The Editor,
Re: "Education soap opera plays on," the Now, March 4.
When we think of teachers, we must remember that they do not operate in the real world.
Think about it. The only time they have ever had a job where their employer was trying to make a profit was when they were going to university. After graduation, they have had the privilege and responsibility of taking care of our children while we went to work to pay the taxes so that the teachers could be paid.
Think about the outcry of teachers when the results of their ineffective teaching methods are made public. If they had their way, children would never be tested because that could crush their self-esteem.
Little thought is given to the fact that the moment little Johnny and Suzie get a job, they will be graded on a regular basis and if they don't make the grade they will have to go to university to become teachers - an industry in which they won't be graded.
And they can be promoted by their peers to become the head of the teachers' federation, where they can show their naiveté to the whole world instead of keeping it only in front of the pupils in the classroom.
In what other industry can one threaten to go on strike for higher wages without ever telling the employer what wages are desired? It is time that the province performed a Ronald Reagan - fire them all, privatize the school system and rehire them on a merit basis. There would be more innovative teaching methods that would benefit the students, would require half the teachers and require way less money to run. Teachers, please, join the rest of us in the 21st century instead of burying your heads in the sand of the 19th.
John Bootsma, White Rock