The Ongoing Troubles With B.C.'s Education System

Yesterday the B.C. Teachers' Federation (BCTF) announced that they'll be holding a strike vote Sept. 20 - 22, just a few weeks after students return to classes. Undoubtedly they'll get 90%+ support from the teachers of the province. They'll then go out on strike shortly after that and a day or so later be ordered back to work by the government.

How can I predict this with such certainty? Because this exact same series of events has gone on time after time for as long as I can remember. It doesn't matter which government is in power - left, right, or center - the same thing always occurs.

My favourite local radio station, CKNW, solicited opinions from callers this morning. The callers were clearly split into 2 camps:

• Those who are teachers or are connected to teachers and seem to be willing to pay anything and everything to appease them.
  
• The rest of us.
  

On this issue, I have one leg in each camp. I have several friends who are teachers and I support them wholeheartedly. I want the best for them, though "the best" has to be within reasonable fiscal constraints. What I do not support is Jinny Simms and her fellow ultra militant BCTF minions. These folks are as dysfunctional as two lesbians trying to have a baby without any 'outside' help. And Simms in particular is the worst thing to ever happen to B.C.'s Education system. From her accent, she clearly seems to be a graduate of England's "How to Destroy a Great Nation" union movement. Margaret Thatcher finally said "No!" to the likes of Simms and they left to work on destroying other parts of the world, such as B.C.

With that said, I also do not give blind support to the overinflated - and perhaps underqualified - school boards and other education management. The stories I hear from my teacher friends about management decisions are more than a little scary!

In the end equation, this dispute is really a fight between the BCTF and Education Management. Reminds me a lot of the NHL fight between the owner's group and the player's union. In that situation no progress was made because the head of the player's union was a hard nosed ass who was unwilling to negotiate. His ego became most important in the dispute. The players finally realized this, pushed him aside, and quickly came to an agreement with management. Most parents and students are probably wishing the same would occur here.