SofaKingGood
Member
There is a lot of "misinterpreted" info that the general public is being fed:
1) The teachers are NOT asking for a 15% increase. Its only 6% over 3 years, the other 3%/year is the same request as our MLA's passed for the rise in the cost of living. (As Susan Lambert said, "its negotiable')
2) As an educator and parent- I have never been so depressed as I have in the last 2 weeks. Bill 22 (which is the MAJOR issue) is turning our system into the American one. It is going to take away all of the rights in the workplace. Its going to force transfers, lay off teachers (especially the experienced ones who are making more than the newer ones), and create an environment where people gotta suck ass to the principal in order to keep their job. Ex. I probably won't do as much extra curricular next year because of the birth of my 2nd child this upcoming summer. If another teacher under Bill 22, who does more than me comes in, the Principal can black ball me and transfer me out and at the worse I could be laid off because I don't fit into the "school plan." Kids are going to suffer as teachers are going to be let go so "cheaper" teachers can be hired. What is happening here, is our PUBLIC system is being killed and we are doing nothing about it.
Ask Christy Clark how many kids are in her son's class at the private school he attends? Then ask her how many of those kids have special needs or any other learning impairment? I'd bet the numbers are low and most, if not all of the kids are very high functioning.
Tell her to come to my class where I have 3-4 high ESL kids, 2 that are Mildly Intellectually Disabled (MID), 3 that get Learning Support, 2 that are not "diagnosed" yet. That's half my class.
The mediator being appointed is a sham. He/she is being appointed by the govt but can only mediate on certain issues. 100%BS.
How is that a mediation process, how can Christy Clark and George Abbott go on tv and say, "thats what the teacher's wanted, a mediator."
the 6 month cooling off period wasn't just a random number they pulled out. It expires in Sept when teachers can lose momentum because they do not work in the summer because schools are closed and they are on salary. Parents are also on holidays as well.
3) BC's deficit? Read the budget carefully. Minister Falcon strategically put in our years current expense that BC owe $1.5 billion to Ottawa this year for the HST debacle. What they aren't saying is that the agreement b/w BC and Ottawa is that we owe them $300 million per year for 5 years with no interest. So he basically inflated the deficit by $1.2 billion for this year, because a lot of contracts are up and he is trying to say we have no money.
4) Supreme Court- in 2002 we signed a deal with the gov't that we won't take a wage increase, but instead agreed to hire more teacher because our classes were getting too big and too "needy.' They then ripped it up. 11 years later the Supreme Court ruled in our favor. Basically in Surrey alone, there should be approx 350 more teachers. They have saved $300 million/yr, which is approx $3.3 billion since 2002. Did our property taxes go down? Where did that public education money go? Did the system get a lot shittier?
It is easy to bash teachers and unions, but what today's government is doing is bashing the common person. They are banking on people "not knowing the issues." This province has become like the States. We often bash our Southern neighbors for their lack of "intellect," but we are not far behind, especially today's youngsters. These kids in the public system will not have a chance, just like in the States. The leftovers go to public school and have no future in general and the rest pay for private schooling and a chance for a decent life.
Standardized tests are obsolete and were used for the teaching methods of 20 years ago when a teacher would say open your book and read p.12-20 and answer #1-7 on page 21. That does not work for every child (but the govt is promoting personalized learning which teachers are already currently doing, but they haven't yet said what they think it looks like).
The States cannot fix their current educational crisis because they did what we are about to do 10 years ago. All of the good and experienced teachers are gone and they are literally hiring people off of the street because they are cheap and it isn't rocket science to tell a kid to open their text book and read and then do the question.
We are walking down the same path and I hope the public understands what Bill 22 means. We have letters of support from unions across Canada and educational groups from the States. There is a vested interest by all sorts of parties because this is about our future and the basic rights of a worker.
Debates are good, but please before you bash a teacher or the BCTF, find out what the issues are. A lot of media is one-sided and isn't the best source for info, that's what we tell our kids, to be critical thinkers and learners.
P.S. A true democracy ( a majority govt) is pretty much parallel to a dictatorship, anything can be handed down to the citizens.
Kill Bill 22
1) The teachers are NOT asking for a 15% increase. Its only 6% over 3 years, the other 3%/year is the same request as our MLA's passed for the rise in the cost of living. (As Susan Lambert said, "its negotiable')
2) As an educator and parent- I have never been so depressed as I have in the last 2 weeks. Bill 22 (which is the MAJOR issue) is turning our system into the American one. It is going to take away all of the rights in the workplace. Its going to force transfers, lay off teachers (especially the experienced ones who are making more than the newer ones), and create an environment where people gotta suck ass to the principal in order to keep their job. Ex. I probably won't do as much extra curricular next year because of the birth of my 2nd child this upcoming summer. If another teacher under Bill 22, who does more than me comes in, the Principal can black ball me and transfer me out and at the worse I could be laid off because I don't fit into the "school plan." Kids are going to suffer as teachers are going to be let go so "cheaper" teachers can be hired. What is happening here, is our PUBLIC system is being killed and we are doing nothing about it.
Ask Christy Clark how many kids are in her son's class at the private school he attends? Then ask her how many of those kids have special needs or any other learning impairment? I'd bet the numbers are low and most, if not all of the kids are very high functioning.
Tell her to come to my class where I have 3-4 high ESL kids, 2 that are Mildly Intellectually Disabled (MID), 3 that get Learning Support, 2 that are not "diagnosed" yet. That's half my class.
The mediator being appointed is a sham. He/she is being appointed by the govt but can only mediate on certain issues. 100%BS.
How is that a mediation process, how can Christy Clark and George Abbott go on tv and say, "thats what the teacher's wanted, a mediator."
the 6 month cooling off period wasn't just a random number they pulled out. It expires in Sept when teachers can lose momentum because they do not work in the summer because schools are closed and they are on salary. Parents are also on holidays as well.
3) BC's deficit? Read the budget carefully. Minister Falcon strategically put in our years current expense that BC owe $1.5 billion to Ottawa this year for the HST debacle. What they aren't saying is that the agreement b/w BC and Ottawa is that we owe them $300 million per year for 5 years with no interest. So he basically inflated the deficit by $1.2 billion for this year, because a lot of contracts are up and he is trying to say we have no money.
4) Supreme Court- in 2002 we signed a deal with the gov't that we won't take a wage increase, but instead agreed to hire more teacher because our classes were getting too big and too "needy.' They then ripped it up. 11 years later the Supreme Court ruled in our favor. Basically in Surrey alone, there should be approx 350 more teachers. They have saved $300 million/yr, which is approx $3.3 billion since 2002. Did our property taxes go down? Where did that public education money go? Did the system get a lot shittier?
It is easy to bash teachers and unions, but what today's government is doing is bashing the common person. They are banking on people "not knowing the issues." This province has become like the States. We often bash our Southern neighbors for their lack of "intellect," but we are not far behind, especially today's youngsters. These kids in the public system will not have a chance, just like in the States. The leftovers go to public school and have no future in general and the rest pay for private schooling and a chance for a decent life.
Standardized tests are obsolete and were used for the teaching methods of 20 years ago when a teacher would say open your book and read p.12-20 and answer #1-7 on page 21. That does not work for every child (but the govt is promoting personalized learning which teachers are already currently doing, but they haven't yet said what they think it looks like).
The States cannot fix their current educational crisis because they did what we are about to do 10 years ago. All of the good and experienced teachers are gone and they are literally hiring people off of the street because they are cheap and it isn't rocket science to tell a kid to open their text book and read and then do the question.
We are walking down the same path and I hope the public understands what Bill 22 means. We have letters of support from unions across Canada and educational groups from the States. There is a vested interest by all sorts of parties because this is about our future and the basic rights of a worker.
Debates are good, but please before you bash a teacher or the BCTF, find out what the issues are. A lot of media is one-sided and isn't the best source for info, that's what we tell our kids, to be critical thinkers and learners.
P.S. A true democracy ( a majority govt) is pretty much parallel to a dictatorship, anything can be handed down to the citizens.
Kill Bill 22
rolleyes
