Teacher Strike

[Grand_Admiral_Thrawn]

Well, it seems that the post-secondary teaching staff here in Ontario are more concerned with money than providing a quality education. As of 12:01 this morning they are on strike because they weren't given the conditions they wanted during their contract negotiations. They had just turned down a 12% pay increase over three years because they wanted 12.6%. They quibbled over 0.6%! Not all of my teachers are to blame. Several were kind enough to put up the next five weeks worth of lecture notes and assignments, however thsoe were the part-time teachers who weren't allowed to vote to strike, aren't getting paid for the strike time, and have had their contracts terminated due to the strike. So the people who get to come back after the strike have given us nothing, and the people who aren't comming back have given us the tools to further our education.

 

So, is anyone else affected by this, or does anyone have an opinion? I'll be here all day for at least the next week...

[Defender_16]

I don't think anyone but us lives in the effected area. Though there were a lot of Americans going to Algonquin College when I went there.

 

(Most didn't last long because pot was so redily available in the city.)

[Mad78]

The last teacher strike here was last year. The teachers weren't getting paid enough (they seriously weren't).

[Master_Xan]

Teachers are like nurses. They never get paid enough. That's just the way it is, and probably always will be. Anybody who doesn't agree that nurses or teachers aren't paid enough, obviously has never known someone in those professions.

 

Although 0.6% is a pretty extreme reason to strike. Seriously, lets do some math.

 

Say you make $40,000

50% =$20,000

25% =$10,000

10% =$4,000

1% =$400

.6% =$240

 

So the teachers are striking for a measly $300 or so. Granted, this is a college, (right?) so the professors could be striking over a whopping $600 instead! *gasp!*

[Grand_Admiral_Thrawn]

Teachers are like nurses. They never get paid enough. That's just the way it is, and probably always will be. Anybody who doesn't agree that nurses or teachers aren't paid enough, obviously has never known someone in those professions.

 

Actually, I know two people where are or were teachers. The one who is retired complained he wasn't getting paid enough... until he retired and now he says they make too much. I tend to agree with him. He is a substitute teacher and we've calculated that he makes roughly $30/hour, just to substitute teach. Regular teachers need only take "upgrade courses", or workshops, and their pay increases automatically by a percentage. They can take as many of these workshops as they want (though I believe their pay is capped at $96 thousand). This is just for public school!

 

My friend who has been teaching public school for about two years now agrees that they get paid too much for what they have to do. Rarely are they looked in upon, and the same course materials are simply recycled year after year.

 

When it comes to the college teachers who are striking, their base pay is $80 thousand a year with a max pay of double that. And they think they're not getting paid enough.

 

Now, those aren't their only demands. They want smaller classes, more prep time and more vacation time (they currently get six weeks of hollidays). So basically they want more money for less work.

[Master_Xan]

hmm... you're from Canada, right? US teachers don't get paid so much. College professors do, but when I say teachers I'm refering to teachers in general, and elementary through high school teachers don't get nearly that much. Professors do get paid well, but they are required to do research in their field, publishing new information every so often. They also have to grade all those long papers (both my parents are professors, and they ALWAYS have something to grade. My dad is currently spending three hours a day just grading!). True, once they get the lessons down they don't have to make new material... unless they work in a field that is constantly changing, like business, computers or other tech fields, medical, etc. Then they are not only always going to classes themselves, but also tweaking their lessons.

 

In your case, the strike is ridiculous. You should walk up and smack them all with a white glove, and if they get mad then you should point out that 80 grand is more then many people make in three or even four years. And if you include third world countries, then 80 grand is more then they'll ever see in their lifetime.

[Evaders99]

The power of teacher's unions...

[Mad78]

Here the teachers went on strike because there was so little money about that they nearly had to by the paper themselves.

[DarthTofu]

That's pretty bad... can't say we can beat that, though we did have a couple of airline strikes a while back...

[Aenivae_Ikeda]

I hate teachers who make school a forum for their opinions. School isn't a place to be littered with dumbass ideas, one-sided views, and idiocy. Teach the curiculum(sp), thats your job. Not to bitch about how much you dislike certain politicians. Granted that I enjoy opinions and debate in class, I just don't like teachers who make dumb references, and allow only one point of view to be argued.

[Mad78]

I hate teachers who make school a forum for their opinions. School isn't a place to be littered with dumbass ideas, one-sided views, and idiocy. Teach the curiculum(sp), thats your job. Not to bitch about how much you dislike certain politicians. Granted that I enjoy opinions and debate in class, I just don't like teachers who make dumb references, and allow only one point of view to be argued.

I must say that isn't really a problem here.

[Defender_16]

Ironicaly I tend to find that the "dumbass ideas, one-sided views, and idiocy" are the curriculum itself.

[Grand_Admiral_Thrawn]

Well, with some of my courses my teachers use their lecture time to sprinkle us with their own perspective on certain issues, and occasionally their lectures cant to a one-sided perspective.

 

Like Mad said though, that's not the issue here. The issue is that they basically want more money for less work.

 

One thing that happened just before our reading weak (spring break sort of. It was just last week) was when my Criminology teacher returned our tests, and then told us that all of our tests would be like that, "like that" being multiple choice. The problem was, her choices were so similar the test was almost impossible. When we asked her if she would consider doing a standard test, with a combination of test choices she said "Well then I'd have to mark all those tests", to which a friend of mine replied "That's your job". Right now we use those blasted scan-tron sheets. Find your question and fill in the bubble for the corrosponding answer. That way they just pop them into a machine and they're magically marked for you.

 

It's now Day 2 of the strike and I'm running out of things to do. Unfortunately next Monday is the earliest I would be going back.

[Mad78]

Grab a copy of that Empire Earth extension which talks about the Napoleonic wars. That should keep you occupied.

The man who lets himself be bored is even more contemptible than the bore.

[Defender_16]

[quote=Grand_Admiral_Thrawn

]Unfortunately next Monday is the earliest I would be going back.

 

I just saw a short news update on CTV saying that it was becoming unlikley that classes would be resumed soon.

[Master_Xan]

Start reading the Wheel of Time series. Each book is between 600 and 1000 pages, most of them closer to 1000. And there's 11 books in the series so far... if THAT doesn't keep you occupied, it means you didn't like the books enough to read them

[DarthTofu]

Riiiiiiiiiight... Well, sucks to be you, Thrawn... Hope your teachers come back soon- we have scantron tests, too, but we actually get revues with some of the test questions on them... I find that they work fine for Biology and World History, at any rate...

[Aenivae_Ikeda]

The math department here is just as inefficient Thrawn. They hand out like two to three pages of homework a night (Each one about 50 problems) which isn't too bad, it's just very time consuming. To get credit you have to have to show your work (Which uses about 2 pages so the teacher generally doesn't mark you if you have less) and it has to be complete. That's all, the teachers don't grade the papers and so people fill random things in to get done early, and then they fail the tests... I noted to the administration that this could be changed if they forced the teachers to grade the homework, in which case they would assign less (Because they don't want to grade as much) and thus make the students happy too... But hey Student Senate doesn't know anything right?

[Mitth_raw_nuruodo]

But hey Student Senate doesn't know anything right?

I'm beginning to find the same thing is true here AI. It is becoming a real thorn in my side. I thought the idea behind college was to further one's intelligence, not surround one's self w/ stupidity.

[Aenivae_Ikeda]

Yeah school in the US is pretty bad. It's a damn shame too. Oh well I'm going to France or Britain anyways for college...

[Master_Xan]

School in the US isn't bad. True, its often focused on making money, saving money, and looking good, rather then teaching. Add in the laziness, ignorance, stubberness, bigotry and political factors, and you've got one nice cup of tea. And if you don't know about the politics of a college campus, then believe me when I say you don't want to know.

 

In all fairness, college is greatly dependant on your teachers. Many general ed classes are taught by more arrogant high school style teachers, who have even more freedom with what they teach (or don't teach). Once you move beyond the gen-eds, you get a fair number of actually motivated teachers. Its just the gen-eds that can really get you, and get you good.

[Aenivae_Ikeda]

Currently the US is spending like 2200 dollars per student per year, meanwhile countries in the EU spend the equivalent of 1100 dollars per student... I think.

[Master_Xan]

Money doesn't teach. Money can't buy education. True, its hard to learn how to type without a computer, but regardless, its not the money that matters most.

 

Regardless, I don't think we're talking about the same schools. That sounds like k-12, but I'm talking college. As far as I know, most colleges don't get anything from the government.

[Mitth_raw_nuruodo]

Actually I'm almost certain that state colleges DO recieve some sort of Fed. Gov't funding. It is very possible that I am wrong about this however.

[Mad78]

Oh well I'm going to France or Britain anyways for college...

Actually french teachers are also on strike at the moment.