MARY-ELLEN LANG:
When teachers strike
CBC News Viewpoint | October 14, 2005 | More from Mary-Ellen Lang
Mary-Ellen Lang delights in being a mom, grandma, writer, teacher, gardener, and equestrian, usually in about that order. She has been teaching since 1972, and writing since 1980. Two of her three (award winning, Young Adult) novels are published in many languages in Europe, the USA and Canada.
When thousands of law-abiding citizens vote en masse to break a particular law and place themselves in a position of contempt of the courts, it is a worthwhile exercise to wonder why they would do such a thing. What precipitates such action? What drives such resolve?
Most teachers by nature fit into "the system." Indeed it could be said they are the system. So when they decide to directly oppose that very system, it is an event worth noting. In B.C., the current teachers strike is the culmination of years of what feels to teachers like battering at the hands of an abusive "partner."
While it is certainly true that the B.C. Liberals, as is their habit, legislated an end to bargaining and imposed by means of their creative law-making talents a "new" (same old) contract on teachers, and while it is therefore true that teachers are breaking that law by striking, it is also true that Canadians in general are heir to a long history of admiration for law-breaking of a particular sort.
Canada has consistently given refuge to fleeing Americans who have run from "the law" of the U.S. Runaway slaves, First Nations (Sioux) refugees and draft dodgers have sought, and been given, sanctuary here.
Canadians still debate whether or not Louis Riel was a traitor or a hero. But they tend not to debate the relative merits of such law-breakers as Dr. Martin Luther King, Alexander Dubcek or Nelson Mandela. Generally, Canadians are quite clear on the morality of resisting immoral laws or situations that are a serious affront to human rights, freedoms and dignity.
At the present time, most B.C. teachers (even those who didn't vote) regard Bill 12, the B.C. Liberal law that nullifies teachers' right to collective bargaining (again), as bad enough to warrant civil disobedience.
If objecting to Bill 12 were all there was to it, it could be argued that the teachers' stand is questionable. But Bill 12 is just the tip of the iceberg. There has been a long buildup of actions and attitudes by B.C. Liberals that feed the present resolve to resist them.
They unilaterally tore up legal, lawfully negotiated contracts, stripped class size standards and many sorts of professional services from the province's students.
They orchestrated the backward slide of income (given inflation) and attempted to prevent teachers from even talking to parents about school conditions through (unsuccessful) action in the courts.
The Liberals took over the B.C. College of Teachers, fired its democratically elected directors, appointed buddies in their place and denied teachers any say in this government-controlled institution. Then they threatened to cancel teachers' licences when they refused to pay dues to this farce.
This government-controlled group sponsored media ads encouraging parents to report on bad teachers directly to this new college and when hardly any reports came in, escalated this campaign (still without the results they apparently expected).
Since the Liberals have taken power in B.C. over 2,000 teachers and over 100 schools have vanished from the educational landscape. Classes of 35 to 40 students, a quarter of whom may have significant behavioural and/or learning problems, are not uncommon.
School libraries are without librarians, while programs, services and courses of every sort no longer exist. Teachers are getting by without textbooks, or are keeping the ones they've got going with duct tape.
Counsellors who should be looking after the social and educational needs of students are in overcrowded classrooms, instead. In high schools students now have "spares" where courses used to be.
As far as I can tell, there are three equal issues that drive the current illegal strike in B.C.
First, the actual income and buying power of teachers is diminishing. Although teachers are getting better qualified all the time, they have less money in hand than 10 years ago after factoring in inflation.
Secondly, teachers believe that Bill 12 is more worthy of a fascist state, than a democratic one. Their reasons for this attitude are rooted in the observation that the B.C. Public School Employers Association's so-called "bargaining" behaviour could more accurately be described as stonewalling. It brought zero to the table, had no offers or suggestions to make.
We didn't get anywhere because it had no intention of getting anywhere. Further, the subsequent legislation, which I suppose it had hoped would look like the solution to a teacher-caused impasse, looks instead to most people like premeditated sledge-hammering.
Finally, the issue of class size, class composition and services to students is a major sticking point with teachers. Imagine classes in which some lone teacher is expected to manage the educational fortunes of 43 Grade 8 math students, 35 English students, 38 Grade 5s, Industrial Ed classes of 36 (although there are only 21 tools), Grade 6 classes with four emotionally disturbed students, three ESL kids, and a blind child packed in among the other 20 "average" kids. (I'd like to see our esteemed minister of education try to teach one of those classes for a week.)
Governmental disregard for the learning conditions of students and working conditions of teachers (the two cannot really be separated) is so pervasive and debilitating it's only a matter of time before a class-action suit for incompetence, willful negligence and arrogant pomposity is laid at their feet.
Teachers, as everyone says, do not like to strike. In fact, they hate it. What they hate considerably more though, is the disrespect, abuse and incompetence they are subjected to as they try to deliver an education to children.
LETTERS:
I believe Ms. Lang's article is the very essense of a balanced thoughtful consideration of the facts concerning the true nature of the Teachers Stike. One must remember the only reason it is illegal is because a law was deliberately passed to make it so. Bill 12 doesn't do anything to fufill the government's obligation, under the Constitution and laws of Canada, to provide educational services to its citizens. It also places the Government in a conflict of interest that invalidates this so-called "law".
But even if none of this where the case, if the teachers were striking legally or otherwise, Ms. Lang dispassionately discloses the merits of going out on strike regardless. Her eloquent and factual points 1 & 3 porvide provide reason enough and more than valid justification for a stike even if point 2 weren't so abhornant.
William Jordan | Vancouver
Mary-Ellen Lang is an intelligent, thoughtful, articulate and well-informed observer of the education scene in B.C. Alas, until today, when she repeats a list of assertions long since shown to be unfounded.
Instead of her usual well thought out argument, she falls back on jargon and slogans. If it is civil discourse she believes in, she might consider using it herself.
Tom Masters | Chemainus, B.C.
Regarding Tom Masters comment on Mary-Ellen Lang's commentary, I would ask on what basis he states that Ms. Lang's assertions are unfounded.
I am a newly-retired teacher after spending 31 wonderful years teaching in a secondary school. I say "wonderful" because that is how I would describe the students and colleagues that I had the pleasure to work with every day. The only aspect that was not wonderful was the systematic undermining of the education system by the present Liberal government.
I will simply state that Ms. Lang's assertions are true and accurately reflect the predicament and feelings of the vast majority of teachers across this province. But this protest action is about far more than the Liberals' education record. It is about a government that has stripped basic rights and freedoms from teachers by tearing up contracts and denying them the right to free collective bargaining - actions for which the Liberals have been condemned for by the International Labour Organization of the United Nations.
Given their present record, the Liberals continued insistence that the BCTF should stop breaking the law is the height of hypocrisy. So, if Mr. Masters is insisting on "civil discourse", perhaps he should back up his own assertions with some fact.
Doug Sheffield | Bowser, B.C.
As she is a committed and experienced educator, I thought Ms Lang would be interested to know that my two daughters in high school needed approximately 10 seconds to conclude that B.C. teachers are not military inductees, political prisoners, victims of systemic racism, violence or other forms of human rights abuse.
If her article is any indication, B.C. teachers may do well to pause and consider another possible explanation for their "resolve" -- self delusion.
They got it wrong as far as breaking the law is concerned, whatever the merits of their arguments in a labour dispute, and should have the moral courage to acknowledge it to students by going back to work while continuing to address the merits of their labour issues through any and all legal means.
Shame on you, Mary-Ellen, for comparing yourself, colleagues and problems to people and struggles faced by the likes of Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela.
Joseph Hoffman | Toronto
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