Thank you to Brent Applegath for writing the letter in The Morning Star, “Back in the classroom but…” which I have been meaning to write myself. You are right.
The most recent strike did little more than illustrate the callousness (toward children) of the neo-cons in Victoria, and the ineptitude of the B.C. Teachers Federation executive. Once again, B. C. teachers volunteered our salaries to help fund the system and nothing has improved.
I started teaching 30 years ago, spending the last 20 years back home in the greatest place on earth (but not for children).
Due to government cutbacks in education back then, I spent my first years teaching in California, Japan, and in a private school. In none of these systems were teachers as overworked and underpaid as in B.C. public schools.
More recently, during a one-year exchange in Australia, I experienced the nightmare I foresee coming to B. C. public schools once more and more of the top students are siphoned off by private schools.
I am already seeing similarities in the incoming students to my high school, to the students I taught in my former Australian public school: a sense of entitlement, lack of motivation, and a lack of respect for everyone else in the school community.
So G. C. Robertson, if you think your current visits to the bank are frustrating, wait a few years when they might be unbearable (I recommend online banking).
Terry Shykora
Vernon
