You have to wonder about the motivation of Christy Clark's Government in prolonging the conflict with the B.C. teachers. It's no secret that the Liberals are not friends of public service unions, particularly the BCTF. The BCTF has been the bane of the Liberals since they came to power in 2001. But the present dispute goes further than mere dislike. The Liberals seem bent on not just winning the present conflict but in the process destroying or at the very least weakening the teachers union.
They have spent a great deal of energy painting the BCTF as greedy and money grabbing. The government has refused to bargain class size and composition in a meaningful way and the teachers care deeply about these areas. The Liberals, with their Neo-Liberal agenda view unions as an obstruction to overall economic prosperity in BC. Their rhetoric usually tries to see the BCTF and the teachers as separate entities, blaming the union on the current problems in education and portraying the teachers as naive bystanders.
They have attempted to have the public view teachers as victims to their union, the BCTF. Christy Clark, as minister of education, voiced her disdain of the BCTF calling it disruptive and irresponsible for bringing politics into the classroom. Just recently she tried to score more political points by tweeting that the BCTF was sticking to the strike and demanding twice as much as others in the public service. It should be noted that despite the constant bickering between the Government and the BCTF teachers in BC continue to work hard and dedicate countless hours volunteering and planning. We have to hope that in all the acrimony the basic issues of improving student learning and teacher instruction are not getting lost in the conflict.
The Liberals under Campbell as well as Clark have consistently underfunded Education. The government would claim otherwise but the figures show that in 1990 the government spent 3.4per cent of GDP on K-12 education while by 2006 that had been reduced to 2.3 per cent. Quality dducation is dependent on funding. Underfunding is one of the worst things a government can do as it negates the ability of public schools to offer the same quality as for fee private schools. More frequent extra fees in public schools and the subsidization of the private system will inevitably give greater advantage to those who can afford a private education and produce a two tier system in BC. One only has to look at the devastating effects that defunding of public education has had in many regions of our southern neighbours.
Education should not be treated as a business and its purpose encompasses more than an economic or competitive one. Our goal as a society should be to produce well-grounded critical thinkers, not just consumers. The teachers see the BCTF as an organization that represents their professional interests as well as the interests of their students. The Government sees the BCTF as a third party that is an obstacle to their educational agenda. In the end this is what motivates the government in the present conflict.
David Bond
Prince George
