We're doing it for the kids!

So the teachers in British Columbia are on strike and trying to create a General Strike.

Their union bosses claim the strike is not about money. They actually say this without blushing. They only want a fifteen percent raise.

Of course they say they're just on strike for the welfare of the students. They say that with a straight face too. Damned good actress, that teachers' union boss.

She almost breaks out in tears when she's talking about how badly off the students are in B.C. schools. Well honey bear, I'm a retired teacher and I have news for you. If your students are not getting a good education it's YOUR fault. You are in charge of your classroom. If students don't learn in your classroom you should seriously consider getting a job more suited to your skills. Frying hamburgers comes to mind.

I was in high school during WW II when teachers were really scarce on the ground. In grade eleven my Biology class had 60 students in it. Classes were held in a converted storage room in the school basement. The furniture consisted of whatever tables and chairs could be scrounged by borrowing from parents' and teachers' houses.

I became a teacher in 1948. There was still a shortage of teachers then. My first school was out in the country. One room, grades one through nine and 32 students...including 2 beginners. No teacher's aides, no prep time during school hours, no counsellors or librarians...and no students who did not pass the provincial exams at the end of the year. There were thousands of teachers who had it just as tough as I did and hundreds who had it even tougher.

Teachers should not have the right to strike.