I think most, if not all teachers, when they start out, like working with kids, have a subject that they are passionate about and want to share with kids. They don't get into this profession for the money, rather for the difference they can make.
After working with kids in your classes for months or years they become "your" kids. You make connections, you develop relationships. Sometimes you are the only adult male figure in their lives; the only one who cares. Some bring you the occasional coffee. Some pop in every once in a while for a chat. Some come back to visit years after you've taught them. Some will enthusiastically tell you a hundred times in the hallways that they will be taking your class next year. Some cry when you tell them at graduation that you will miss them.
Our profession has shown how much we care when we have negotiated contracts by negotiating class size and composition because we know from experience, day in and day out, year after year, how the smaller classes and classes with a fewer special needs kids benefit ``our`` kids. We sacrificed wage increases to ensure the kids who needed the extra help got it. And then this government comes along and legislates that away. Those of us who have been teaching long enough remember when there was more support and more money for classrooms; we remember when $280 Million was stripped from education for the last 12 years and districts were told to deal with it. Who stepped in to fill that void? Teachers. We remember.
It is no wonder that teachers are digging in and saying no more. We are stretched to the limit and will not be a crutch for a system crippled by government pick-pocketing and heavyhandedness any more. We took zeros to help our kids and then government took that away so in the end we both got screwed. We want a fair deal; return the funding and class size and composition to our contract. The Supreme Court said what they did was illegal so we shouldn't even have to be dealing with that issue. As a parent you should be as mad as hell - they stole from your child! They stole from a generation of kids and the teachers that truly care about them! Where is the Liberal government's integrity? Honor?
Gavyn Linton
Prince George
