BC teacher strike

[stawns]

I failed math because my math teacher in grade 11 was lazy. Although, he sure seemed to help his favourites which were mostly girls... I was sick for a week and came back the following week and he was handing back a test. I got up and went up to him and told I hadn't written it and he asked why not? I told him I was sick and he goes 'Did you give me a note?' I said 'no but I can get one' and he goes 'too late for that, now go sit down.' It was the first day back from being sick, how was I suppose to get him a note? On top of that he refused to help me. I wish I'd given him a big frack you and walked out. A couple classes later I stopped going, I was already failing and couldn't afford a tutor.

[inane]

I failed math because my math teacher in grade 11 was lazy. Although, he sure seemed to help his favourites which were mostly girls... I was sick for a week and came back the following week and he was handing back a test. I got up and went up to him and told I hadn't written it and he asked why not? I told him I was sick and he goes 'Did you give me a note?' I said 'no but I can get one' and he goes 'too late for that, now go sit down.' It was the first day back from being sick, how was I suppose to get him a note? On top of that he refused to help me. I wish I'd given him a big frack you and walked out. A couple classes later I stopped going, I was already failing and couldn't afford a tutor.

[Weber's Playoff Beard]

I failed math because my math teacher in grade 11 was lazy. Although, he sure seemed to help his favourites which were mostly girls... I was sick for a week and came back the following week and he was handing back a test. I got up and went up to him and told I hadn't written it and he asked why not? I told him I was sick and he goes 'Did you give me a note?' I said 'no but I can get one' and he goes 'too late for that, now go sit down.' It was the first day back from being sick, how was I suppose to get him a note? On top of that he refused to help me. I wish I'd given him a big frack you and walked out. A couple classes later I stopped going, I was already failing and couldn't afford a tutor.

[CanucksBen]

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT 5 day weekend boys!

[KoreanHockeyFan]

My teacher in grade 6 was probably one of the best. At the time I freaking hated his guts, it felt like he always picked on me and he was a damn hard marker. You'd be getting 6/10s if you did all your homework, 10/10s were only for people who did more or extra. Even in P.E, when it came down to playing dodgeball, if you weren't running around hard enough, or if you didn't get enough people out, he'd dock marks off. "Just doing it" didn't cut it. That was the main lesson I got from him. Looking back now, this guy was the guy who got me working hard as that's when I started to take school seriously. He was the one who provided me with my first big reality check.

Along with my parents always pushing me to be my best, I'm now in my first year at UBC. One of the greatest universities in the country.

Bottom line, teachers are an ESSENTIAL part of a kid's life. Yeah some suck, but most of them are pretty damn good. If you're complaining about one, chances are, you're doing something wrong and you've got something to learn. They don't go through 6 years of education for nothing. I don't know where people come up with this notion of getting any sort of bachelors degree "easy" (let alone, an additional 2 years for teachers). Just because more and more people are getting them doesn't mean its getting easier. If you've made it to university and you've survived through 4 years at the least, you've got something to be proud about. From Pre-School to your final years of post-secondary, you've learned so many things from how to make crafts, make friends, talk to other people, to how to solve a physics problem or how to write a damn good essay. And who's been supervising this learning all this time? Teachers.

[Tru_Knyte]

My teacher in grade 6 was probably one of the best. At the time I freaking hated his guts, it felt like he always picked on me and he was a damn hard marker. You'd be getting 6/10s if you did all your homework, 10/10s were only for people who did more or extra. Even in P.E, when it came down to playing dodgeball, if you weren't running around hard enough, or if you didn't get enough people out, he'd dock marks off. "Just doing it" didn't cut it. That was the main lesson I got from him. Looking back now, this guy was the guy who got me working hard as that's when I started to take school seriously. He was the one who provided me with my first big reality check.

Along with my parents always pushing me to be my best, I'm now in my first year at UBC. One of the greatest universities in the country.

Bottom line, teachers are an ESSENTIAL part of a kid's life. Yeah some suck, but most of them are pretty damn good. If you're complaining about one, chances are, you're doing something wrong and you've got something to learn. They don't go through 6 years of education for nothing. I don't know where people come up with this notion of getting any sort of bachelors degree "easy" (let alone, an additional 2 years for teachers). Just because more and more people are getting them doesn't mean its getting easier. If you've made it to university and you've survived through 4 years at the least, you've got something to be proud about. From Pre-School to your final years of post-secondary, you've learned so many things from how to make crafts, make friends, talk to other people, to how to solve a physics problem or how to write a damn good essay. And who's been supervising this learning all this time? Teachers.

[canucksgirl1234]

I was unaware of the bell to bell schedule today since my English teacher told me to hand in stuff and go over my essay the day before

(worth 20% and due immediately after the strike). When I went in she completely shut me down by telling me it was her break time and her next convenient day to speak to her would be next week. On the contrary, another teacher was checking homework during break and had no problem speaking with me.

I'm not sure what kind of point i'm trying to raise here but I felt like my English teacher could've given me an explanation instead of speaking to me rudely since English 12 is a crucial course.. Everybody has bad days but a lot of teachers seem to take it out on their students. I'd rather have a consistently mean teacher than one that is bipolar in behaviour because at least the one who is consistently mean is more predictable.

[DOOM]

So I just got finished putting my 6 y/o to bed, and asked him if he was aware that there was no school mon-wed next week. He proceeded to fill me in on a talk his teacher had with his class today. From what he told me, the teachers need to fight the government because they want to take away some teachers jobs so they can put 40 kids in each class. The scenerio that she gave the class is that it's like the government want to fire the other grade one teacher and put all of the grade ones from both classes in the same class. I can tell from the way he told me, and the type of details he included in his explanation, that he is telling me the truth. He isn't creative enough yet to have made it up.

I can't wait until next Friday when I get a chance to take him to and pick him up from school. I am really looking forward to asking her why she feels the need to fill my childs head with such nonsense. I was planning on letting it slide and not really explaining any of what is going on to him as at 6, he is much to young to understand all of what is going on. She seemed to forget to mention the 15% wage increase that the BCTF is demanding.

You would think that a seasoned Grade 1 teacher would know that this is way over the heads of her students. My son sounded very concerned about what he was told today. Where does this lady get off telling her students this stuff, and expecting that I won't set him straight about it? I may be a little hot over it now, but unless my wife manages to talk me out of it, this seems worthy of confronting her at my next opportunity.

[Stick-in-Rink]

When I walked out at 2 p.m. at school, basically the whole school left. I was impressed at first, but then I realized 99% of the people were indeed just going home or to the mall. A couple of my friends and I had signs and we were in front of the school (not on school property) protesting until it really died down, so we went to the Art Gallery. It was a really good turn out and it felt really liberating seeing everyone there and marching down to the Liberal's Office and protesting outside there too. I was pretty shocked at the turnout, as I didn't really think people my age would really bother showing up. But the protest went really well and it was peaceful and went through in a mature way.

I don't know how this will affect the passing of Bill 22 anyways, but it was really nice for our voices to be heard and in a way, it was the teacher's voices too. With Bill 22, it basically takes away essential rights from teachers. So if they can't protest, we will have to.

[Dwayne The Rock Johnson]

The Rock saw some kids "protesting" after they walked out of school. Sounds like these jabronis were just looking for an excuse to skip class. They can take those signs, shine them up real nice, turn them sideways....and you know the rest.

[Satan's Evil Twin]

I love novelty accounts! I hope you live up to the other greats, like TheDuke and Ukrainian Canuck.

[DOOM]

You're supposed to get a note.. it's something the teacher outlines at the beginning of the year. You were already in high school for 4 years, to not know this, is unlikely. Take responsibility man.

That's just an excuse. I have never in all my education have ever had a tutor and I'm in university.

[Stick-in-Rink]

The Rock saw some kids "protesting" after they walked out of school. Sounds like these jabronis were just looking for an excuse to skip class. They can take those signs, shine them up real nice, turn them sideways....and you know the rest.

[Dwayne The Rock Johnson]

Well yeah, most students in my school did just leave at 2 p.m.

[JoeyJoeJoeJr. Shabadoo]

Good for you. I got a B in honors math 11, and was failing honors math 12 nearly 3/4 through the first semester before I dropped the class. My teacher, Ms.West (not surprised she wasn't married) didn't care that I didn't understand why and how. I was just told to do it. I asked her to explain it to me, as I always had an aptitude for math, but was the type of student that needed to fully understand why I was doing something, not just that "this is what you do when you see this".

Instead of failing, I saw the counsellor and opted to peer-tutor another class in that block (with an ok from my parents). She really sucked at her job, and was merely going through the motions.

I've been out of school going on 15 years, once allot of you kids on here have an opportunity to experience the reall world outside of school you will see for yourselves. Teachers have a knack for getting their students to believe how important they are etc etc. I remember my parents rolling their eyes when I would come home spewing regurgitated self-praise my teachers had fed me. Then I grew up and realized that the bulk of these people I idolized or looked up to were just regular people who have never been exposed to the real world.

Kindergarden->Elementary->High School->College/University->Elementary/High School

While I'm going on this, I may as well go all out.... one thing that has always bothered me about teachers is that none of them (more specifically specialized teachers) are actually capable of doing what they teach. A science teacher is not a scientist (my grade 11 chem teacher had his PHD, but spent his whole career teaching opposed to doing meaningful research), an english teacher is not a writer, a music teacher is not a musician/composer, and a shop teacher is not a cabinet maker. I don't really understand why if you love something specific so much, why the hell aren't you actually doing it? It's like the least riskiest way to be involved in what you like or what you want to specialize in.

/rant

[Sapper]

? I would love to see the BCTF disband and wipe the slate clean. From what I understand, there are approx 1700 teachers out there without jobs. In the real world, when the supply outweighs the demand, it drives the market down. I'm willing to bet that those 1700 that can't land a job would be more than happy to take 50-60k (or the current salaries even) plus reasonable benefits, over serving tables at earls.

[Stick-in-Rink]

End post.

[22Sedinery33]

At the end of the day, due to this strike the graduating students are the ones in jeopardy of not even graduating this year. I hope an agreement is made as soon as possible.

Also...

they all just want $$$$ they don't care about the students......

[ultraman7k]

Good for you. I got a B in honors math 11, and was failing honors math 12 nearly 3/4 through the first semester before I dropped the class. My teacher, Ms.West (not surprised she wasn't married) didn't care that I didn't understand why and how. I was just told to do it. I asked her to explain it to me, as I always had an aptitude for math, but was the type of student that needed to fully understand why I was doing something, not just that "this is what you do when you see this".

Instead of failing, I saw the counsellor and opted to peer-tutor another class in that block (with an ok from my parents). She really sucked at her job, and was merely going through the motions.

I've been out of school going on 15 years, once allot of you kids on here have an opportunity to experience the reall world outside of school you will see for yourselves. Teachers have a knack for getting their students to believe how important they are etc etc. I remember my parents rolling their eyes when I would come home spewing regurgitated self-praise my teachers had fed me. Then I grew up and realized that the bulk of these people I idolized or looked up to were just regular people who have never been exposed to the real world.

Kindergarden->Elementary->High School->College/University->Elementary/High School

While I'm going on this, I may as well go all out.... one thing that has always bothered me about teachers is that none of them (more specifically specialized teachers) are actually capable of doing what they teach. A science teacher is not a scientist (my grade 11 chem teacher had his PHD, but spent his whole career teaching opposed to doing meaningful research), an english teacher is not a writer, a music teacher is not a musician/composer, and a shop teacher is not a cabinet maker. I don't really understand why if you love something specific so much, why the hell aren't you actually doing it? It's like the least riskiest way to be involved in what you like or what you want to specialize in.

/rant

[hockeyfan87]

There are good and bad in every profession. Teachers need to be given more to work with and we should expect more from them as well.

The current system is a failure in my opinion. The curriculum is too broad and it leaves students with lacking critical fundamental skills to succeed in life after high school. The ratio of students to teachers needs to be addressed. With the closure of schools in Vancouver people should keep in mind there is a less total number of students going through grade school than there was ten or twenty years ago. On the other hand the widespread use of portables in places like Surrey is completely unacceptable.

Skimming through this thread it seems like a few teachers feel they are entitled to a job simply because of the time they've invested in their education. This is a very selfish point of view that does nothing to gain support for your cause. If you went through university with this expectation you probably should not be teaching in the first place.

I graduated from high school in 2005 and from my experience back then education was too political. I was exposed to several teachers imposing their own personal views on students. Grade 5 students should not be told that the allies were the bad guys in WW2, which is what I was told.

Ultimately, we need to think about sustainability. What are we getting for our taxes? I don't think what we're getting in terms of healthcare, education, infrastructure is worth it. But that's another discussion.