Dear Editor:
I am a teacher, and let me first start off by saying quite simply, I love my job. I love the students I interact with everyday, finding new ways to challenge them and how they challenge me back.
I love the colleagues I work with and their passion for teaching. I became a teacher because of the amazing, positive impact that my teachers had on me, and I always dreamed of impacting students the way they impacted me.
Sadly, the current state of education in British Columbia greatly inhibits this dream. I teach 25 Grade 4/5 students, all with various needs and demands. From learning English, to reading three grade levels below average, to severe behaviour and safety issues, these are the demands I meet every single day.
The premier and the education minister have both gone on record to say that class size and composition have no effect on children's learning. I am writing to you to let you know just how completely, utterly wrong this is. I am one person trying to juggle 25 precious, amazing, challenging, demanding balls and I am currently not able to meet all of their needs.
I feel as if I am failing them. Not only are children with special needs suffering but every child in the classroom is suffering and will suffer more if the changes in Bill 22 come to pass. I wish the
government could see how the addition of one single child can change the entire dynamic of a classroom. I wish they could see how passionate but tired teachers are of struggling every day to survive with the current level of support. I wish they could see the disappointment in a child's eye when a program needs to be cancelled due to lack of funding.
Teachers are not greedy. None of us went into this profession expecting to become rich. But we did expect to be treated fairly, with respect, as professionals with autonomy, and the current government is not doing that. It breaks my heart. I am an early career teacher; I have been teaching for only four years, and I am already feeling tired beyond my years.
Every day is a struggle, and Bill 22 will just put more pressure on teachers, students and school boards. Teachers care. Teachers want to do the best for their students, but we need more support, not less. We are screaming for it every way that we possibly can, and, yet, we feel as if our cries are falling on deaf ears.
I would like to share a picture with you that another teacher shared over a decade ago and I am paraphrasing here:
Picture yourself sitting in a restaurant with 30 other patrons. There is only one server who is doing her best to take and serve everyone their orders. In one corner, is a gentleman who can not read the menu and must have it read to him. In another corner, are two women who have severe food allergies and must have their meals specially cooked. Seated right beside you is a customer who flies into a rage after waiting so long and becomes a physical threat to everyone in the restaurant. Would you want to eat in a restaurant like this? Of course not. You would probably never return to the restaurant again. Unfortunately, our students don't have that choice. But this is the reality in the classroom today and it will only continue to get worse with the Liberal government's disrespect towards teachers and utter disregard towards properly funding public education. It makes me want to weep.
Jaime Acker, teacher at Stoney Creek Elementary
