I'm a retiree, (no, not a retired teacher, either) and really have no dog in this hunt anymore. That being said, I am somewhat bewildered at the response of the majority of people I read in the media and on social media like Twitter. 90% of those I read seem to believe that the teachers and their respective unions are responsible for the state of affairs found in Ontario schools today.
YOUR government(s) has spent the last 50 years cutting and gouging the entire system from the ground up. (Obviously not from the top down!) Revamping their school boards, cutting exercise programs, and generally reducing every "non-curricular" activity from YOUR schools.
A room where little automatons gather each day to be filled with whatever current propaganda YOUR government has instituted for the year is what YOU wanted. At least that is what you voted for, no? As YOUR government slashed Gym, PhysEd, music and other activities in order to save costs, YOU allowed school boards to build themselves into institutions sucking up huge quantities of cash. YOUR votes over the past 50 years or so have given YOU the situation that you now find yourselves and your children.
Some of you claim that you understand how teachers feel when their rights are being quashed underfoot BUT (gotta love a word that puts everything before it in a bath of BS!) you want THEM to fix the problem. YOU want the teachers to correct everything the system has wrought by "volunteering" their free time to babysit YOUR kids. YOU think teachers should make up for 50+ years of cuts to programs, that YOU voted for?
Here's an idea. If 10% of YOU blaming the teachers for this got off YOUR collective asses and volunteered at YOUR individual schools, there would be more extracurriculars than kids!
Or here's another idea, instead of blaming bargaining rights for the issues in schools, how about getting your head out of YOUR collectives asses and ask YOUR government to explain (and repay) the monies spent for things like Ehealth, Orange, LHIN's, hopscotching Gas plants, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc..
Want a really great idea? How about getting off YOUR fat ass and voting? How many of you sitting out there bitchin' and moaning about how the teachers are screwing your kids, never bother to vote at all? Tell YOUR government that you will no longer accept their boondoggles. That they must concentrate on what we need our governments to do. Education, Health Care, water, infrastructure, etc., you know, basics that everyone should be provided in a country as rich as Canada. Everything else is just window dressing and the costs for those things should be borne by those who want them.
When you have woken up, you will realize that it is not the teachers who are doing harm to YOUR children, it's YOUR government cutting down to the bone in order to continue filling the trough they feed at!
Any teacher who is able to bring themselves to "volunteer" more of THEIR time to YOUR children, has my support. I envy and appreciate their character. Any teacher who does not wish to "volunteer" anymore has my empathy and I will stand behind them longer than any of today's politicians.
