ronthecivil Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 <p>Not to be a nit-picker, Ron, (and you make some good points) but in a "BC teacher strike" thread, you should probably have your book learnin' in order. I count two spelling errors, a missing pluralization of "one" and an incorrect use of "your" in that post.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronthecivil Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 Interesting op/Ed by Vaughan Palmer in the March 7 Sun: http://www.vancouver...3389/story.html I have never viewed him as a particularly left leaning writer so I found it quite interesting. Basically what I took from it was that teachers (and everybody else) must follow the laws while government simply rewrites it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stawns Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 Interesting op/Ed by Vaughan Palmer in the March 7 Sun: http://www.vancouver...3389/story.html I have never viewed him as a particularly left leaning writer so I found it quite interesting. Basically what I took from it was that teachers (and everybody else) must follow the laws while government simply rewrites it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inane Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 To add to the above. http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Constitutional+international+risk+under+Bill/6254820/story.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeyJoeJoeJr. Shabadoo Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 I am no left winger but even I wonder how the heck it's an essential service. If it's so essential why is it turned off for two months every summer with a couple weeks over Christmas and spring to boot? No way the hospital could simply close down for two months. So if the teachers wanted to go on strike for real? Go ahead, go on strike. It would actually be a good cost saver! If the kids don't catch up just load 'em up with homework and give them assignements due for the start of the year that they can do over the summer. If they have trouble with the assignments ask the parents. And if the strike drags on past summer? Oh well, just play catch up over the next year. Either way they could go on strike ( a real one) a year and i will still cheer for net zero. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertuzzi Babe Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 I am no left winger but even I wonder how the heck it's an essential service. If it's so essential why is it turned off for two months every summer with a couple weeks over Christmas and spring to boot? No way the hospital could simply close down for two months. So if the teachers wanted to go on strike for real? Go ahead, go on strike. It would actually be a good cost saver! If the kids don't catch up just load 'em up with homework and give them assignements due for the start of the year that they can do over the summer. If they have trouble with the assignments ask the parents. And if the strike drags on past summer? Oh well, just play catch up over the next year. Either way they could go on strike ( a real one) a year and i will still cheer for net zero. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronthecivil Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Who's going to mark them? What about the kids with useless parents? What if the kid is in calculus, good parent or not? You are a very near sighted person Ron. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronthecivil Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Ron, I can't believe you made this post seriously or expected anyone to take it seriously. But let's, just for the moment, say that you might have..... The education of children is not an essential service to you? So tell me where you'd be today if teaching wasn't an essential service? Well? Somehow I don't get the feeling you dragged yourself up by your bootstraps and were educated at home..... A lot of parents now, with the aid of teachers, won't even get involved in their kid's schoolwork and assignments but now you're suggesting that they (parents) be made responsible for teaching their kids stuff the parent's aren't equipped for or are knowledgeable enough to teach? A great number of parents refuse to take any responsibility for even checking homework! And you don't think THIS will harm kids? I'll take a teacher's strike any day over the *shudder* idea that some of the parents I know would be responsible for educating their children in elementary or high school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pears Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Anyone else have a 1 day week this week? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronthecivil Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 bill 22 dictates that once the legislation is passed we, as teachers, are no longer to even meet in the staff room as a union to discuss union matters, any union activity is deemed illegal and I, personally will be fined $475 per day for "illegal activity" such as meeting, as a staff, to discuss union business. Staff reps and local executives will be fined $2500 per day and the BCTF will fined $1.3 million per day. So much for freedom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeyJoeJoeJr. Shabadoo Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 A kid in calculus in no so much a little kid. Such a person would be much more similar to a young adult. If said person was interested in calculus they could get together with their peers to go over the work. Heck, there's a calculus thread in this very forum where people were giving advice and providing links to teaching resources that could be independantly researched. The younger people could be given lesson plans by admin staff and after a couple weeks it could be handed in to be marked by admin staff. Just like a skeleton crew runs any striking organisation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronthecivil Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 So you think one principal and possibly a vp or two can administer the curriculum for each grade level and subject and also find the time to evaluate them? Don't forget photo copies and other teaching tools like power point presentations etc. Ron, this is dumb, even for you. No offense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccc44 Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Actually it does as the teachers are finding out right now. Sorry for giving a suggestion for finding a cost savings that could result in having money for other demands. Seems odd you support spending money on beaurocrats instead of more teachers though. You can strike until the end of time but there's no way the governement steps away from net zero. With all the me too clauses out there it's an invitation to having the same increase apply to every public sector union and a massive increase to costs in an already deficit buget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronthecivil Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Look the government had no problem finding billions for the olympics and half a billion for a stadium that gets little use and they also have no problem collecting 6 figure salaries not including there kick backs but they cant afford to make sure some our schools have enough books or dont have leaking ceilings and are over crowded so children who need more attention to learn get it ? Im sorry but thats not acceptable and if the government does not start straightening out there priorities next its going to be nurses who start walking out . You have to fix the foundation before you get all the extras ( olympics ,new roof for BC place ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stawns Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Well since it's net zero one would simply need to include any such fines and missed days in the unions demands! After all, those are revenue savings and sources! I do find it shocking that the BCTF doesn't have a team of laywers getting them declared non essential. It's not life and death... So by all means, WILDCAT! FOUR WEEK SPRING BREAK! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccc44 Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Two seperate issues. Quibble about those priorities all you want but either way they are already paid for in full. It's not a yearly budget item. The education budget is huge (not healthcare huge but you can see it from there), several multiples of the BC place roof, on a YEARLY basis. You can make politics over the MLAs salaries but it's actually irrelevant. What is relevant is the salaries of the people paying for any raises the teachers (and through me too contracts every other public sector union) through their taxes and I can assure you in the private sector things aren't all roses right now. In fact I fully support the idea of keeping MLAs salaries at net zero just like every other government worker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ultraman7k Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 The younger people could be given lesson plans by admin staff and after a couple weeks it could be handed in to be marked by admin staff. Just like a skeleton crew runs any striking organisation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pouria Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 My girlfriend and I are both teachers (I'm high school English, she's elementary). We have 7 years of university education each. A combined 14 years, and, approximately $60-$70k in debt between us. And you know what, we can't even find full-time teaching jobs. That's the reality for many of us. In fact, the district I'm in closed 12 schools just a couple of years ago. Twelve. Teachers, vice-principals, principals, counsellors, librarians ... all with years and years of experience (talk about job security) and they're looking for new jobs. So what? That's the choice we made and, believe it or not, a huge reason we made that choice was because we did care about working with students. When I first started I thought that I would enjoy teaching because I loved English, but it didn't take long for me to realize that working with the students was far more rewarding. But you know what? I still have to pay rent, vehicle costs, food costs, etc. I'd also like to have a house some day and start a family. When will I be able to do that, exactly? So here's what happens next: teachers that are highly skilled, competent, and hard-working ... find other careers. Personally, I'm waiting to hear back from law schools. Who loses in this situation? Not to sound arrogant, but it's the students. I can go into law and be just fine. The students, however, will miss out on a good teacher that genuinely cares. And you can say "oh, well I guess you just don't care that much then" but that's hardly fair. Since when are teachers supposed to monk-like and forsake all worldly possessions? Wasn't it enough that I earned two degrees and spent tens of thousands of dollars? Like I said, I do want a house and family, but I can barely make ends meet as is! What the B.C. government has done is to say that our union doesn't matter. Negotiations are over and we have to work, or we face extremely stiff fines. Furthermore, a mediator will broker a new deal but it MUST comply with the government's wishes. So really, what rights to teachers actually have? None. And like many have said, this is about more than money. Classroom compositions are very important. 30 kids in a class? 5-10 IEPs (individual education plans)? It's not just the extra work that this creates for teachers, it's also how spread out it makes us. No individual student really gets the time or attention they need to succeed (go figure so many don't go to university). But what are we complaining about, our work day is done by 3pm (yeah right!), we have weekends and holidays off, we get summers off, and we get benefits. Just try being a full time teacher for one term or semester, I dare you. Teachers eat, sleep, and breathe their jobs more than you can imagine. The teachers that don't, well, they're the ones you get stuck with when the hard-working teachers find better jobs. It just baffles my mind how the government can strip spending on education. How can you possibly justify or rationalize that? How is it not seen as the incredibly important institution that it is? And then for people to criticize teachers, as a whole, and call them lazy and greedy? Wow. I shared more personal information than I'd normally like but, to me, this is that important. I just don't think most people really understand the situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FeStealth Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Blame that piece of crap Harper, who has his own selfish agenda. The BC government needs to take their heads out of their asses and invest those tax payers money where it is more important. They should spend more on health care and education. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pouria Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 It depends on what you mean by essential. The child doesn't DIE or get injured from missing school. Obviously education is important but it's not the only place where one could find it. I would say that I would be in exactly the same place if teachers weren't considered an essential service. Sure, there might have been some strikes everyone once in a while but I doublt there would be a multi year cancelation of school........ The only reason this is given essential service status is so many people end up in arms because their free baby sitting service is no longer there. As mentioned, the school is not a baby sitting service. Heck, even during a strike you could have admin teach a half day once a week and elementary schools could rotate through the grades and send out homework. Obviously that wouldn't be as good a situation as having full time teachers but I think some lessons in independant learning and dealing with adversity aren't the worse thing to happen to a child. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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