Government is like a deadbeat spouse... a letter to the editor

So there was a 'Student Walk Out' last Wednesday and one of the student organizers said they were tired of being 'pawns' and being 'stuck in the middle of two divorcing parents' [Government and BCTF] 

This letter sums it up nicely....

Letter: Here’s one teacher who earned every dime

There has been a lot of recent talk about our teachers, government and job action. I'd like to take a moment and talk about Jane Powell. 

She was my drama teacher from eighth grade until I graduated (with a brief respite while I was in 11th grade) and she passed away on Oct. 1. 

Like most people, I had a difficult time in school. With hormones controlling my every move, bullies in the hallways, less than stellar home life and an intense need to be lippy, poor Ms. Powell had to deal with the results of that equation.

All I wanted to do was play around and when I found out how easy it was to make people laugh, I felt that I had found my calling, but Ms. Powell had different ideas.

Very early in my drama studies she was quick to tamp down my eagerness to be a jackass.

I have never been a person to blindly accept authority and Ms. Powell, like all of my other teachers, had to deal with it on a daily basis. She, like the others, never gave up on me. 

I don't know what she or any other of my teachers were paid to deal with the rag-tag group that we were in school, but given the crass behaviour she was exposed to daily, it probably wasn't enough.

This was before teachers had to deal with students text messaging in class etc. (our text messages were hand- written notes passed around the room!).

When the B.C. Liberals gave themselves a pay raise a few years back, there was talk that “we need to attract the best and brightest.”

The best and brightest people in the world are not grown in petri dishes. They are challenged and taught by a specific group of professionals who dedicate their lives to their work.

Teachers.

"They get weekends, stats and summers off” is a common argument I've heard.

According to the Parliament of Canada website, last year our MLAs had 46 sitting days in parliament? (I am not going to give them credit for work they do outside of Victoria until we give credit to the work teachers do outside of the school.)

“It shouldn't be about money, if they really love their jobs,” is another common argument I've heard.

The same could be said about people choosing to run for public office.

JOEY JACK

Kamloops

SOURCE

Letter of the Week: ‘I’m OK, Jack’ attitude to teachers is bad for our entire society

A long time ago I saw a large banner with the headline, “What we want for ourselves, we want for others.”

Those words froze me in a paralyzing cognitive dissonance.

No doubt, I wanted a lot for myself, but did I want the same for others? Categorically “no” was the answer that had me so tied up in my uncomfortable thoughts of greed and selfishness. Am I really a person that doesn’t want good things for others?

For me, this was a “coming to Jesus moment.” I soon realized that all my past griping about what others deserve or don’t deserve was carefully cloaked in my “screw you, I’m OK Jack” mentality. That attitude is built on fallacies like, “my dollar will go further if everyone else is broke.”

Studies show that we compare our incomes to our neighbours and not the millionaires who live in a gated community far from the struggling family of Joe and Jane Lunchbucket.

I’ve since matured and found good reasons to want my neighbours to do well but I didn’t have to change my selfish thinking! I realized that it serves my interests when my neighbours do well. When they are able to achieve the good life, I can expect less crime, more education (therefore I get better service where those kids are employed), that house values stay high due to my neighbours maintaining their property, more consumers with disposal income means a better economy so my children can be employed.

That said, when a millionaire hockey player does well, my benefits are few. I don’t live beside male millionaires who knock a rubber disc around with a piece of curved wood. However, a teacher is one of my neighbours. In addition to the reasons above, I benefit when teachers do well.

In reviewing what the teachers are asking for, I find that not only is it fair, but their interests are virtually identical to my interests as a parent — smaller class sizes, etc. It seems to me that this fight between our teacher-neighbours and Premier Christy Clark’s government is much bigger than my inconvenience in finding childcare during a strike. It is about our precious children getting a quality education, our neighbours having an opportunity for the good life and fairness for people who work hard.

I want the best, most talented people chasing education careers and so should you. If that means that millionaires have to pay slightly higher taxes, I’m OK with it.

Greg Engh, Mission

SOURCE

Letter from Colleague: I finally know for certain...

Great letter from a colleague of mine....

I finally know for certain what is most important to BCPSEA and this government when it comes to the education of students.

I am the first one to support extra curricular. I believe in these activities. I have participated in many both as a student and as a teacher.  They have been a source of joy and personal growth. However, I am saddened to hear that our government places more importance on them than on the education of students. According to the 2nd letter from BCPSEA, I can choose to run an extra curricular activity on school property when I am locked out but I can't do homework, mark, contact parents, plan lessons, work on IEPs or participate in Professional Development Activities on or off of school property.

I now see in black and white that it is more important for this government that teachers participate in activities which the public can view than to put in the five hours a night after school that many teachers do in order to prepare for the next day which is done in classrooms after school or at home between preparing meals, taking care of children,  tending to elderly parents, taking courses, volunteering in my community, trying to have some "me" time, staying physically and emotionally fit so that I can do my job etc...  let alone being a union activist.

I hope that parents and the public truly realize what this second lockout letter is saying about their child's education.  I put in long hours before and after the bell because I am dedicated to my students and the profession that I have loved for the past 34 years.

I realize that the government is using this as a tactic to divide teachers.  My suggestion... colleagues, join your hands tighter together and march on.  We deserve better and so do the students of British Columbia.

Charlene Hodgson

Teacher

Letter from BC Teacher to Christy Clark

Ok, Christy Clark, I’m going to need some help understanding this one.

Starting Monday, you will not let me help my students at recess and lunch? It is rare that a day goes by that I don’t have students in during that time who desperately need help. With all the cutbacks with student support and with no regard to my class composition and the needs of the students in my class, how will they learn if I can’t go over concepts with them during my break?

And if I do help them, I will be disciplined?

In fact, starting Monday, you insist that we all leave the school property at recess and lunch? Do you have any idea what happens in a school when that bell goes? You want the building to be free of teachers while hundreds of children are transitioning in the hallway? Have you considered the safety factor in that one? So I’m not allowed to use the washroom on my breaks? If I can’t leave my students during class, and I’m not allowed to be in the building during my breaks, are you suggesting that I must go the entire day without using the washroom?
Starting Monday, you’re also telling me that I am only allowed to work 45 minutes prior to the bell and 45 minutes after. I can’t take my work home, I can’t mark at home, I can’t do my report cards at home and I can’t prepare my lessons at home yet you still insist that I do all of these things? Does that mean you will be giving us money finally to buy resources so I don’t have to build all my units from scratch? For every hour in my class, I’m putting in an hour outside of it developing lessons, making resources, planning units and writing report cards. I have no idea how I am supposed to do all of that in 90 minutes a day outside of direct teaching time.

Perhaps you want me to do that while the students are in my class? I just can’t, Christy. I want them to learn.

Starting Monday, you will not let me help organize students into classes for next year? So if I know that a child is intimidated by another in my class, or does not work well with someone, I am not able to do anything about that? Have you been in a classroom? There’s a very fine art to separating children who simply are unable to get along, and yet another art to finding children to put together to build new friendships and find a sense of belonging. At my school alone, our teachers invested at least 15 hours last year fine tuning the classrooms, making sure we could make the best of our situation of kids with learning disabilities, with behaviour problems, with IEPs, with social difficulties. I know our school administrators are capable individuals, but they simply do not know how best to place my students, and are not aware of the specifics of the 11 students I have this year who have higher needs.

And, Christy, I’m absolutely crushed that you won’t let me go to my daughter’s grade 7 leaving ceremony at her school. I don’t even work at her school, but you refuse to let me on public school property. Funny thing is, the teacher that is spending countless hours organizing that ‘grad’ also has a child in that class, and she won’t be able to attend it either. I expect we will both be standing outside of school grounds trying to maintain composure. Right now, not that you care, I’m not maintaining composure. I didn’t very well in class today when I told my own grade 7s that I wasn’t allowed to attend their grade 7 leaving. They saw the tears in my eyes.

I know that you will tell me BC teachers started this strike business. We could argue about the logistics of that for quite some time. Do you realize that we chose rotating strikes so we could still volunteer our time on the other days of the week? We were still going on field trips, organizing grad ceremonies, doing extra-curricular, and giving whatever we could to the students in our schools. And now you won’t let us? I look forward to my year end activities with my students. I am not looking forward to telling them that you won’t let me take them.
Do I need a raise? Yes, I truly do. I believe I deserve the 18% you gave your administration, but I’d be happy with keeping up with the cost of living. 4 straight years of 0% is catching up with me. 2 more years of 0% just might break me. Everything is going up, and my paycheque is actually getting smaller. That just doesn’t seem right to me. I just don't understand why I don't deserve the cost of living.

Oh and as long as I’m trying to understand all of this, why is privatization so important to you?
You are starving education and healthcare. It seems your plan is to continue to do this so you can say to the public, “Look. The school system is not working! We need to do something different!” At that point, I expect you’ll push your two-tiered education system a little harder, and your next course of business will be a two-tiered health care system. That might work well for you and your well-paid staff, but not for the majority of us. What will most of us do in a two-tiered health care system? Do you just not care because it just does not affect you?

By the way, we DO need to do something different; we need you to start funding education again. I was thinking that in my children’s neighbourhood high school, if you funded just to the national average, they would have $1 000 000 more each year. My own children and I had fun mentally spending that for their school. It was kind of like going through the Sears Wishbook when we were kids, but, like the Wishbook, when someone else is holding the chequebook, it’s all just a dream.

By the way, why is your chequebook out for the private school system? I’m a little confused why you were able to increase funding for those schools but not public schools. Is that because your son attends a private school?

On your Facebook page, you recently said that you are “acknowledging historical wrongs,” but do you realize you’re creating one right now? And you’re right, we can’t undo the past. Take some time to do some research in what investing in our children now will do for our future. And look into what happens if we don’t. It will cost us all a great deal more in the generations to come. I also know you are aware that BC has the highest child poverty rate in Canada, and yet you still have no plan for those children either. All of this is so incomprehensible to me.

You broke the law. Twice. You’ve been told that your tactics with BC Teachers are unconstitutional. To me, that’s not much different than your predecessor who thought it okay to drink and drive and that saying sorry made it all better.

I have so many more questions, Christy, but I expect you’ve long stopped reading. Just on another note, I have to tell you that my 16 year old said to me today that he thought maybe people had to be hurt in some way to be able to really empathize with others. How profound. On that wisdom, I assume you’ve had a brilliant life, as you have no empathy for those you perceive to be below you. I wish all of our citizens of BC could have the same opportunity.

I have never been afraid of a politician before, Christy, but I am afraid of you. I love my province. I’m proud of my province. But I’m afraid there won’t be much left of it when you’re done.

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Letter+from+teacher+Christy+Clark+goes+viral/9876692/story.html#ixzz32rVzoVUS

Letter to the Editor - Column missed the issues

Column missed the issues

Coquitlam Now - Letter to the Editor
Brad Edginton
June 5, 2012

Re: My View - 'School Dispute is Hurting Students', Wednesday May 30


Jameel Aziz, the president of the B.C. Principals and Vice-Principals Association, attempts to weave a narrative that is not only in stark contrast to my experiences as a teacher this year, but also lacks any hint of vision for or perspective on public education.


Given that Aziz is in a position of educational leadership, this is profoundly disappointing.


Aziz's method of research appears to be an informal collating of a few subjective anecdotes and observations, acknowledging no specific sources. Although he admits his "illustrasources. Although he admits his "illu tions" are "not representative of all schools," he claims they are "examples of the real challenges that many schools, students and parents have faced this year."


I challenge the method and validity of his claims because they are so contrary to my experience.

Read more: http://www.thenownews.com/news/Column+missed+issues/6737168/story.html#ixzz1x3Bmr6Ul

Sexism Tinges Criticism of Teachers' Job Action

The Tyee.ca
Charles Bingham
May 25, 2012

I am highly supportive of the current teacher actions, but I must say that I cringe whenever a teacher strike, or teacher limited actions, are called.

Why do I cringe? Because I know that my social life will become unbearable for a few weeks or even a few months. It's about to be "let's talk about how I feel toward those striking teachers" time. When the neighbours get together for dinner or drinks, everyone (everyone!) has an opinion about those striking teachers.

I can't think of another single profession that resides so clearly under the magnifying glass of public opinion. Even when it comes to general elections, people are reserved about talking politics. You know, keep religion and politics off the table if you want to have a thoroughly enjoyable evening. Yet everybody has something to say about teachers, and especially in times like these. People say things like, "These teacher actions are not good for children," or, "The extra daycare costs are not fair to parents."

To view the rest of the article, click here.

Death of generosity

Death of generosity Vancouver Province - Letter to the Editor Ernie Gorrie May 23, 2012 In arguments at the B.C. Labour Relations Board, B.C. Public School Employers Association lawyer Delayne Sartison claimed that if a teacher agreed to a volunteer position after hours "it's part of their work." Employers may regret it if the LRB upholds that claim. Telethons, fundraising runs and other events generate goodwill for sponsoring businesses who rely on their employees volunteering. Imagine if employees believed that such volunteering would constitute "work," which they could not subsequently decline. The well of volunteers could quickly dry up. Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/business/Death+generosity/6664401/story.html#ixzz1viK3NKak

When did volunteering become mandatory?

Victoria Times Colonist - Letter to the Editor
Shannon Toronitz
May 11, 2011

First teachers are legislated to volunteer their time. Next, doctors will be mandated to lead support groups after their surgical shifts. Then police will be mandated to do extra investigations off duty. Soon it will be bus drivers mandated to do extra runs after their shift because they love driving so much.

What about our B.C. Liberal members voluntarily leading community meetings to enlighten our province about fair, democratic and responsible governance?

Or how about allowing Canadian citizens to choose how, where and when they want to volunteer their time irrespective of what job they do? Does that need to be legislated by the Liberals, too?

[Source]

Teachers work harder than in 'good old days'

Teachers work harder than in 'good old days'

Victoria Times Colonist
Joan Boyd
March 24, 2012

Some people complain that they are in classes of 40 or more at school, so why are the teachers today so concerned about class size?


I taught classes of 40 to 45 children in the 1950s. It was easy compared to today's setup. Children and teachers were much more regimented 60 years ago. Teachers basically taught only the three R's. Little preparation was involved, with government-supplied readers, and workbooks for reading, arithmetic and writing.


Children with any kind of disabilities were not allowed in the public school system. Physical punishment of many kinds, including the strap, was the norm (but not in my classes).

We rarely saw parents, usually only at infrequent PTA meetings. Trouble at school meant trouble at home for most children.

Scientific discoveries in medicine have saved many more children's lives, and in education we have much more information on how children function.

In talking about the good old days, we are inclined to remember the good and forget the realities. Today's teachers have valid concerns. They certainly work twice as hard as teachers 60 years ago.

Joan Boyd
Sidney



Source: Times Colonist

Shaping the future of education in B.C.
Vancouver Sun, Mon Jan 9 2012
Page: A8
Section: Letters
Byline: D.A. Harrison
Source: Vancouver Sun

I am a teacher. I am passionate about my profession and I am in it for the love, not for the money (though I would like to be fairly compensated for what I do). So why am I in job action? Because I am tired.

I am tired of a government that unilaterally stripped our contracts 10 years ago, was found guilty in the Supreme Court of B.C., yet continues to ignore that ruling.

I am tired of a government that creates a "law" to mandate class sizes, yet ignores that law and declares over-sized classes as "suitable for classroom learning."

I am tired of a government that downloads so many costs onto the school system that schools are reliant on charities (Adopt-a-School, etc.) to provide basic educational supplies, yet can find $600 million for a new roof on BC Place.

I am tired of having so many of my colleagues (special education assistants, clerical, etc.) and resources stripped from the system just to keep the classroom doors open, even as the class sizes get larger and larger.

Yet, each day, I go to school desiring to give my very best to my ever-growing classes.

I do it because I am passionate about helping each and every one of my 150 students become the very best they can be.

And I remember how things used to be and how they should be. That is why. Yet I am tired.

D.A. Harrison, Langley

Shaping the future of education in B.C.
Vancouver Sun, Mon Jan 9 2012
Page: A8
Section: Letters
Byline: Betty Flichel And Alison Peyman
Source: Vancouver Sun

A lot of parents and caregivers are frustrated about the local teacher's strike, but as always, the special needs children lose out more than the able youngsters because of funding and teacher's aid support cuts. When there is a strike, the children lose an opportunity for lessons in life skills and social interaction.

How are the teachers expected to cope with 30 children at once -including special needs children - without teacher's aids?

Three special needs children per class is the law, but often there are more than that. A lot of times, teachers are not trained to interact with special needs children.

We know that teachers are doing their best, but most parents expect a report on how the child is doing in their course work. We've read that the reports are likely to be more general, as they are done by the principals of the schools rather than by the teachers.

All children lose out when sports teams, band and choir are not avail-able during the strike and when classes are too large. We need to put the special needs assistants back to work so that as many as possible of B.C.'s special needs children can have success in school.

Betty Flichel and Alison Peyman, Vancouver

Shaping the future of education in B.C.
Vancouver Sun, Mon Jan 9 2012
Page: A8
Section: Letters
Byline: Patti Bacchus
Source: Vancouver Sun

Re: Keen students can benefit from 'selective' schools, Column, Jan. 2

I always enjoy retired School Superintendent Geoff Johnson's opinion pieces in The Sun, but it seems he didn't do his homework. His column implied there aren't "differentiated opportunities within B.C.'s public sys-tem" or even full-time International Baccalaureate Programs. Wrong!

I invite Mr. Johnson to visit the Vancouver school district to sample the rich array of "personalized" learning options. He could start with the VSB/UBC Transition program, which supports academic excellence while promoting social and emotional development of academically gifted adolescents who are committed to the goal of early entrance to university. Graduates of the two-year pro-gram achieve early entrance to UBC by writing the four provincial examinations required by the faculty of their choice.

Or perhaps he'd be interested in one of the Vancouver school board's 20 mini school programs that offer enriched and unique programming, or even Hamber secondary's accelerated/enriched humanities program or its new Challenge Academy. Contrary to Johnson's comments, there are even International Baccalaureate programs that are a school option versus after-school add-ons.

The VSB provides many more learning options that can be further explored at vsb.bc.ca/programs

Personalized, 21st century learning is well underway in Vancouver schools and there's no shortage of teaching expertise, innovation and excitement. The biggest challenge is securing the funding to sustain these valuable pro-grams. Many have additional costs and work best with small classes and are under persistent financial pressure and threat of program cuts.

Patti Bacchus Chairperson, Vancouver Board of Education

Shaping the future of education in B.C.
Vancouver Sun, Mon Jan 9 2012
Page: A8
Section: Letters
Byline: Frederick Rathje
Source: Vancouver Sun

Re: Group kids by ability not age at school, public says, Dec. 29

Janet Steffenhagen's article is an invitation to each of us to participate in the education change being considered by the B.C. ministry of education. Most helpful was the link to the government forum and the thoughtful commentary found there.

Interestingly, the site links to education resources in other provinces and countries, including Finland.

Our polar neighbour not only excels at our favourite sport, hockey, they also lead internationally in educational outcomes in the rankings by OECD PISA (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Program for International Stu-dent Assessment).

The recent publication, Finnish Les-sons, by Dr. Pasi Sahlberg, gives excel-lent insight into Finland's education transformation and the reasons for its success. I hope politicians and educators in B.C. are paying attention.

It's time we, as parents, get re-educated about what is sensible educational transformation so we create one we can afford to fund and one that serves students and teachers alike. The Finnish approach is one we cannot afford to ignore. If education were like the NHL, we would put Finnish educators on our transformation team!

Frederick Rathje, North Vancouver

Shaping the future of education in B.C.
Vancouver Sun, Mon Jan 9 2012
Page: A8
Section: Letters
Byline: Jim McMurtry
Source: Vancouver Sun

The provincial government is having a hard time cooking up an original educational plan because it knows that all the ingredients have been used before. The idea of grouping children by age was common in the past in one-room school buildings. I don't think teachers were thrilled with kids of all maturity levels in the same room, and I don't believe that older students felt very happy about being schooled with younger students.

The Clark government appears increasingly desperate to come up with a new educational plan called Personalized Learning, but every one of its tenets has been in place in schools since Maria Montessori ran the educational system in antebellum fascist Italy.

If the government wants technological change, it is already with us, for I remember desks with places for ink jars.

Schools are embracing computers and Internet projectors to make learning more enjoyable and relevant to each child. Nothing the Clark government is proposing is new.

Jim McMurtry, Surrey