I am having difficulty understanding the antagonism I see from government and others regarding teachers' wanting smaller and supported classrooms, and yes, a good wage.
For various reasons when our children reached school age my husband and I chose a private elementary school. A major consideration was size, both of school and classrooms. Any parent can attest to the fact that the more children the harder the task at hand.
The volunteer work I do means I interact with elementary school age children for most of the year and am constantly reminded of how much work so many teachers do. It is very obvious that some schools/teachers must deal with children from troubled and/or underprivileged homes. And then there are the children with genetic or developmental problems.
The challenges that face teachers today confound me when it comes to not only teaching but parenting as so many must do.
Either we as a society must place the highest value upon our teachers and ensure that they are equipped to do the job we expect, or admit that we expect only a cadre of obedient worker drones and live with the result.
The corollary to difficult economic times for government appears to be creating a society that is geared to service particular needs rather than citizens expressing free will or finding creative solutions.
Sure do hope there are revolutionary thinkers in all those young recent grads.
And I must point out that our children when to a local public high school and had many superb teachers throughout. A gold medallist in Science at UBC can attest to that!
Jeannette Paterson
Prince George
