Editor's note: Paige Mader, a Grade 11 student at Howe Sound Secondary School, has agreed to write a series of columns and/or articles on school-related issues for The Chief during the final months of the school year. This is her first offering.
It's for the children, ladies and gentlemen. For the children. That's what we've been hearing from the British Columbia Teachers' Federation for the duration of their "job action" over the past six months.
The strike, which started at the beginning of the school year in September 2011, was provoked by a series of unsuccessful negotiations that began in March 2011 between the BCTF and the Public School Employers' Association. When the two parties failed to reach an agreement, the teachers' union launched "phase one," which eliminated non-essential administrative tasks tied to their profession.
Now, nearly six months and over 70 meetings at the bargaining table later, the BCTF has escalated its action into a three-day walkout that started Monday (March 5). All the while you can hear their tireless chant ringing across the province: "for the children, for the children."
Interesting thing about this campaign is that nobody asked us, the children, if we needed fighting for. Nobody asked us what we wanted or how we thought the school system should be improved. I mean, if it is all for us, shouldn't we have at least some say?
Perhaps they assumed our answer would be obvious and that we would nod along obediently like sheep. Or maybe they figured we didn't know what was going on anyway, treating us as some dumb entity unable to form sophisticated opinions due to inexperience or lack of information. In the latter case, this would be a very wrong assumption.
A couple of the students absolutely and unwaveringly stand behind the teachers. Howe Sound Secondary's elected student body prime minister said, "I fully support the teachers and I believe that they are standing up for us. I do not agree with the way the situation is being handled [by the government].
"I know from talking to a lot of my peers [Grade 12s especially] that they do not like the strike due to the fact that we are losing out on instructional time. Yet, this doesn't mean that we don't support the teachers."
There are others, however, who although they support the cause, question some of the union's methods. One Howe Sound Grade 11 student said she believed that "the schools should have bigger budgets, if the money is available," but admits to being "somewhat curious as to how much the union is spending on the commercials that I'm sure we see often on the TV these days.
"Giving the teachers a raise is totally a completely different situation," as opposed to the class-size limits and additional support staff being disputed.
Some pupils strongly opposed the strike, saying things like thing "using students' welfare as an excuse is unfair and untrue," and "if the teachers were really 'all about the kids,' then they would honestly not even consider going on a full strike."
Most conversations with my peers continued the consensus similarly. One Grade 11 student commented on the way the union works, saying things like "they should break up. They keep horrible teachers protected from being fired no matter how [awful] they are."
Another called them out, saying "it's basically a lie to get more money for less work."
Obviously it's a mixed bag up among the older students of the schools, but what about the young 'uns? Surely they have something to say about the matter, and they do; their opinions coming from both sides of the coin as well. A Grade 8 student from Don Ross opposed the strike, saying "it's kind of annoying 'cause you're [the teachers] supporting education, yet you're, like, walking out of school."
While our opinions may divide us, at least it's safe to say that we have them. We do know what's going on and we're not sheep. So, maybe the next time anyone decides to bring us into their dispute, be it the teachers or the government, they would consider sending out a nice invitation, before carelessly dragging us along. They are all adults up there, aren't they?
