Battles of the educated; feuds between parents can be devastating on children when those children are caught in the middle. The educated of our society claim that pitting one parent against another during a dispute is an act of bullying. Both sides of this teacher's dispute are all well-educated but obviously that does not mean intellectual.
A child when hungry will stand beside the one who does the cooking and a child hoping to get a car will sit beside the parent who holds the purse strings. Neither act represents what the child's beliefs; it merely shows that the child has wants and dreams.
Walking the picket line does not prove that students are on the side of the teachers. No, it just shows they know upon which side their bread is buttered.
So I ask, if the students walked the picket line with slogans like, quite mucking with my education, get back inside and do the job for which you were hired: do you think their time in the classroom would be fun? The last thing anyone, who is under someone's authority wants, is to upset that person.
Cris Jami, an American poet and essayist said it best, "Man is not by nature deserving of all that he wants, when we think that we are automatically entitled to something, that is when we start walking all over others to get it."
Teachers are always saying, through their voting for the right to strike, that they are entitled to more money and smaller classes.
If the poverty level is X and someone is earning two or three times X then they are already sufficiently funded, especially when everyone knows a large portion of society is earning less than X.
Cris also said, "Just because something isn't a lie, doesn't mean it isn't deceptive. A liar knows he is a liar; but one, who speaks mere portions of truth, in order to deceive, is a craftsman of destruction."
With this in mind, how is it possible to claim that all teachers are worth X, when every group has (within that group) a variety of abilities?
Smaller classroom ensures a better education? Are they demanding smaller classes because it is more conducive to high quality instructions or is it to help the teachers who are not good instructors?
We demand truth in advertising, let us insist on truth during union negotiations.
Bill Barnes
