streets when a tax increase is proposed to boost education funding. I’m not here to debate why they bitch. I only point out that they do. Personally, if I had to spend fifty bucks to make sure twenty went directly into improving my kid’s education I don’t think I’d bitch & moan too much. Still a hell of a lot cheaper than dodgy private schools pushing their own agendas.
Dodgy private schools… hehehe.
You know, private schools (then called public schools) were created to take the power/control away from the dodgy church schools.
And surely one could argue that politicians work hard too (ok… it’d be more difficult, but I think there’s still a case for it). They get just about as much sympathy as everyone else does ie. no one cares till they screw up.
I think what it really comes down to is economics. Any way you look at it (ok, most ways you look at it), every facet of our existence could be improved with more money. The problem is that there isn’t enough money to go around.
Anyway, I do agree that education is important and teachers deserve more. I guess my point is that you can always find something to complain about…
(is it just me or are the cookies broken on here?)
Yes the cookies are broken but that doesn’t stop me from clicking the ‘yes’ button every time.
Dj you are entirely correct about the complaining people do about tax raises, and they are the same people that jump up and down when a school has to close or funding is pulled from an eating disorder clinic.
Same people that thought it was fine the NDP spend a $hougillion$ on things like ferries that didn’t work but got pissed off when the Liberals had to pay for it. I’m off topic.
Xentac: My point is there would be more money to go around if they didn’t waste it on stupid shit. People are worried about privitization, but all that means is we have to start running it like a business instead of reaching into our tax dollars whenever they screw up. Many exceptions to this rule of course.