BC teacher calls on Premier Christy Clark to properly fund public education

Open Letter to Christy Clark, Premier of British Columbia

As a teacher, parent, British Columbian tax payer, and responsible Canadian Citizen, I feel obligated to submit this letter to your government on behalf of all the professionals who represent the core and the foundation of the economic spectrum in this wonderful province of ours: Nurses, doctors, teachers, university professors, and police officers, to name a few.
 
As professionals, we are the ones who shoulder most of the problems of our society and the burden of taxation. Indeed, we are the ones who suffer the neglect, discrimination, and hatred in our daily activities. We are the ones who experience the worst living and working conditions, not to mention the highest divorce rate that is crippling some families. We all feel vulnerable, divided and, therefore, subject to neglect, humiliation, hatred, and total lack of respect.

As professionals, we need to stand our ground, side by side, and hand in hand to gain the respect and dignity we deserve. We arrive to the extent we can no longer tolerate the fact to be treated like second rate citizens. We are proud professionals and we intend, regardless of the lack of respect we are suffering, to keep our pride in doing our great job productively. As teachers, my colleagues and I are here to maintain high standards and expectations to help our students achieve excellence and become the responsible citizens. Their future depends on our actions and what we are offering them. We cannot guarantee a bright future to these students if we are not giving it all we can. Our firmness and dedication in remaining together, “hand in hand” is the most powerful tool to keep our Union stronger and alive.
    
H.A.N.D stands for Help Against Neglect and Decay of our Education System.

It is high time we stopped blaming each other and come up with positive outcomes to solve this crucial problem in a rational, fair, and civilized manner. As professionals, parents,  and British Columbian tax payers, we are dedicating our life, striving to keep our kids and students healthy, safe, secure, and educated, to the best of our ability, and for the sake of their becoming responsible citizens and better prepared to face the challenges ahead.

On the other hand, we are not here to satisfy the ego and the hypocrisy of politics by playing the game, promoting mediocrity. We are here to do a job, a great job. But we need to have the tools to be ahead of the game, for this life is full of obstacles. Our students deserve the best. They deserve to be prepared, happy and successful.   

How on earth can we deprive our talented and gifted students from potential growth and prevent them from reaping the benefit of post-secondary education, for the simple reason that their hard working parents are presumably “empty-pocketed” and do not have sufficient funds to cover their kids’ educational expenses?

The elephant in the room is PRIVATIZATION.

Not all the parents can afford to send their kids to private schools. I think your government has to be more creative to give the public education system the dignity it deserves and strives for.

To inspire you, Christy Clark, I would like to share a story about a Canadian Entrepreneur from Vancouver I highly admire and respect. I keep his name anonymous, out of respect for him. While he was a student, he admired his music teacher so much, I have heard he bought his teacher a brand new car, because, at the time his teacher could not afford one. He did that out of respect and love for his teacher!

While I do not need a car to feel valued, a little of respect, consideration and appreciation for the hard work my colleagues and I do on a daily basis, would go a long way. Why? Because my work does not end when the day ends. It keeps going long into the night so I can ensure my students will get the opportunity they deserve to stay focused on their work. On several occasions, I have received visits in my classroom from my previous senior mathematics students coming from different universities. As a token of appreciation, I was entitled to big hugs and thank-you for the hard work I did and which I am still doing. You can never put a price on success, integrity and devotion. My students come to show me their gratitude and that, in itself makes me a-one-of-kind teacher. I am proud of my accomplishments as a teacher.

I invite you, Christy Clark, to imagine yourself teaching in a classroom setting of thirty students, among them, three to six special need students. Under these circumstances, how are you going to manage this overloaded class, dealing with special needs students on a 1 to 1 basis, without a teacher assistant to help and without compromising the performance of other students? Are you going to dedicate your lunch hour and after school time to help students catch up with their missed assignments? Day after day without compensation or even recognition for the extra time and effort we put in.
    
Under these extenuating circumstances, such as deteriorating working conditions, class composition, and underfunded education, you are making teaching more difficult than it needs to be or should be. On the other hand, no matter what happens in classroom,  it appears you want to hold teachers responsible for the problems that are being thrust upon us. It seems as if you are doing this intentionally in order for teachers to lose credibility and respect within our community. Clearly, your only objective is to privatize education.

We are proud parents, professionals, and British Columbian tax payers who deserve a decent government that serves our needs and treats us with respect and dignity. We are concerned about the future of our kids in this province where the cost of living is out of control! We are not asking for the moon but a fraction so we can keep up.

       Happy teachers + happy students = great achievements

Is it too much to ask the government to compensate and reward teachers for the hard work they are doing? After all, education is the core that cements things together. It is the foundation of BC's future economy. Under the circumstances, 15% over 3 years and $5000 bonus is such a minor increase, it doesn't even beat inflation. But, we need it in order to maintain our standard of living so we can maintain our standards in the classroom.

It’s a matter of being a part of a solution instead of being a part of the problem. Which course are you going to pursue?
    
        Sincerely yours,

        Paul Sinclair. Math Teacher at Eric Hamber Secondary