I was talking with my sister while I was home this past weekend and she mentioned to me the "ticked off" and "tickled pink" section of our local newspaper. She reads the news quite frequently (almost daily) and is currently a teacher in the Catholic school system. She was saying how almost all of the items were "ticked off" and aimed at teachers. She said that most of them were angry people and parents that couldn't believe that we (teachers of Alberta) are taking a raise. People are infuriated that we could take a raise when everyone is in such hard times and what do teachers need a raise for anyway?? A contract is a contract. I could understand this uprising if really everyone in our society was hurting (which not everyone is) or if after the 1992/3 strike Ralph Klein gave the money back that teachers gave up then, but he never gave back or rewarded the teachers like he said he would.
We started discussing that we are quite shocked about how angry people were... ESPECIALLY since our government just gave themselves a 40% raise. Now for those of us who may have struggled a bit in math, the raise that the government just decided to give themselves is TEN TIMES as much as we are getting! Not to mention, think of how much they are already making and then they increased that by 40%. Our salary (which is WAY smaller than theirs) will only go up 4%. So a big number increased by 40% is a really big number and an average number increased by 4% not that much of a difference.
Our government states that we don't have money to spend on education... maybe stop giving yourselves raises!?!??! could that work?
I am currently very very irritated with our governmental choices towards money and well other decisions they are making currently. I think we need to do something about it! Why are teachers getting the bad rap while governmental officials are being GREEDY?!?
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I think people just do not value the work a teacher does and the time they spend doing it. I have found that most people I run into have a belief that teaching is an easy job and teachers do not really do much anyways. I know that thinking this way is very unfortunate, but there are real people out there that feel that way toward teachers. Perhaps we need to bring light to the work teachers do and try to defend why teachers deserve a raise. After all, teachers are unpaid as it is. At least, I think teachers are paid far less than what they atually deserve. That really shocks me and disgusts me though to think that so many people would have a grudge against teachers. You sound quite upset about the issue and you have the right to be that angry!
ReplyDeleteWow! I can't believe that people are so upset about a 4% raise. This is all news to me! I also feel as though a lot of people don't think that teachers are valuable. That is something I will never understand. From my experience, people's opinions are about half and half. Some acknowledge that it takes a lot of work and the right kind of person to do a good job, and the others feel as though teaching is an easy job and that teacher's don't really work very hard. The first thing people mention when I tell them I am going to be a teacher is the "amazing holidays". It's funny that people don't realize that we do not get the same amount of holidays as our students - That's why they are called P.D. days. Much time off is also spent planning. Also, we don't leave the school when the students do. There is so much out of school time that is spent preparing and marking, and it takes a lot of work and talent to manage a classroom effectively. I agree with Vanessa that teachers are underpaid. Teacher's are so important and it is sad to think that there are people out there that don't support the profession.
ReplyDeleteGirls you make some really great comments. Vanessa, I am very passionate and heated about this because it obviously directly affects me. But honestly, I guess my issue is that people are being so absolutely ridiculous about a 4% and to a profession that, if we are good, we work really really hard at our job. Plus, are we really making the big bucks that the government officials are making??
ReplyDeleteThis is really starting to look like the labour dispute of 2001/02. In my social issues class we have learning about that strike and some of the causes as to why it became such a big deal. One of the big things that I noticed in the lead up to the strike was the MLAs giving themselves raises at 2 different times. It just seems so crazy that we may repeat all of these steps. Now I don't think we are necessarily going to head to a strike, but there are lawsuits happening, perhaps this is a different way of making our point.
Amanda, in regards to your- we have good holidays, I can definitely state that I have heard that from many people that find out I am being a teacher. But I don't think they understand the hours we work and the time it takes. I think that if we were able to bank our overtime hours we would probably get so much time off if we had a regular job. Isn't it funny how people love to judge our job and how hard it is. Obviously we all went through school so they understand the student part of school, but teaching is a completely different thing!!!
Thanks girls for commenting! :)