As a teacher's daughter, I have been lucky enough to grow up seeing what goes on "behind the scenes" as a teacher. My mom is one of the most amazing teachers I have ever seen. I am proud to say she is a teacher. My mom's classroom was a place that gave children a place to learn where they felt safe, encouraged and they had a wonderful women telling them they could achieve their dreams.
For some of these poor kids, her classroom was the only place where they felt safe and believed in. Her class had the most amazing games for learning and it made you feel happy just walking in there. This came from hours and hours of my mom working on her own time to provide her kids with this kind of environment. All these hours she put in were not paid with a "double time" rate. They were paid by her having pride in the job she was doing and seeing the end result of what her children had learned. She missed out on time with family and time doing things she wanted to do because of the work she had to put in at school "after hours".
Teachers also have to deal with sad things that go on in their students lives away from school that they cant change. All they can do is make the child's time with them the best it can be. I saw my mom bring extra food to school that she bought with her own money because she knew that certain kids in her class had no food in their house and she knew they couldn't learn with a hungry stomach. I saw her buy birthday presents for kids because she knew no one was going to show up at their birthday party or because their mom or dad would just simply forget. These things were funded out of her kindness and care for her students out of her own pocket.
These teachers are teaching our future doctors, nurses, and scientists. If you don't want to support the teachers then think about supporting your children, they are the ones suffering and being hurt by the government and the teachers are trying to put a stop to it. Help the teachers give our children the learning environment they deserve. Call or email your MLA and say this is enough.
Stacey Birkhiem
Prince George
