This is in response to the underfunding of education at all levels in BC.
No one in my family had completed a high school education. Due to violence in my family and poverty I left home very early to waitress and live independently. At that time I had completed only Grade Eight. A few years later I began adult upgrading - and eventually completed a doctorate.
Through all of those years I waitressed and worked various jobs. Counselling, adult upgrading, caring college and university teachers helped me make a strong and creative life for myself. Why am I sharing this? Now in my mid-fifties I pay more in taxes than I used to earn in two years. I have always worked for pay and gone to school. Education is an investment in the power of your present and future nation. In addition to paying all those taxes I donate to causes, I volunteer, and I am a caring effective member of my community.
CNC is cutting the counseling services for students. They have increased fees for adult upgrading. Tuition fees have increased outrageously in the last decade. UNBC is resisting paying a fair wage to the professors. These are choices which may seem to be economically prudent. They are not. They are short sighted and shallow. Investing substantively in education brings rich harvest. The provincial government needs to step up.
Obviously I am biased as a teacher at both UNBC and CNC. I invested decades of my time and most of my income for decades in education. In the past year I've spent another $15,000 on tuition for yet more education. Every day this community is benefitting from my choices. I invite everyone to vote with mindfulness about who robustly serves our future best interests. Investing in teachers, students, and the support staff who encourage their excellence are among the wisest and most sustainable investments society can ever make.
Si Transken
Prince George
