I cannot believe that Alberta teachers and their union, both public and Catholic, are expecting the taxpayers to bone up a six per cent salary increase for themselves when, not only Canada but the whole world is in a deep recession.
They say it’s not a money issue. They just want the government to adhere to the contract they negotiated in 2008.
Who do they think the government is? I thought it was the taxpayers. And if it’s not a money issue, then I don’t know what is.
In 2008, no one could have predicted the depth of the recession that we are experiencing now. So it’s difficult to swallow that our supposed more highly educated members of society can’t do some simple math and surmise that the taxpayers can’t afford their expected increase.
There are a lot of people out of work at the moment. I think they should feel damn appreciative they’ve got a decent paying job with benefits and a pension.
Maybe the teachers in our communities would get more public sympathy for their “financial plight” if they spent more time in the classrooms instead of turning every long weekend into a four- or five-day holiday.
Some students even get every Friday afternoon off or every other Friday altogether.
I’ve heard now that they want to start having a four-day school week.
Seems to me that teachers spend about one-third less time in the classroom than they did when my kids attended school 20-plus years ago. Yet they want more money?
I’m sure there are lots of people who’d like to spend less time working at their jobs and make more money, but in most cases they don’t have a government contract or a union lobbying on their behalf.
I’m still hearing reports of kids going into high school and failing subjects that they were getting As in while attending middle school. Why? Because apparently the teachers in the lower grades aren’t properly preparing their students for high school.
This inept instruction has been going on for over 20 years since my own kids leapt from junior high into high school and it still seems to be happening today.
It’s been my opinion for a long time that teachers should be paid according to the performance of their students and government testing of those students should be often, rigorous and without prior warning.
And scrap that “bleep bleep” teachers’ union. If their “pay us more or else” tactic isn’t a form of extortion and racketeering, then I must have misinterpreted the meaning of blackmail in the dictionary.
At one time, teachers were held in very high regard in the community. I don’t think that is the case these days.
In fact, after talking to a several people who have kids In school, just the opposite seems to be a popular opinion. The priorities of the teaching community over the years seem to have turned into a profession that’s more concerned with securing a good income with benefits and a pension rather than teaching our children a sense of presence, persistence and responsibility.
Makes me look into our future and say, “Oh Boy!”
Dale Stuart
Red Deer