Ontario Teachers and Their Unions

"We're Doing It For The Children"

At least that's what the Teachers' Unions continue to peddle to us, however this Blog is neither about the Unions nor the Teachers, as you are about to see shortly.

For the life of me though it is most difficult to understand why their Unions seem always to be be on Strike or Threatening To Do So and it makes no never-mind which Party is running the Shop at Queen's Park.

Lately all 4 Major Teachers' Unions fall into either the above categories and in every case, their Teacher Members have voted in the high 90%s to go on Strike. Their major Unions include the following:  i) The Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation; ii) Ontario Elementary Teachers' Union; iii) the Ontario English-Catholic Teachers' Union and finally  iv) the Ontario French-language Teachers' Union).  Would you not think that one Union or two at the most would suffice?  No wonder then at least one of them seems to be on strike at any given time.

Anyway, things must be very bleak in Mudville for Ontario Teachers to support Strike Action in those high numbers.

But you have to wonder why:  Ontario Teachers' Salaries are most generous, so are their Benefits and their Pensions ...so what is fostering such discontent.

Well my guess is that this labour unrest is causd by the Unions themselves. And, if I was Premier, I would outlaw them ...not only on the basis that Teaching is an Essential Service but more importantly, in these Strikes and Threatened Strikes, no one has the interest of the Taxpayer at heart. So we have the Unions never satisfied and the Politicians willing to spend any amount of taxpayer money just for labour peace.  Do you ever stop and think what a politician might do if he or she had their own salary at stake in these labour negotiations?

But again and despite the Title of this Blog, my effort here is not about Teachers' Unions nor is it even about Teachers' Benefits; it is about a much more important issue.

The Elephant in the Room aka the Major Problem Facing Education Today is with respect to the make-up of the classes...and not class sizes, as the above Unions would have you to believe.

The Unions call it Inclusion as do many so-called experts in education but I call it bogus Progressive Thinking gone mad.  (note: those self same persons would likely refer to me as Right Wing Thinking gone mad and I am okay with that).  So it is up to you the Reader to decide who has the better handle on this.

And just to be clear, I am not talking about disabled students per se, rather I am referring to those children who have Marked Learning Disabilities or are Prone To Causing Disruption. Such 'inclusion' in my opinion makes it impossible for the majority of students to effectively learn their studies.  It does no good for the minority as well. Although my search on the internet finds many who agree with the Progressive Thinkers, there is an equal number out there who agree with me.

Let's look at the rising number of physical attacks on teachers by their students ...beginning as young as kindergarten.  Below is a passage I found on line authored by the Gates Foundation substantiating this:

Behavior issues that interfere with teaching and learning have notably worsened, according to an astonishing 62 percent of teachers who have been teaching in the same school for five or more years. The results were reported in Primary Sources: America’s Teachers on the Teaching Profession. The report, recently released by Scholastic and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, shows that the increased level of behavior problems has been seen across grade levels: 68 percent of elementary teachers, 64 percent of middle school teachers, and 53 percent of high school teachers say the same.

No wonder our schools are falling behind when it comes to trying to teach basic subjects like math and science. 

So what is causing the problem ?...One of the major reasons is that the Teachers' Unions and their Progressive Supporters are deliberately failing to flag this obvious fault. And our children - all of our children, are suffering accordingly.

I say that because if classes were to be homogenized with children of comparable intellect and mental well-being, all would learn more effectively and at a faster rate.  This is simply common sense.

But please do not think that I am suggesting for a minute that those with intellectual or mental health issues be thrown under the bus.  Hardly!!   My motto in life is leave no one behind, since to do otherwise would not only be wrong for economic reasons, it would simply be inhumane. We need everyone on board, happy and contributing to ensure our Society is Just and Works for All.

Resources need to be made available to students to ensure that they learn at their own speed and where appropriate, receive the mental health that is otherwise not available to them.

Call or write to your School Boards and to your Politicians to right this obvious wrong.