I support the teachers completely. I have had kids in the public school system for the past 18 years and still have two who have four more years to go. I have a son graduating this year, so I realize all too well how difficult this is on the Grade 12 students.
But I have seen the education system whittled down tremendously in that time. I have seen the support for teachers chipped away over and over again, and the stresses they are put under mount higher and higher.
I have seen the arts and enrichment programs lose their funding, and I have seen the teachers putting in countless volunteer hours to try to give the kids what is no longer funded. I have seen them coach sports teams, teach jazz band and choir, have chess clubs and Shakespeare clubs and origami clubs, teach character club, coach improv teams, mentor kids, facilitate leadership groups and humanitarian aid groups, take the kids on amazing trips that require tremendous amounts of organization, help organize fundraisers so that kids can afford those trips, have language clubs and homework help, spend extra time with the kids who are feeling out of sync with their peers, and on and on. All on their own time, all because they care.
I hate to think what will happen to our education system when the teachers feel so disrespected they stop caring. It is time for the government to start respecting both the teachers and the courts and do what is right for them and for our kids.
Thea Levesque
Abbotsford