Wednesday, February 11, 2009

The Brave New World

"The Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario now has until 4 p.m. Thursday to decide if it will accept the deal, Wynne added.

The revised offer would give teachers a 10.4 per cent salary increase over four years, bringing the maximum salary to $92,700."


http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/090211/national/ont_teachers_contrac

Smaller class size is also an issue. For those who don't live in Ontario, the class size was set at 22 some years ago.

10 comments:

  1. They're doing it for the children.

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  2. Ahh yes. What was that Herb said, "A parallel planet"?

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  3. I don't think they get paid nearly enough. I'm being quite serious. I wouldn't do it for No amount of money. Kids are great but they can't help who their parents are. Egads.

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  4. You are completely correct Dee, regarding parents. They can't. But you know there are buts. Everyone chooses their path, and the new age advanced mindset has wrought the weight they bear. I don't recall being offered an opportunity to vote on it. Do you?

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  5. 'I don't recall being offered an opportunity to vote on it. Do you?'

    Vote on what? Birthing? New Contract? Teachers? ;)

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  6. 10% over four years in the middle of the worst recession in our lifetime?
    It just proves how out of touch teachers are with reality.
    Who could blame them?
    2 months summer vacation ,extended seasonal holidays,numerous professional development days , fully indexed pension,benefit packages that a regular working stiff would die for, all paid for by taxpayers.
    But after all, they're sacrificing themselves for the kids.

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  7. The mindset that makes teachers jobs much more difficult Dee. With many of the new concepts in dealing with poor behaviour of both students and parents, has come unrealistic situations that result in increasingly difficult circumstances for educators to address effectively.

    Such things as drugs, violence, disrespect, non responsive or irresponsible parents, grossly inadequate disciplines etc.

    Instead of feeling that the public should compensate them further for these things, they should be lobbying the politicians in government and those who politic within the education system, to go back to many of the policies they threw out while building their Empires.

    I didn't get to vote on those changes. Did you?

    Something else that shouldn't be lost in these considerations, is job security. This is especially relevant in times such as these. Also, for many decades a basic concept of working in public service was they earned less than private enterprise, but their reward was job security.

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  8. "a basic concept of working in public service was they earned less than private enterprise, but their reward was job security."

    We can take that a step farther in assessing the operation. With my recent experience with the BC Ombudsman, it`s gone past job security. Using the government guideline of little or no work done they avoid work of any kind, turning job security into just plain wage security eliminating the work aspect of job security.

    The public service is failing and needs a makeover. We need a smaller, higher paid public service with no job security to end this mantra of little or no work done, but first we need a functioning government.

    A provincially nominated federal government fits the bill, hire them and fire them if they don`t get the job done.

    It all starts with the federal government and decades of politically inspired and failed policy.

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  9. 'Instead of feeling that the public should compensate them further for these things, they should be lobbying the politicians in government and those who politic within the education system, to go back to many of the policies they threw out while building their Empires.'

    You're kidding right? You and I both know lobbying only works if it enhances personal bank accounts.

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  10. Dee,you mean like what their Union does on their behalf and on behalf of it's own interests?

    Speaking of which, the Union is of course a powerful lobby. Besides that, educators and school admin are all educated people and can put pen to paper and know how to organize themselves if they wish. So it's not so much an issue of can they, as it is one of do they want to? They have the arena of public opinion available to them as well.

    Along the lines of some of Roberts concerns, if they/we don't get a proper handle on the problems in the school system, they will continue to perpetuate in society as we go forward. Getting the most bang for the buck is the best way I know to equip everyone with the tools necessary to address this.

    My thinking is geared toward spreading out available funds to provide more direct action rather than adding to the cost of what is already there. Which is proving itself insufficient in too many schools. By moving to effectively address the problem areas, the entire environment would improve and be more easily managed and better for all concerned.

    Dee, I started school in the late 50's and have had at least one child in school for better part of the past 23 years. This in 4 provinces and rural as well as city locations. So I can make some comparisons. A great many of the changes they have made have come back to haunt them and us too.

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