Editor:
Re: Provincial gov't getting good bang for its education buck, Community Comment, June 11
I couldn't agree more with the headline.
Despite years of ongoing and unfortunate government-teacher confrontations, ripped up contracts, decrease in special education support staff, ELL classes and teacher-librarians, and B.C. Supreme Court rulings against government action (and a litany of other examples), B.C. public school teachers continue to provide the best possible education for your children.
I'd like to thank Tom Siba for pointing this out. However, I feel such may not have been his intent.
His focus on B.C. spending $1,000 less per student (FYI, this is a fact, not an "if ") and with the exception of "teacher whining," he sees no discernable benefit if the current government were to increase funding, one hopes, to at least the national average.
Stating the "average student does not appear to be suffering and the B.C. education system seems quite efficient generating above average scores at lower cost" is, at least for me, (please do not misread my response as "whining" since I am one of these teachers) disingenuous.
A child's education should not be compared to efficiency at the lowest possible cost. A child is not some product to be efficiently molded in some sweatshop (to extend the false analogy further).
More importantly, education is so much more than performing on standardized exams. And if the "average student" is not suffering, how then are the less average doing? If one were to educate himself on the benefits of better class size and composition and how the current government has not, with the exception of its Learning Improvement
Fund, addressed these areas, one may be able to understand how these factors are significant in a child's learning and a teacher's ability to address the needs of students.
This is one of the key issues important to today's teachers, although some may unfortunately view this as "whining." Just imagine how much better students would be with better learning conditions.
I do agree that a rational plan for efficient use of money is needed, but what is also needed is an environment where both sides are treated with respect and a willingness to negotiate and explore how additional funds can be used.
Sadly, given the current entrenched state of affairs and a lack of awareness for a few of what actually happens within a classroom, all one is often left with is endless rhetoric, stoic beliefs and easy targets for hollow words.
R. Guraliuk
