Reply #13: It's not hypocrisy at all... [View All]

[V. Kid]

...the reality is that Teachers need to defend their interests, that's what smart people do. However yes when they are in the class room their job is to teach. Why would anyone want to work for less money, in poorer working conditions no doubt when more money is available is beyond me. Since BC allegedly has a surplus, and the Campbell gov't has been making everyone who isn't rich deal with austerity, why wouldn't they want more? Lots of people want more, it's only fair, why should the rich only get the most out of our alleged recovery (something I'd debate -- that's a topic for another thread though)? Granted Teachers shouldn't except to be rich or anything, but it's not like the job requires no previous qualifications. You have to get a general BA and then you can get a teaching degree.

It just doesn't make any sense to advocate that teachers should avoid defending their interests. I said I don't think they should (hence I agree with you) bring up political issues in the class room, (except in post-secondary situations where they would still need to encourage, not stifle and allow dissent or relevant discussions in a HS such as a civics course they are thinking of introducing) or in a parent teacher conference (unless the parent wants to discuss it since the main point of the meeting is to discuss the progress of the child, as I've already said). But should the BCTF then say when they feel slighted by the government, "well even though we live in a society with free speech, and the right to organize, we shouldn't say anything because children are the focus of our work and we might look bad or offend someone if we do." This seems like a circular argument used by anti-Union folks.

Besides what teachers are making twice as much as you, supposing you make a fairly average wage? The average teacher (who actually makes only a slightly above average wage) or one in a private school? A teacher (in a BC public school) starts off at around 35,000cdn and can after many years can get 60,000cdn it's hardly a massive wage. Of course the top wage is usually for a department head that's been there for a while and usually has a masters on top of their BA and Certificate of Teaching. And that's assuming they get a full time job, and since most start of as substitutes who are paid 60% of that, 60% of 35,000 is barely above the poverty line. I have no idea how much they make in a private school, and that's completely up to the private school to determine, and the amount of money a parent is willing to pay to send their kid there. From what I understand the average family wage is 60,000 dollars, so maybe a family with two teachers as parents (with a lot of seniority, maybe department heads, that are highly educated) do really well, but should that mean all teachers should be paid less? Or that they don't deserve it? And one would think they'd get paid at least decently considering the education involved and all.

So yeah if the teachers are being biased inside the classroom there's a problem but if they are being biased outside the classroom there isn't. Everyone has a bias and they should simply admit to it, objectivity is very hard to achieve. With regards to the media they always claim "objectivity" yet apart from a few outlets such as BBC, Reuters and CBC to a certain extent, they show bias. So if they want to claim objectivity they ought not to be biased.