Why does the BC Liberal government constantly portray teachers as evil, self-centered and money hungry?
When the teachers make suggestions to improve class size and composition, the government sees this strategy as negative. Why?
My opinion about why the BC Liberals do this is as follows: They do not want public education to be the norm in BC. They want education privatized. They want parents who have loads of money to send their children to private schools. If parents pay, then the cost is lower for the government. They want those who do not have loads of money to make do with what is available, and be content.
Do you know who teaches at private schools?
The same people who teach at public schools.
They have come through exactly the same universities, the same courses, and the same training regimens during their teacher training.
Their knowledge is no more or less diverse than teachers in the public system.
Yes, teachers in public education often have better pay, but they pay huge dues in order to retain those benefits.
They have fought for those benefits for years.
After 5-8 years (or more) of education and constant upgrading, teachers deserve some value for their dollar.
Why does the BC government constantly battle with their employees, the teachers of your children?
I will tell you why: Children in public education are funded by the public. That takes away from the coffers of the government. Education shows no immediate monetary value to the government in power. If education costs can be minimized, then the government ‘looks good’. Lower teacher salaries and higher classroom sizes make looking good possible.
However, teachers who cannot afford to survive on their salaries are not going to be spending tons of time volunteering to keep other people’s children in extracurricular activities.
I know private school teachers who couldn’t afford to attend their own private school Christmas parties (parents, board members and teachers were invited to attend).
The BC Liberals have plenty of money to throw around in advertising campaigns to condemn teacher action (which teachers specifically designed to impact students as little as possible).
The government has plenty of money to encourage many different corporations to invest in this province, because this helps to make the government look like our province is prospering.
This government also seems to have all kinds of money to pay off CEO’s and the upper echelon who really do not deserve the bonuses they receive. (But their hands are tied!! Oh!)
Without supporting public education, we will be like drones in the hive of BC Liberals, while the elite continue to harvest all the honey our lovely province creates through projects like BC Place and the Jumbo Glacier project.
Those projects look big and prosperous, and bring in potential billions. Education, sadly, does not.
Education only pays off in the long run, and this government does not care beyond the next election.
Teachers teach because they see value, potential, and worth in their efforts.
They teach for the students. They teach for the future.
Support the teachers and get rid of this latest BC Bill 22.
Becky Leonty,
Golden, BC
