tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8080009.post-1117902957079630262005-06-04T09:09:00.000-07:002005-06-04T09:35:57.086-07:00I am somewhat mortified to think that my great-grandfather was one of the founders, and a charter member of the BC Teachers' Federation. I'm mortified because the BCTF has allowed itself to become an abomination of self-seeking lefties who depart a country-mile from their alleged role in the life of the average schoolmarm. The BCTF is more like a 'cell' of pre-Russian Revolution Bolsheviks, that flails out in all directions against perceived evils in our hideous capitalistic society. Quixote-like the BCTF foments against the state of Israel in embracing the scarier elements of Palestinian society -- oh, don't get me wrong, I think Israel has much to answer for, as does Hamas -- or it wraps itself in cliched anti-Americanism in a knee-jerk hatred that represents Canadians at their paranoid worst. In the recent BC elections it wasn't unheard of for classroom teachers to parrot the musings of their union overlords in dissing children who might lean towards sympathy for the provincial Liberals. This I know of firsthand. And this, as a taxpayer who finances their hefty incomes (don't buy into the con that teachers are badly paid, for they are not), pension-plans and neverending holidays and so-called PD Days, this pisses me off. Oh, and so much for free-speech and free-thought in the classroom.<br />But, don't get me wrong. I like teachers. In fact, I used to be one. In my erstwhile profession I met and interacted with some fine scholars and dedicated souls who gave their all to their young charges. I also met others who were lazy, uninspired, dysfunctional and amoral. You know, just like any job. Of course, the crud teachers have a certain advantage in that they, thanks to their union, almost literally cannot be fired. There used to be a clause called "moral turpitude", which basically read that: if you fuck a student, kiss your job goodbye. Now even that one is rarely enacted to the extent it should be. So, good-teacher/bad-teacher, you'll keep your job, regardless. That is because the union is driven apopleptic at the thought of grading teachers according to merit. All are equal in this mini soviet society.<br />No, this diatribe is directed against a union that violates all tenets of a free-society, and that takes huge sums from the members of its closed shop so that they can rally the troops against perceived ills that have utterly nothing to do with conditions in the classroom or the wellbeing of<br />students.<br />So, as I read in the morning press, the BCTF is mulling over the possibility of strike-action to gain their members an even more lucrative contract. At the same time, they are suing the premier for the "porky" they accused him of uttering before the provincial election. That's odd, because all he did was state that the union was planning to do exactly what it now seems to be doing. All perfectly logical in the eyes of the province's most negative and uncooperative union, I guess.<br />Sorry, Great-Grandfather, but I cannot buy your politics. But, if you were still around, neither could you.<br /><br /><br />And, the BCTF tells (in the words of Inspector Frost) "porkies" about the support it has from the rank-and-file. Most teachers -- 'good' teachers that is -- are much too involved with their actual jobs to be involved in the ramblings of the union. Consequently, apathy tends to prevail entirely too much, allowing the doctrinaire to rule. So, when a press report indicates that 90% of teachers support strike action to demand a 720% increase in pay, read it actually at about 40-45 per cent, because that is the percentage that bothered to vote. Furthermore, cut the extra 10% from that, and you are left with 30-35%.Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11212863114942369699noreply@blogger.com