Monday, November 28, 2005
More strike action
We're looking at 2 strike days this week alone. And, even worse, there will be no comments from the teachers on the kids' report cards next month. That's after no comments on their final reports last year.
I'm lucky that I'm at home, so it's easy for me to deal with the strike days. I've even volunteered to look after others' kids to make things easier for those who work outside their homes. The fact that the kids are missing school days is frustrating, though, when there are so many days off per year already. But the lack of comments on their reports really hurts, because the comments are where you see how they're really doing, how the teacher feels about their progress, etc. And it's a permanent record of that. The "marks", such as they are, are on a scale of 1 to 4, and can't really reflect any of the nuances of a child's learning experience. (My kids' marks are always very good, but still...)
This whole situation is totally unsatisfactory. Aren't we all paying for our educational system? I'd love to see an accounting of where the money goes, and why they can't give the teachers what they're asking for. Just telling us "There's no money!" doesn't cut it. Nobody believes that. If you can give millions to Ubisoft ( a co. that seems to be doing just fine) to train their programmers/engineers, why can't you put a little more into educating the future workers and thinkers who will drive our economy? Or maybe take some money out of the subsidies for private schools, money that's taken directly out of the public school system? If that isn't a clear sign of class bias, I don't know what is. And we're supposed to be the semi-socialist province. Bah, humbug.
Jeez, it sounds like I'm angry or depressed or something! I'm really not, you know. It's just sad to see the educational system so badly underfunded. It feels like nobody cares about our kids' generation.
We're looking at 2 strike days this week alone. And, even worse, there will be no comments from the teachers on the kids' report cards next month. That's after no comments on their final reports last year.
I'm lucky that I'm at home, so it's easy for me to deal with the strike days. I've even volunteered to look after others' kids to make things easier for those who work outside their homes. The fact that the kids are missing school days is frustrating, though, when there are so many days off per year already. But the lack of comments on their reports really hurts, because the comments are where you see how they're really doing, how the teacher feels about their progress, etc. And it's a permanent record of that. The "marks", such as they are, are on a scale of 1 to 4, and can't really reflect any of the nuances of a child's learning experience. (My kids' marks are always very good, but still...)
This whole situation is totally unsatisfactory. Aren't we all paying for our educational system? I'd love to see an accounting of where the money goes, and why they can't give the teachers what they're asking for. Just telling us "There's no money!" doesn't cut it. Nobody believes that. If you can give millions to Ubisoft ( a co. that seems to be doing just fine) to train their programmers/engineers, why can't you put a little more into educating the future workers and thinkers who will drive our economy? Or maybe take some money out of the subsidies for private schools, money that's taken directly out of the public school system? If that isn't a clear sign of class bias, I don't know what is. And we're supposed to be the semi-socialist province. Bah, humbug.
Jeez, it sounds like I'm angry or depressed or something! I'm really not, you know. It's just sad to see the educational system so badly underfunded. It feels like nobody cares about our kids' generation.
# posted by becca : 6:45 AM
